Official Selection - Out of Competition 2012 / Jeff, Who Lives at Home / USA 2011
The title character of the new comedy from the Duplass brothers (Cyrus) is a 30-year-old, goof-off still living at home with his mother (Susan Sarandon). He kills time in his basement refuge smoking weed and contemplating his favorite movie, until one day he is forced to leave his lair to run an errand. Then the cosmos sends Jeff a clear sign that fundamental change is on the way.
In order to really start living, you first have to leave home and get away from your mom. Jeff has yet to do this. He sequesters himself in the basement to huff copious amounts of weed while exhausting himself through repeated viewings of M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs, claiming it holds the key to the essence of everything. But change truly needs to come because what he’s currently doing proves that something is wrong, and "that something” might just be his address. This independent American comedy is full of offbeat characters whose behavior may make them seem perilously reminiscent of people we’ve actually met – or even ourselves. The film features protagonists who, in the depths of their souls and even outwardly, long to break free. But their own limitations, which are hard for them to accept, prevent them from doing so. The movie doesn’t balk at including a slapstick that develops out of natural situations, akin to the films of Judd Apatow. Will the hero succeed in escaping the obsessions that keep him inert: his mother’s apron strings, his pot smoking, and his own fat-headedness?
83 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
/ Screenplay Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
/ Dir. of Photography Jas Shelton
/ Music Michael Andrews
/ Editor Jay Deuby
/ Producer Lianne Halfon, Jason Reitman, Russell Smith
/ Production Right of Way Films, Indian Paintbrush, Mr. Mudd Productions
/ Cast Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, Judy Greer, Rae Dawn Chong, Steve Zissis
/ Contact Paramount Pictures
Jay Duplass (b. 1973, New Orleans) and Mark Duplass (b. 1976, New Orleans) have earned a name for themselves with several acclaimed short films. Their first feature The Puffy Chair (2005) took the Audience Award at the SXSW independent film festival, and won several other awards. The somewhat manic comedy Baghead (2008), about shooting an amateur horror film, was screened at Sundance; it lead the way for the brothers to direct their first studio movie, Cyrus (2010), starring John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei. They were fortunate enough to cast Susan Sarandon in their latest film Jeff, Who Lives at Home. As an actor, Mark’s appearances include Greenberg (2010), which competed at the Berlinale, and the TV series "The League.”
Paramount Pictures
5555 Melrose Avenue, CA 90038, Hollywood
United States of America
Susan Sarandon
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