Laughter and sorrow don’t usually mix, especially in a movie. “This is Where I Leave You” unfortunately attempts to combine these two emotions in a way that simply does not work—the awkward mixture of tender moments and slapstick humor jerks the audience between emotions that individually would have made for a much better movie.

The movie follows the reunion of three brothers, a sister, and their mother after their father dies. To honor their father’s dying wish, they sit shiva, a Jewish custom to comfort the mourning, during which the immediate family gathers for a week to receive visitors.

The movie focuses on Judd Altman (Jason Bateman) as he and his family go through a series of increasingly ridiculous events, mainly centering on the characters’ complicated love lives and the family’s tense relationship.

The plot is severely unoriginal: there is a problem, things are not great, things get worse, and then all of the characters make peace and live happily ever after. The ending is already predictable halfway through the movie.

There are parts of the movie that are painfully cliché, such as when Phillip Altman (Adam Driver), the youngest brother, tells Judd, “You deserve to be fine,” when he’s feeling down, or when Judd says, “I have never taken any chances,” a line that pops up in practically every other predictable movie.

The character development leaves something to be desired. Instead of letting the audience make their own connections, the writers show what the characters are feeling by having them tediously describe their emotions.

Instead of undergoing in-depth character development, Judd mopes about how his life is terrible, which doesn’t give much insight into his personality.

The only deep part about Bateman’s character is his romance with Penny Moore (Rose Byrne). Penny is awkward and talkative, and she adds a new dimension to Judd’s flat character.

By contrast, Tina Fey’s character, Wendy Altman, has two young children she attempts to handle while also being the matriarch of the family. On top of this, she has to juggle a deadbeat husband and an old love with a tragic past.

Tina Fey does a fantastic job portraying the overworked sister. She combines the familiar supportive sister character with her own famously hilarious personality to engage the audience.

Wendy’s old flame, Horry Callen (Timothy Olyphant), suffers from brain damage following a disastrous car accident. Their enchantingly sad relationship is the storyline in the movie that causes viewers to feel sympathy for the characters.

In fact, the combination of each of Wendy’s obstacles makes her the most complex and interesting character. The movie could have centered solely on her, and it would have been more interesting.

Driver’s character is disappointing.  There was potential for his character to be a wise little screw-up brother, but the writers refrained from developing this path and left him to be a shallow and troubled adult.

The movie wasn’t well done, but there were quite a few humorous moments that still drew smiles and laughter from the audience.

Although “This is Where I Leave You” attempts to combine two movie genres into one film,  there is something comfortingly sweet about the cliché storyline. The family’s closeness and odd quirks makes for a cute movie, and the humor of the characters almost makes up for the lack of a plot.

The comedic moments are the highlight of the movie.

For example, in synagogue, the three brothers go into a classroom and start smoking marijuana that Judd found in his late father’s jacket. After the brothers get high, the smoke sets off the fire alarms, soaking them and evacuating the entire congregation.

The sibling rivalries and the annoyingly repetitive family reunions are wonderfully relatable, and the movie accurately and humorously points out the monotony of these events.

“This is Where I Leave You” starts off strong, but the confusing mixture of emotions makes it stray from its intended purpose of making the audience laugh. It had hilarious parts and would have been a stronger movie had it focused solely on the comedy. The ending is sweet yet predictable, which could be said about the entire movie.