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.
