Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Through a haze of marijuana smoke we’re introduced to Jason Segel’s Jeff, a 30-year-old galumph who makes the actor’s earlier man-child characters from Knocked Up and I Love You, Man look like ambitious go-getters. Jeff is depressed – unsurprising, really, given that he spends his days in a basement watching M. Night Shyamalan movies – so his widower mother (Susan Sarandon) sends him to Home Depot on public transport, a surefire way to brighten anyone’s mood. But something’s in the air today – something cosmic – and Jeff’s experiencing a sensation he’s not felt in a long time: purpose. 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. The supporting cast, which includes Ed Helms as Jeff’s crass brother Pat and Judy Greer as Pat's put-upon wife Linda, charm despite their underwritten roles and there’s a real lyricism in the way the characters’ paths criss cross and intertwine. [Jamie Dunn]