Dispatched from his basement room on an errand for his mother, slacker Jeff might discover his destiny (finally) when he spends the day with his brother as he tracks his possibly adulterous wife.
The result is a film that shares the main qualities of its hero: it’s hard to dislike, but it doesn’t get much done.
Big on artistic ambition, and microscopic in point, at least it offers an alternative to Hollywood’s mainstream overworked, and overfamiliar fictions.
There’s undoubtedly comedy mileage in an irreverent sending up of the Signs/Magnolia school of everything-is-connected philosophy. Despite the calibre of the cast, the Duplass brothers mostly fail to find it.
Directors Jay and Mark Duplass (Cyrus, Baghead) bring the same loosey-goosey style of their previous films to this gentle comedy that's pebbled with grace notes and compassion.
Nothing much happens until a preposterously contrived and melodramatic climax.
Even though the outcome is predictable, the Duplass duo deliver a few zingers in the way of dialogue and with a cast like this no film could go far wrong.
It’s whimsical stuff, but likeable and, if not exactly profound, finds value in the sometimes dumb plots of Hollywood movies.
It's all part of his entertaining ramble to an unexpected destination.
Odd, sweet and languid, but little to get your teeth into.
With all this comic gas in the tank, it's puzzling that the film isn't completely wonderful. It may be to do with its somewhat disjointed nature.
The mumbled dialogue and featherweight plot mean you’ll need to be either in a very forgiving mood or very, very high to appreciate it.
Cool cast, hip directors, but a movie that’s less than the sum of both. Like its title character, Jeff is gentle, warm but a little forgettable.
The film has a dark symmetry and dangerous moments that prove to be as funny as its sunnier ones.
Considering that its leading men have starred in such big, raucous comedies as The Hangover and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jeff ... is an appealingly low-key and laidback charmer that focuses on the everyday dissatisfactions of ordinary people.
Jay and Mark Duplass: 'Out movies can't lose money'
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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