Jeff, Who Lives at Home

By the looks of the cast it would be an easy assumption to think it's another pot-smoking Jason Segal movie with Ed Helms playing his affable big brother and Susan Sarandon his frustrated (with a right to be) mother.  But the magic happens when we get past these stereotypes and see the wonderful characters that the Duplass brothers ("Cyrus") have created. 

Superficially, yes, Jason Segal (Jeff) who lives in his mother's basement (thus the title) is a pot smoker... but he is a covert optimistic philosophical pot smoker who happens to hold the movie "Signs" as his holy bible and is waiting for his first sign from the universe to show itself.  And, yes, Ed Helms (Pat) plays his know-it-all big brother, but he is also a self-indulgent jackass lost in a emotionless marriage he hopes will be fixed by the purchase of a Porsche rather than building a nest egg with his wife (played by Judy Greer).  

What begins as a metaphoric quest for glue, is a story that follows Jeff who is searching for symbols that will lead him to his treasure of human contact, love, family, and a connection to the world.  What the brilliant Duplass brothers deliver is a brilliant, beautiful, humorous, and thought-provoking comedy.  Jason Segal, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, and Judy Greer are equally brilliant in their passive/aggressive and apathetic roles and act with a specific kind of quietness I have never experienced in film before.  Rarely does a film come along that just grabs the audience, for in the first five minutes one is savoring every word, every character, and every scene, hoping that 90 minutes will really turn into five hours.

"Jeff, Who Lives at Home" tackles the meaning of life and peppers it with a unique humor, grace, and empathy that I very much appreciated.  I will be adding it to my list of favorites in this genre such as... "Amelie", "Next Stop Wonderland", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", and from the trilogy "The Three Colors: Red"...to recommend a few.