Jeff, Who Lives at Home (+UltraViolet)

Product Description Starring Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, TV’s How I Met Your Mother), Ed Helms (Hangover I & II ) and Academy Award®-winner Susan Sarandon, Jeff Who Lives at Home is the story of one man’s hilarious search for the meaning of life. As slacker Jeff stumbles towards enlightenment, he uncovers answers to his nagging family’s problems. Jeff has no idea where he’s going but when he finally gets there, he might just find out what it’s all about in this “gem of a movie that is funny, tender and ultimately moving.”*  *Mark Adams, SCREENDAILY Amazon.com Jason Segel ( The Muppets, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) brings his slacker nerd charm to Jeff, the title character of Jeff Who Lives at Home. A wrong number and an infomercial conspire to send Jeff, who may smoke a bit too much pot, on a quest for signs from the universe that will lead him to his destiny--which might involve helping his obnoxious brother Pat (Ed Helms, Cedar Rapids) discover his long-suffering wife Linda (Judy Greer, The Descendants) in an adulterous affair. Jeff is perfectly cast; Segel, Helms, and Greer all excel at creating comic characters who may not be likable, yet you care about them anyway (Susan Sarandon hits the same note as Jeff and Pat's frustrated mother). Writer-director team Mark and Jay Duplass began their career in the "mumblecore" movement (a term they would probably reject), an ultra-low-budget idiom that's been accused of being anti-dramatic. But at its best, mumblecore finds the drama in the ordinary aspects of life. Jeff isn't mumblecore, but for most of its length, the comedy walks that balance between the everyday and the eventful--not unlike the balance that Jeff seeks to find in the world. The ending succumbs to the need to wrap things up too tidily, but it's forgivable. This is a modest but humane film; after it's over, it may linger surprisingly in your memory, tuning you in to the possibilities around you. --Bret Fetzer