Plot
Jeff is a 30 year old “man child” who still lives at home in his mothers basement.
On a day like no other, he gets a wrong phone call for someone looking for “Kevin”, so while out running an errand for his mother, starts to search for “Kevin”.
On his journey, he bumps into his brother Pat, who is going through a crisis with his relationship with wife Linda – who might be cheating on him.
Meanwhile their mother Sharon is having her own crisis, as she discovers that one of her colleagues is her secret admirer. She then spends the day discovering who it is, and is shocked to discover the identity.
Direction
Directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, it has an art-house/Indy feel to it, with the limited budget.
I didn’t much care for the frequent ‘zoom in’ on characters as they are talking, as it was overused. There are a small handful of times it was used effectively, but it felt like they were trying to add emphasis on the characters where it wasn’t needed.
Cast/Characters
Jason Segel plays the titular role of Jeff. He very clearly gives a tremendous performance, and it is no wonder he was the heart of HIMYM.
Ed Helms plays Pat, giving a solid performance. I found his character very similar to his Office counterpart… almost ‘season 9’ vibes.
Judy Greer plays Linda. I found her character to be the best written out of the four, with her seemingly having an affair, but her reasoning for it is actually quite heartbreaking.
Susan Sarandon plays Sharon, their mother who mostly shares her scenes with the character of Carol, and only has a blink and you’ll miss it scene with her sons in the last minutes of the film.
Rae Dawn Chong plays Carol, Sharon’s work friend who helps find her secret admirer.
Breakdown
The entire plot here feels disjointed, and rushed. There are moments that happen that seem completely illogical and nonsensical, especially given how rooted in realism the film was.
Jeff’s mission to “find Kevin” takes a back seat at times to the mission of finding out if Linda is cheating on Pat. Their relationship is odd too, and feels as if it would be better suited for a seasons long sitcom, rather than an 82 minute movie.
They go from physically fighting (rahter comically) to heart to hearts too quickly too. Given the film spans less than a day in timeline, all the self revelations seem as if they have a rushed ‘beginning middle and end’
Sharon’s arc felt like it needed to be extended out too, as she spends her day discovering that she has a secret admirer, discussing her love life with her friend Carol (explaining she would love to be kissed in the rain), then discovering her admirer is Carol (who then pulls the fire drill to make the sprinklers go off for them to then kiss in the rain).
The happy endings of Pat and Linda don’t feel deserved. He is clearly a unloving partner, who barely listens to her, which makes her want to cheat. You actually feel quite sympathetic for her due to her unhappiness too. There is no comeuppance for him buying and crashing a Porsche when they are almost broke too!
Jeff’s primary focus on “finding Kevin” culminates in him saving the lives of a family in a sinking car (and lo and behold the dad’s name is Kevin) – which brings around his “everything is connected” theory.
If the film had been another 15 minutes longer, and stretched over a few days, then this would have had more of an impact, but the characters all having such monumental changes to their lives in one day feels too much.
The character dynamics are barely explored (why Jeff is still living at home at 30, due his father dying when he is 14), the sibling dynamic between Pat and Jeff, and not to mention the Sharon/Carol relationship doesn’t seem genuine.
Overall
Despite the critical acclaim it received, I just didn’t see it. I didn’t buy the happy ending for all the characters either. Good performances don’t save this for me. It’s passable, but just.
3/5
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