Writer/director/actor brothers Mark and Jay Duplass have, in recent years, been known for a brand of off-beat humor associated with a film movement called “mumblecore.” This genre is usually defined by a socially downtrodden middle-aged man going through some event and handling it in the way that a socially downtrodden middle-aged man would, often with self-deprecating humor, as in the FX show The League. Jason Segel and Ed Helms, who play brothers in Jeff, Who Lives at Home, the brothers Duplass’ most recent effort, are perfectly cast for the film’s niche humor and surprisingly well-suited for the movie’s sentimental notes.
Though not the sort of outright clever, laugh-track humor that fills sitcoms like How I Met Your Mother, the film does pack in a serious amount of laughs generally induced by the teddy bear figure of Jeff (Segel) who is determined to find meaning in what most others would consider a simple wrong number phone call. Getting a phone call from someone looking for “Kevin,” Jeff makes his decisions for the duration of the film based on his sightings of people who share the name. Assuring himself that there is a reason for everything and that following his gut will lead him to his destiny, he manages to cross paths with his estranged brother. Together, the childlike mannerisms of Helms and Segels add a certain sadness to some of the more futile, midlife-crisis situations the film tackles.
The opening of the film sets the audience up for the “mumblecore” humor style, with Jeff speaking into a recorder about the significance of the little girl’s inability to drink full glasses of water in the film Signs. It’s a bit of a serious, although awkard, opening mologue, which breaks into slapstick humor once the viewer realizes Jeff is on the toilet. In addition to Segel’s quirky portrayal of Jeff, Susan Sarandon, in her role as Jeff’s relatable mother, brings depth to the sad frustration of a mediocre day-to-day life. While not for everyone, the particularized, awkward sense of humor blent with painstaking, and sometimes sad, overtones makes the film charming. By crafting a story that takes place over just one day, the Duplasses excellently bring out the theme if providence over which Jeff spends the film obsessing. In this short span of time, the paths of all the major characters eventually cross, solidifying Jeff’s destiny.
Though the film has a few twists and turns that are not necessarily shocking, an unexpected air permeates Jeff. Its humor is dry and ironic, setting the film apart from its “mumblecore” classmates. Someone searching for a modern-day Seinfeld should look elsewhere, however; Jeff, Who Lives at Home is a movie about “something,” even if it’s hard to pin down exactly what that something is.
