Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2011)

Dispatched from his basement room on an errand for his widowed mother, slacker Jeff might discover his destiny (finally) when he spends the day with his unhappily married brother as he tracks his possibly adulterous wife.

Directors:

Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass

Writers:

Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass

Stars:

Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jason Segel	...	Jeff
Ed Helms	...	Pat
Susan Sarandon	...	Sharon
Judy Greer	...	Linda
Rae Dawn Chong	...	Carol
Steve Zissis	...	Steve
Evan Ross	...	Kevin
Benjamin Brant Bickham	...	TV Pitchman
Lee Nguyen	...	Clerk
Tim J. Smith	...	Guard
Ernest James	...	Guard
David Kency	...	Teammate
Raion Hill	...	Thug
Zac Cino	...	Gil
Lance E. Nichols	...	Elderly Man / Phone (O.S.)

Storyline

Jeff, at 30, lives in his mom's basement, unemployed, looking for signs about what to do with his life. He answers a wrong-number call for "Kevin". Later, on a bus, he sees someone wearing a jersey with "Kevin" on the back. Jeff follows him. Meanwhile, Jeff's brother, Pat, a tone-deaf salesman, upsets his wife by buying a Porsche they cannot afford; Pat runs into Jeff soon after and they see Pat's wife with another man. At her job, Jeff and Pat's mom receives e-mails from a secret admirer; she tries to figure out who it is. Misunderstandings, errors, and confrontations abound. A backup on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway brings things to a head.

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Plot Keywords:

basement | slacker | errand | affair | secret admirer | 

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Taglines:

The first step to finding your destiny is leaving your mother's basement.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language including sexual references and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 May 2012 (Ireland)

Also Known As:

A casa con Jeff

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$855,709 (USA) (16 March 2012)

Gross:

$4,244,155 (USA) (11 May 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Indian Paintbrush, Jeff Brothers Productions, Mr. Mudd

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Directors Jay and Mark Duplass claim to have cried through the entire premiere of this film.

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Goofs

The phone rings while Jeff is looking at a "knive". Jeff picks up the cordless phone and an audible beep is heard. The actual button on the phone is never pressed to cause the beep or start the call.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jeff: I watched "Signs" again last night.

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Connections

References Signs (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Chemically Changed"
Written by Nicholas Piunti, Joseph Gaydos, Donald Deniston
Performed by The Respectables
Courtesy of Taro Entertainment

User Reviews

Slacking off like a pro

Jeff, Who Lives at Home starts out by referencing a film from 10 years ago. The main character, Jeff, speaks about his love for the movie Signs. That movie was all about signs being sent to us and that we must use those signs as guides for living our lives. This becomes Jeff's mantra for how he lives his life. These signs haven't been getting him anywhere as of yet though. He's a grown-up slacker who still lives at home with his mother as the title of the film says. It's this bohemian free-spirited attitude that has led him to where he is. He seems at peace with things, yet something is missing from his life. His brother Pat is the opposite. He's married, has a job, and even just bought a new Porsche; he doesn't believe in slacking off like Jeff. That doesn't mean everything is going well for him though. He really didn't have the money to comfortably afford the Porsche and you can tell that his wife isn't happy about it. But Pat lives in the moment. While showing off the Porsche to Jeff, they see his wife with another man and start to suspect she's having an affair. Even though these two brothers don't generally get along and seem to despise each other a little, Jeff agrees to help Pat out and find out what's going on. Along the way, they begin to learn about each other and their different ways of approaching things. Pat always thought he had his life together and looked down on Jeff. Now's he realizing that maybe Jeff had a better way of looking at things. Jason Segel and Ed Helms play the 2 brothers and make the best of their roles. There's also an interesting sub-plot about what's going on with their mother (Susan Sarandon) at her job. The movie is part of a recent genre of film called "mumblecore" which generally have low budgets and focus more on the dialogue - sort of like a Quentin Tarantino film without the action. Luckily, the dialogue here is very good and holds your interest throughout. At less than an hour and half (which is very rare nowadays), it doesn't meander at all. It focuses on how we spend our days and seems to have a message of living more carefree. But there are plenty of laughs throughout the film which make it very enjoyable.