I don’t know if it is a new breed of comedy, it probably isn’t, but it has been seeing a resurgence lately. The Dramady. The first one recently that comes to mind was Will Ferrell’s Everything Must Go. I am sure the reason it got no box office time was that Ferrell wasn’t hamming it up for 90 minutes; it was a funny film with a sad heart and a great performance by Ferrell. Sometimes audiences are not ready for that. The latest film to follow suit is Jeff Who Lives at Home, written and directed by Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass. The brothers Duplass broke onto the scene with The Puffy Chair in 2005 followed by Baghead in 2008. In 2010 they had the same sort of situation as Jeff with Cyrus, a movie with two hot comedians John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill. But alas, Cyrus pretty much skipped theatres and went straight to the home video market. Why? It was not a dumb comedy; it was dark with many emotional elements to it. And it was great. Jeff Who Lives at Home is the same distribution story all over again, straight to home video. But is it good?
Jeff (Jason Segel) lives at home with his mother (Susan Sarandon). He doesn’t do much of anything all day except ponder what his destiny and the meaning of life may be. He eventually ventures out of the house to get glue to fix a shutter for his mom. While out, he runs into his older brother Pat (Ed Helms). Pat is in a troubled marriage, just bought a Porsche against his wife’s wishes, and while talking to Jeff, he sees his wife out with another man. Jeff and Pat head out on an unintentional journey to find out more about the affair and to confront Pat’s wife. Along the way, they discover more about each other and find out that while they don’t have anything in common; their brotherly bond might mean something anyways.
Jeff Who Lives at Home is definitely a situational comedy, but there is an underlying heart and soul to it and to the characters. There is a side story about Jeff and Pat’s mother who is dealing with loneliness and might have a secret admirer in her office. Sarandon brings a great deal of emotional weight to her story even though it really doesn’t occupy much of the screen time. As far as Jeff and Pat’s story, it is full of deeper meaning as well. Questions about life, meaning, chance, and the role we all have to play in our own fates are all addressed rather slyly within the jokes. And the film doesn’t necessarily take the usual turns you expect either. When you expect Pat and his wife to finally get an opportunity to talk things out, Pat is an absolute ass and blows it even further. And while Jeff may be a directionless dolt, he may just be the spiritual guide of the film, trusting aspects of life that most people wouldn’t even give a second thought to. I enjoyed Jeff Who Lives at Home more than I thought I would, and kept thinking about it much longer afterwards than I thought I would as well.
The BluRay from Paramount is very nice, outshining most comedies in terms of quality. The picture is crisp and clear with amazing detail and clarity. I was quite astounded by it. Even the soundtrack, which is mainly dialogue, is great and noticeably surrounding when the characters are in public places. Overall this really is above average for its genre. And the film is a pleasant surprise as well. Highly recommended.
