Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2012)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Mark H

  
  Directors Mark and Jay Duplass' films are an acquired taste. If you can get behind the slacker milieu with its unapologetic passivity, you might cozy up to the production's charms. Ultra low budget and championing an authenticity that favors natural performances and… More
  Directors Mark and Jay Duplass' films are an acquired taste. If you can get behind the slacker milieu with its unapologetic passivity, you might cozy up to the production's charms. Ultra low budget and championing an authenticity that favors natural performances and dialogue, there's always been an improvisational feel in their movies. They favor individuals that occupy an awkward existence in their own life. Characters deliver their lines with the all confidence of a spokesperson with a fear of public speaking. That can be entertaining. Wes Anderson has made a career of indies that take delight in that. But where Anderson deals with the doldrums of everyday people in a way that celebrates those quirky details creatively, the Duplass brothers almost wallow in a despair that grows debilitating. It's just so dreary. Even then, there can be entertainment in that, if not for the fact that the events are so insignificant. The routine happenings of random white, middle class American twenty-somethings would probably make a more thought provoking picture than what is presented here. When British artist Tracey Emin exhibited her unmade bed at the Tate Gallery in 1999 she was able to create a notoriety in the art world. I'm a film critic. I won't debate the value of such pieces other than to say that Jeff, Who Lives at Home is sort of the cinematic version of art from found objects.

• Nate Z

  
  This lumpy, amiable shaggy dog story from the Duplass brothers is another earnest, warm-hearted comedy that marries their signature family dysfunction, mumblecore quirk to a larger, more mainstream setting. The Jeff (Jason Segel) in question is a 30-year-old slacker, who indeed lives… More
  This lumpy, amiable shaggy dog story from the Duplass brothers is another earnest, warm-hearted comedy that marries their signature family dysfunction, mumblecore quirk to a larger, more mainstream setting. The Jeff (Jason Segel) in question is a 30-year-old slacker, who indeed lives at home, and awaits signs from the universe to guide his decision-making. Incidentally, his favorite movie we learn in a monologue set on a commode, is Signs. His older brother, Pat (Ed Helms), is a selfish twit and embarks on a quest, with Jeff, to discover if his wife (Judy Greer) is cheating on him. The boys mother (Susan Sarandon) also has a nice storyline where an anonymous admirer is sending her flirty instant messages at work. Watching her face light up as she processes being wanted, it's a thing of beauty. The characters are all flawed, and for some they may be too annoying to sit through. The film has been accused of being aimless, but I was engaged with its plot, which kept ping-ponging from one cause to another effect scenario. The movie is really more a drama with some comedic asides, mainly due to Jeff's stoner zen and Pat's aggressive dickishness. Greer has an outstanding moment where she lets her character's deep reservoir of unhappiness come out in a blinding moment of honesty, and it rang true to my ears. In fact, the entire movie feels true enough. And then it appears destiny reveals its master plan with an ending that makes your heart warm all over, championing Jeff's mantra of optimism and interconnectedness. The simple, good-natured, sweet little movie is worth checking out. Nate's Grade: B

• Sam B

  
  Jeff, Who Lives at Home makes one big mistake at the very beginning - it opens with a sort of promise that the film will have existential depth. And the Duplass brothers surely meant for that to be the case. While both Helms and Segel excel in their performances, the script… More
  Jeff, Who Lives at Home makes one big mistake at the very beginning - it opens with a sort of promise that the film will have existential depth. And the Duplass brothers surely meant for that to be the case. While both Helms and Segel excel in their performances, the script doesn't manage to deliver on the depth and complexity it clearly wants to have. Instead, it feels flat, predictable, and at times boring. On the other hand, it has a clean, understandable message and its characters hit the sweet spot of being lovable, yet refreshingly flawed - but, as is often the case, the same could be said about the movie as a whole.

• George F

  
  I really enjoyed this. I remembered seeing the trailer and honestly, this genre is usually right up my alley. A more indie dramedy with usually hilarious people showing more of a toned-down realistic turn of a performance. This is a great story about family, about feeling lost in life… More
  I really enjoyed this. I remembered seeing the trailer and honestly, this genre is usually right up my alley. A more indie dramedy with usually hilarious people showing more of a toned-down realistic turn of a performance. This is a great story about family, about feeling lost in life and about trying to find a connection to either. And I always appreciate a movie that can be great in under 90 minutes.

• Eric H

  
  Obsessed with the M. Night Shyamalan movie "Signs", stoner Segel believes everything happens for a reason. When he receives a misdialed phone call from someone looking for "Kevin" he takes it as some kind of sign. While riding the bus he spots a young black guy… More
  Obsessed with the M. Night Shyamalan movie "Signs", stoner Segel believes everything happens for a reason. When he receives a misdialed phone call from someone looking for "Kevin" he takes it as some kind of sign. While riding the bus he spots a young black guy with the name Kevin printed on his basketball jersey. Segel follows him and ends up shooting hoops with Kevin and his friends. As this scene was unfolding I couldn't help thinking how rare it was in American cinema to see a bunch of black characters have a non-threatening interaction with a white guy. It didn't take long for American cinema to let itself down, in the next scene they mug Segel. Segel's mother, Sarandon (the highlight of the film), is receiving flirtatious messages on her office computer from someone claiming to work with her. It turns out to be her female coworker, Chong, to Sarandon's shock. Figuring she has nothing to lose, Sarandon accepts the advances, sharing a kiss under the office sprinklers during a fire drill. Segel continues to follow seemingly random signs which eventually lead to his rescuing of a drowning family. Let's take a look at the messages relayed here. A higher power controls our destiny. Young black men aren't to be trusted. People can become homosexual at the drop of a hat. Even Tea Party members would find this offensive. I honestly don't believe the film-makers intended this though which makes it even more disturbing. How can so many people be ignorant enough to let something this insensitive be released? What on earth is Sarandon, one half of the most notoriously liberal couple in Hollywood, doing putting her name to a project so conservative in it's mindset it makes Sarah Palin look like Jane Fonda. The Duplass brothers probably thought they were being "edgy" by having a character suddenly "turn gay". Only an idiot or a religious nut (the two generally go hand in hand) believes that people can "turn gay". Homosexuality isn't some sort of flight of fancy you can randomly choose when it suits you, it's a condition humans are born with. It's because of this mistaken belief that gays are still treated as second class citizens in most of the world. It's not a particularly bad film, it features some quality performances, but like it's title character it seems to have been made by two straight white guys with no experience of the world beyond their basement.

• Glenn G

  
  I never really cottoned to the whole Mumblecore Mumbojumbo. So many indie films, because of budgetary constraints or perhaps sue to a lack of imagination, are about people talking in rooms. It felt a little redundant to assign a name on top of it. The Duplass Brothers, however, are… More
  I never really cottoned to the whole Mumblecore Mumbojumbo. So many indie films, because of budgetary constraints or perhaps sue to a lack of imagination, are about people talking in rooms. It felt a little redundant to assign a name on top of it. The Duplass Brothers, however, are after something different. Ostensibly the originators of the Mumblecore Movement, they simply make smart films about the tiny nuances in human relationships. From THE PUFFY CHAIR to BAGHEAD to CYRUS, they've taken that concept and added a sense of danger to their charming storytelling techniques, and have improved with each new film. In the case of JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME, they had me from the opening monologue. Any movie which has their slacker/stoner title character spout off on wonders of the execrable movie, SIGNS, and use its ridiculous story as a reason to listen to what the universe is telling him, is enough to sit up, take notice, and go along for the ride. And what a ride it is. Jeff, beautifully played by Jason Segel, lives in his mother's basement, and when our story begins, she sends him on a simple mission to buy wood glue at Home Depot in order to fix a window shutter in the kitchen. Classic unambitious indie film plot, eh? Of course, nothing will go as planned, and the first sign of this comes when an angry man calls Jeff by mistake and demands to speak with someone named Kevin. In typical stoner fashion, Jeff sees this as fate and veers wildly off course to pursue the Kevins of the world. Somehow mixed up in all of this is his brother, the great Ed Helms, and his unhappy wife, Judy Greer, as well as his aforementioned mother, perfectly realized by Susan Sarandon. What starts out as a fool's errand becomes a story about getting off your ass and doing something with your life. To give away any more of the story would be to rob you of the warmth and beauty on display. JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME is not a laugh riot. It's something more. It's sweet, tender, without being overly sentimental. The characters are uncomfortable to watch, because they're believably trapped in their life situations. It takes tremendous empathy as filmmakers to pull this off, and the Duplass Brothers are more than up to the task. In addition to the wonderful performances, (and how refreshing it is to see Rae Dawn Chong bring credible rapport and kindness to a role as Sarandon's office co-worker that could have easily been forgettable) Mark Andrews has created an instantly memorable score out of a simple xylophone motif that perfectly captures the tone of its main character. Unlike many films of its ilk, JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME has the ambition to bring everything together in a complicated and unexpected climax. Most films like this would simply allow the characters to drift off in some aimless conversation and then roll end credits. This one, literally and figuratively, puts all of its pieces in place, allowing you to leave the theater saying, "Wow, I really loved this movie."

• Jeff B

  
  Far from being a bio-pic of this reviewer, Jeff, Who Lives at Home is rather a pointedly funny but stark Home-slice of a dark comedy with awkward moments both laughable and thought-provoking. Powered by 2 ace comedic performances, the simple well-worn set-up yields more masterclass… More
  Far from being a bio-pic of this reviewer, Jeff, Who Lives at Home is rather a pointedly funny but stark Home-slice of a dark comedy with awkward moments both laughable and thought-provoking. Powered by 2 ace comedic performances, the simple well-worn set-up yields more masterclass improv moments than constant scripted hilarity...until the winning sharp turn in the 3rd act makes you realize that 2 great directors have been pulling the strings all the while. It's a gut-punch story arc, but the end result smacks of such intelligence and warmth that you forget that it all began with a stoner getting on the bus to go to buy wood glue from Home Depot. Such is the beauty of great independent filmmaking. Deceptive simplicity is sometimes a sign of greatness from the universe. In this R-rated comedy, ne'er-do-well Jeff (Segel) searches for signs from the universe to determine his life's path, only to cross paths with his cuckolded brother (Helms) and lovelorn mother (Susan Sarandon) in the strangest of places, circumstances, and coincidences. Writer/directors Jay and Mark Duplass always give moviegoers insightful comedies, The Puffy Chair and Cyrus being 2 such examples. Jeff, Who Lives at Home takes their game to a bleaker level, but the very human moments and characters make the experience all the more rewarding and funny. Jason Segel, himself a great comedy writer with Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Muppets, and Office star Ed Helms make a wonderful at-odds couple, imbuing the Duplass's wit with enough spit to help sell through their best brother film yet. Bottom line: Jeff, who likes this film.

• Philip P

  
  The directing team of the Duplass brothers produced a rather interesting comedy a few years ago in "Cyrus" when pairing a perfectly cast Jonah Hill opposite a wildly hilarious and self-conscious John C. Reilly. What spoke to me most about the project though, was not that it… More
  The directing team of the Duplass brothers produced a rather interesting comedy a few years ago in "Cyrus" when pairing a perfectly cast Jonah Hill opposite a wildly hilarious and self-conscious John C. Reilly. What spoke to me most about the project though, was not that it cast these two major comic actors in a more intimate light, but instead that it had them playing these characters who weren't just your average funny guy. They were in a real, completely possible situation that life presented and to see these guys that play it up with such farcical tones most of the time in a situation that made them stop and realize and then laugh made it a real treat (though Reilly is known for his serious/indie side as well). The same can be said about their followup "Jeff, Who Lives at Home" which again stars two major comic actors in roles that aren't smaller in the context of the film, but simply smaller in terms of life. Our title character Jeff is played by the always lovable and effortlessly funny Jason Segel. As an actor, Segel has perfected the art of playing a slob with musings that he'd like to compare to Ghandi. As Jeff, Segel is a perfect blend of innocence mixed with wit and charisma that spews into every look he gives his brother Pat. Ed Helms plays the up-front jerk of a guy that is Pat and is given a chance to be someone other than the goober-loser shtick that has infused pretty much every character he has ever played. Like the story it's telling, "Jeff, Who Lives at Home" isn't a big movie, but it has a sweet heart and no matter how repulsive the characters might act, they win you over in the end. Jeff is a guy who thinks everything happens for a reason, literally, every single thing. He is 30 and still has no idea as to what he wants to do with his life and seems to have no real aspirations in trying to find it either. He is simply going to let the universe guide him. It sounds very romantic and all, but the reality is that Jeff wears the same hoodie every day, hasn't had a girlfriend since high school and lives alone in his mom's basement where he seems to do nothing but watch "signs" over and over again. He is a kind of lost soul that is a slacker at heart. He aspires to much more, but the truth is that if he really had to do anything consistently he would just bum him out more. As Pat, Helms is a class-A douche bag that has chosen to go behind his wife's back and spend their savings on a Porsche rather than investing in a house. Their relationship has been deteriorating for a while now, and its clear that Pat's attitude toward pretty much everything is what is causing this. Then there's their poor mother played by Susan Sarandon who has been drifting through life since the death of her husband at a cubicle job that offers no real adventure in life. She's stuck with Jeff at home and Pat who pays her no regard or respect. We follow these three characters on a certain day that promises new beginnings for each of them, but more importantly the Duplass brothers have made it more about the meaning of those beginnings. We know from the opening shot what the tone of the film will be and it continues with the musical score and the very personal way in which the movie has been shot. We don't get any particularly cinematic shots yet are instead to an increased amount of zooms and documentary-like style of moving the camera. Nevertheless, it works in building this relationship with the heart of the film, who is of course Jeff. We are drawn into his world just as his brother is when they somehow wind up on a journey together to uncover whether Pat's wife (Judy Greer) is having an affair or not. Don't let that line fool you though, that isn't what the movie is about. It can hardly be summed up in a typical tone where the actions of these characters determine the plot line. The reason being the actions of these characters are abnormally random and while the whole point of the film is to give such everyday folks a far fetched experience the film is so expertly crafted that none of this feels all too "out there". In fact, when Jeff hops on the back of a truck because it is adorned with the name "Kevin" we completely accept because we are thinking in Jeff terms. It is a lovely way to shape the audiences point of view and the Duplass brothers accomplish it wonderfully here by telling a story that introduces some of the weirdest details throughout while bringing it all together is perfect sync in that one moment. While it may be difficult to understand the charms of this movie at first with its patience-testing pace, by the end of it you will surely be smiling. It is hard to decipher exactly why such stories that can seemingly do nothing to offer escapism appeal to an audience, but there are moods that we all have that simply long for the company of those we can relate to. That seems to be the quest of the Duplass directing team as what they have done here is to show the what ifs of a dreamer coming true; that vindication of knowing that what Jeff has believed his entire life finally has some credibility to it and that others, and not just anyone, but his family has caught a glimpse of it and understands where he is coming from. Why he operates the way he does. It is a sweet, charming film that offers as many laughs as it does emotional moments. The directors are just lucky enough to have such skilled actors who can truly convey the points of their writing to an audience without the meaning becoming misinterpreted. Each of these actors has done that here, whether is be Segel lending his slight smile to a moment of clarity, Helms perfectly hitting the inflection of his dialogue or Sarandon conveying her desperate need to feel more in life. It is in a way comforting and affirming that there might be someone out there that was inspired to write something like this because they have felt the exact same ways you have before, but more importantly that there is always the chance of a light at the end of the tunnel.

• Daniel D

  
  This movie had all the makings of being 5 stars if it stayed simple. With the name Jeff, who lives at home I expected a fun simple comedy. At first it was but then they had to make it more complicated. (Spoilers ahead) I think the whole saving the dad and daughters scene could have… More
  This movie had all the makings of being 5 stars if it stayed simple. With the name Jeff, who lives at home I expected a fun simple comedy. At first it was but then they had to make it more complicated. (Spoilers ahead) I think the whole saving the dad and daughters scene could have been cut out. Yes it was the most symbolic scene but it could've been taken out. Then the scene where the mother kisses her coworker was completely stupid. The directors probably just put that in to send a message and it didn't work, just made you pity them. Now I haven't said anything positive about this movie despite my positive rating. don't get me wrong there are a lot of great things about this film. The cast was great and I laughed plenty, this might sound stupid, but they should've made it a film with really no story.

• ernest e

  
  We liked it.

• Jason R

  
  Deeply satisfying film from The Duplass Brothers! Based on the trailers, I felt that this would be just another cut and dry, indie film. I was completely wrong, and very happy to be so. I was completely immersed in this story and the ending. Was surprisingly one of the most heart-felt… More
  Deeply satisfying film from The Duplass Brothers! Based on the trailers, I felt that this would be just another cut and dry, indie film. I was completely wrong, and very happy to be so. I was completely immersed in this story and the ending. Was surprisingly one of the most heart-felt moments, I have ever seen. It was a crazy ride, full of odd twists, but when it is all said and done. JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME, is worth every minute of your time.

• Jason C

  
  With an almost monotone pace, Jeff, Who Lives at Home is made better by its cast. Segel and Helms don't really have much chemistry, but are both good actors individually. As a matter of fact, none of the actors together demonstrate much chemistry. But again, they're all… More
  With an almost monotone pace, Jeff, Who Lives at Home is made better by its cast. Segel and Helms don't really have much chemistry, but are both good actors individually. As a matter of fact, none of the actors together demonstrate much chemistry. But again, they're all individually good actors. There's not much self discovery, or at least not much to make Jeff a real good movie. Just barely enough to keep the movie alive. Luckily enough the director was smart enough to keep the run-time short. Jeff, Who Lives at Home honestly would be a bad movie if the actors weren't present to give the script a little life. Don't look for depth, even though it seems like they're trying to give the movie some. Don't go out of your way to see it either. It's not really worth searching out, and is in limited release. It'll be on a movie channel soon enough.

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