Elevator Pitch
Just after seeing his wife being unfaithful to him (literally) Judd Altman is called back to the family home where his father has just died. He, his two brothers, his sister and his mother, now the widow, are required to “ sit shiva”, a Jewish mourning process where the close relatives of the deceased stay in the family home for seven days, while others come visiting and give them comfort. They have brought their various hangers on and all interact. They argue and fight and some of them are unfaithful to their spouses. Judd meets an old flame, but his almost ex-wife is pregnant with his child. How does it all pan out?
Content
We see the naked buttocks of Judd’s boss as he is in action with the wife. Back in the family home Judd is assigned a sofa bed in the cellar. The three brothers discuss their various life experiences, all quite different. Phil has Porsche. The family business run by Paul is viewed and discussed. A child, Wendy’s son, is shown using a plastic potty quite often. The brothers smoke cannabis in the synagogue’s back room. After the week they assess their situation and there is news. So as well as the nudity and sex there is drinking and drug taking.
| A View | The critics seemed to have been more or less evenly divided between those who liked it and those who were indifferent to it. I am with the latter group. Once we had disposed of the initial action and the family get together the constant chatter became boring rapidly, and it could be that the book made more of the infidelity which was pretty well brushed over, that and the number of characters involved. As a writer I am taken to task for not identifying the point of view. I think we are supposed to be seeing it through Judd’s eyes but the presentation constantly slides away. It is so mediocre that I am making it an “ALMOST DON’T SEE”. | ||
| Duration | 1h 43m | Rating (UK) | 15 |
| Source of story | A book of the same name by Jonathan Tropper | ||
| Director | Shawn Levy | ||
| Writers/Script | Jonathan Tropper | ||
| Starring | Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll, Kathryn Hahn, Timothy Olyphant, Dax Shepard, Abigail Spencer | ||
| Additional Info | There is a Jaguar E-Type coupe in the final act which is turned over. I thought that it had a V8 installed due to the exhausts. I read that American enthusiasts have often replaced the original straight six with one, but it possibly could have been a MkIII with a V12. | ||
A MOTION PICTURE LIST 
Discussion
No comments yet.