A film about a mother, her romantically challenged son and her dreaming slacker son, all very lonely and disorganized. The story begins with Jeff (Jason Segel), a 30 year pot head that lives in his mothers basement. Jeff believes that everything is a sign or has a deeper meaning. He receives a mysterious phone call asking for a "Kevin", but he doesn't know a Kevin. He takes this as a sign. He is somewhat philosophical but is viewed as a slacker by his mom, Sharon (Susan Sarandon) and his brother Pat (Ed Helms). Pat is a mono-toned and pretentious salesman. We are introduced to Pat and his wife Linda (Judy Greer) at breakfast. Pat attempts to water the dying flower that is their marriage with breakfast and a not so welcomed surprise, a new Porsche boxster. This sprouts into an argument do to the fact that they don't have the money and that ultimately, Pat made the decision without Linda. Linda vents her frustration by throwing the breakfast onto the car as passive-aggressive Pat watches. We are brought back to Jeff who receives another call and is hesitant, it is his mother Sharon asking him to go out and get a new shutter for the pantry. She really intends on getting her middle aged son out of the house. Jeff than leaves for what is more than just a trip to home depot. He begins seeing signs relating to "Kevin" such as a kid with the same name, he follows the kid resulting in his mugging as well as crossing paths with his brother, Pat while he is at Hooters. The brothers than crash the new car into a tree. Pat pays some people off to not call the police due to the fact that Pat had been drinking. They spot Pat's wife, Linda at a gas station with another man in the car. They proceed to follow her around to find out what is going on. All this is happening while Sharon is at the office receiving hints from a secret admirer over IM. She is excited but also cautious because of her insecurities with her age and her body along with the fear of rejection, or being the butt of a joke. She confides in her friend Carol ( Rae Dawn Chong) as she continues to wonder who the secret admirer is. The movie seems to have a lot of content packed into one day. Jeff and Pat are chasing around Pat's wife, Linda, in suspicion of infidelity. Sharon is desperately searching for her secret admirer who has an inflated importance because of her loneliness. The film feels like a climax to a much longer movie. In the matter of a day we see Jeff conflicting with Pat, Pat conflicting with his wife, Linda and Sharon conflicting with both of her sons and all of them conflicting with themselves. The story results in the saving of lives along with the saving of their own lives. Through a series of traumatic events we find the characters re-prioritize and come together as a family. The climax is what made my rating a 7/10. It felt like everything was happening all at once (in a day) and made it feel pretty unrealistic. The movie than hit the climax which provided an interesting turn in the story. This comedy-drama felt like another Step Brothers (Will Ferrell and John C Reilly) at first but proved to be more of a family drama with a few decently funny scenes. Overall a good film even though I don't feel the need to watch it again anytime soon or really boast about it.
Review of Jeff, Who Lives at Home
