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This Is Where I Leave You
by Jonathan Tropper
Voice Over: Judd Foxman had the perfect job...
(on-air antics at the radio station; his boss makes a sexist joke)
VO: the perfect girl...
(hot young starlet (Jessica Biel?) smiles at camera)
VO: The perfect life... Until one day, it left him behind.
(smiling, Judd carries an ornate birthday cake into a bedroom. "Surprise, honey! Happy birthday!" Flash cut: Biel in bed, looking over a man's shoulder. "Judd!" The man turns, and it's Judd's boss. "Foxman! How's it hanging?" Back to Judd, who flings the still burning cake at the couple.)
(phone rings)
Off-Camera Dialogue: Judd, it's about dad.
(Sad music. Montage of Judd driving, looking sad. Arriving at a house, entering and hugging his siblings, interrupted by a comedy gag with baby vomit. Judd's brother: "Welcome home.")
(Dialogue over a montage, fill this in later...)
"I can't believe dad wants us to sit shiva! He wasn't even religous! Mom is a sex columnist for heaven's sake!"
(Goldie Hawn gets her glamor shot: "Hey, just because I'm your mother, doesn't mean I don't get a little lonely for a man once in a while!" Beat. Reaction shot of the siblings. "Well it's true!")
VO (over another montage, put some of the slapstick in here, with some shots of people crying and maybe dancing): Now, he'll have seven days to re-connect... to pick up the pieces... to see if he can ever put things back the way he left them.
VO: From director Gore Verbinski and the studio that brought you Little Miss Sunshine comes another story about how the things that threaten to tear us apart are often the moments that bring us closer together...
(The Killers Mr. Brightside starts playing over fast cut montage)
VO: Jason Segal. Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Rachel McAdams. David Schwimmer. And Academy-Award winner Goldie Hawn.
(shot of the dad knocking the potty out of the boy's hands, implied shot of the mess landing on a plate, cut to Judd who delivers the laugh line: "Well, you can't ask for a more perfect metaphor than that!")
This is Where I Leave You. Rated PG-13.
___
Such a desperate grab for a Hollywood deal, you can practically cast the inevitable quirky pseudo-indie film version as you read it. I enjoyed "Little Miss Sunshine" and all, but sit-com dialogue, comedic episodic storytelling, and dime store emotional depth work a lot better on film.
Just about every character here is a type, constructed to death, whatever depth they have as calculated as the formulated seven-day plotting (i.e. they only reveal their hidden emotions at just the right moment -- the Roger Rabbit rule of storytelling).
I'm mystified why this has garnered such praise, or I would be if everyone hadn't loved Juno too. Tropper is a great writer, and can certainly write a punchline with the best of them, but there's nothing here you haven't read, or more likely, watched, before.
by Jonathan Tropper
Voice Over: Judd Foxman had the perfect job...
(on-air antics at the radio station; his boss makes a sexist joke)
VO: the perfect girl...
(hot young starlet (Jessica Biel?) smiles at camera)
VO: The perfect life... Until one day, it left him behind.
(smiling, Judd carries an ornate birthday cake into a bedroom. "Surprise, honey! Happy birthday!" Flash cut: Biel in bed, looking over a man's shoulder. "Judd!" The man turns, and it's Judd's boss. "Foxman! How's it hanging?" Back to Judd, who flings the still burning cake at the couple.)
(phone rings)
Off-Camera Dialogue: Judd, it's about dad.
(Sad music. Montage of Judd driving, looking sad. Arriving at a house, entering and hugging his siblings, interrupted by a comedy gag with baby vomit. Judd's brother: "Welcome home.")
(Dialogue over a montage, fill this in later...)
"I can't believe dad wants us to sit shiva! He wasn't even religous! Mom is a sex columnist for heaven's sake!"
(Goldie Hawn gets her glamor shot: "Hey, just because I'm your mother, doesn't mean I don't get a little lonely for a man once in a while!" Beat. Reaction shot of the siblings. "Well it's true!")
VO (over another montage, put some of the slapstick in here, with some shots of people crying and maybe dancing): Now, he'll have seven days to re-connect... to pick up the pieces... to see if he can ever put things back the way he left them.
VO: From director Gore Verbinski and the studio that brought you Little Miss Sunshine comes another story about how the things that threaten to tear us apart are often the moments that bring us closer together...
(The Killers Mr. Brightside starts playing over fast cut montage)
VO: Jason Segal. Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Rachel McAdams. David Schwimmer. And Academy-Award winner Goldie Hawn.
(shot of the dad knocking the potty out of the boy's hands, implied shot of the mess landing on a plate, cut to Judd who delivers the laugh line: "Well, you can't ask for a more perfect metaphor than that!")
This is Where I Leave You. Rated PG-13.
___
Such a desperate grab for a Hollywood deal, you can practically cast the inevitable quirky pseudo-indie film version as you read it. I enjoyed "Little Miss Sunshine" and all, but sit-com dialogue, comedic episodic storytelling, and dime store emotional depth work a lot better on film.
Just about every character here is a type, constructed to death, whatever depth they have as calculated as the formulated seven-day plotting (i.e. they only reveal their hidden emotions at just the right moment -- the Roger Rabbit rule of storytelling).
I'm mystified why this has garnered such praise, or I would be if everyone hadn't loved Juno too. Tropper is a great writer, and can certainly write a punchline with the best of them, but there's nothing here you haven't read, or more likely, watched, before.
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Reading Progress
| 11/23/2009 | page 240 |
|
68.18% | "Good writing undone by horribly cliched characters and sit-com plotting. This is what people are calling one of the best of the year?" |
Comments (showing 1-20 of 20) (20 new)
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rachel
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Dec 29, 2010 03:02pm
I think I would watch the film version of a Jonathan Tropper book if it had Jason Segal in it, though.
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oh clearly this would be a more enjoyable movie. i wouldn't read whatever imaginary novel the family stone was based on but i liked the movie.it's more that it's easy to allow for stock characters and the like in a movie because you spend a lot less time with it and actors (and music and cinematography, etc) can elevate the material. a book is the words on a page and they better make the case for themselves.
You write fascinating reviews, and I usually see "things" your way. But your opinion of Tropper's hilarious novel -- well, "this is where I leave you." For now, that is.
On the page, this book did not come off at all as you have described. I wonder if perhaps the audiobook's reader's style influenced your perception a bit, because I think this is a book deserving of every bit of praise it garnered.
it's possible, but i am usually fairly good at taking that kind of stuff into account and the things that bothered me had nothing to do with the "delivery" so to speak. i didn't find the emotion or the characters genuine, all of the humor felt overly familiar (getting high in school/setting of fire alarm was one egregious example), the typed characters (bitter former athlete, etc.). i don't begrudge anyone who liked it but i decidedly did not.
If you ever have to "sit shiva" with family members who infuriate you or embarrass you or exhaust you or all of the preceding, you may want to give the work (book form) another chance.
Spot ON! I felt exactly like this and the way you conveyed it was perfect. There's a reason why Friends is a sitcom, not a novel. It is books becoming more and more like television that makes me fear the future the most.
glad you enjoyed it, marg. i like the friends comparison - that's totally how this feels. i mean, it is better than that in terms of writing and character development, but plotting, humor, sure.
This was perfect. I'm thinking "Solsbury Hill" playing instead of "Mr. Brightside" but, yeah...same difference.
thanks!in re-reading this, i realized i wrote jason segal when i meant josh radnor. segal is too likable for judd.
Funny! I would totally see this movie at the dollar theater. And Josh Radnor as Judd..yes or...Zach Braff.
HOLY CRAP I CALLED IT!Zac Efron, Leslie Mann, Jason Bateman and Goldie Hawn are also making deals to play roles in the Warner Bros. drama.
Josh, I saw this the other day and almost wrote to you to tell you! Btw, your casting of Jason Segal or Braff is way better than Zac Efron, who I think is cast as Judd? Dude looks like he's 12. Good call!
I would think (hope) Efron is being cast as Phillip. I'm not too sold on Bateman playing Judd though. He would be much better cast as Wade.
