Why does Jeff live at home? He’s certainly old enough to be on his own. From the very opening scene we form the opinion that he’s nothing but a slacker.
But there is something else going on in Jeff, Who Lives at Home, a 2012 comedy that I missed in the theater and rented on DVD.
Jason Segel does a charming job in the part of Jeff, whom you can’t help but like in spite of his apparent uselessness. One day Jeff goes out to buy wood glue, and is distracted by a series of — coincidences? signs? — that keep him bumping into his brother and his brother’s wife as they go through a traumatic day of their own.
Jeff keeps searching for meaning, in things that anyone knows have no meaning. In doing that, he bumbles along as his cad of a brother uses him to spy on his wife, who the brother suspects is having an affair. He also serves as a kind of laid-back example of decency for his superficial brother, played by Ed Helms.
This was a pretty low-key movie — it felt unassuming, just like Jeff. It was also very funny, in spite of the catastrophes that followed Pat — a character who was portrayed as mostly deserving what he got. The subplot about Jeff’s mother, though fun, didn’t fit in too well with the main storyline. However, I very much enjoyed the quiet style of this movie.
Here’s a link to more information about this movie on IMDb.
Author Anne Marie Lutz 