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"           Brother, Who Art Thou? Segel and Helms in Jeff, Who Lives at Home. The endlessly inventive filmmakers Jay and Mark Duplass first lit up the indie scene in 2005 with a droll shaggy-furniture story called The Puffy Chair, made with a cast and crew of seven, two of whom were their wives. They followed that \u00ADdebut three years later with the even funnier and sort of scary \u00ADBaghead, a wicked send-up of the \u00ADindie film \u00ADindustry and its penchant for low-budget \u00ADhorror. Hollywood took notice and backed the \u00ADDuplasses&amp;#039; next film, Cyrus, and their newest one,Jeff, Who Lives at Home. So what happens when, in Jay Duplass&amp;#039;s words, &amp;quot;two brothers who live in a cave and make art&amp;quot; put their unique sense of humor through the \u00ADmassive machinery of the studio system\u2014and not with\u00AD \u00ADseven people, but with what feels like 700? &amp;quot;The biggest difference about making a studio movie is that you get paid to do it,&amp;quot; Jay says drily, &amp;quot;and you&amp;#039;ve got health insurance and get to live in a house and have babies, which is great.&amp;quot; As for the downside, Mark points out that the way they work is \u00ADinstinctual and emerges from private conversations. &amp;quot;So the hard part is that when somebody gives you millions of dollars to make a movie, you have to have a lot of meetings where you \u00ADexplain what you&amp;#039;re doing and why you&amp;#039;re doing it. And there comes a point where you have to risk looking like a jerky artist and say, &amp;#039;I can&amp;#039;t talk about this movie anymore. I have to just make it, because we&amp;#039;re talking it to death.&amp;#039;\u2009&amp;quot;  Whoever they said that to must have \u00ADlistened, \u00ADbecause the Duplass brothers&amp;#039; movies just get better and better, pushing comedy to places that only make it richer. A frankly creepy plot about a \u00ADmama&amp;#039;s boy bent on wrecking Mom&amp;#039;s hopes for \u00ADromance gave Cyrus a disturbing edge, while greatly expanding Jonah Hill&amp;#039;s range as an actor. Jeff, Who Lives at Home does something similar for Jason \u00ADSegel and Ed Helms as brothers so different that they can barely connect. While Helms is a small-time hotshot businessman who lies to his wife and buys a Porsche he can&amp;#039;t afford, Segel&amp;#039;s goofy, deadpan Jeff is a lonely guy holed up in his mother&amp;#039;s basement, smoking dope and looking for the signs that will help him find his place in the \u00ADuniverse. &amp;quot;They had a desire to do a more organic and \u00ADnatural side of comedy,&amp;quot; Mark says. Indeed, you gradually realize that each brother is stunted in his own way, but one is a seeker and the other is teetering on the edge of an abyss. As for their single mom, played by Susan Sarandon, she suddenly acquires a secret admirer and gives the movie its sweetest joke. The Duplasses, who work from a detailed script but invite their \u00ADactors to improvise as needed, were fanboy-thrilled to learn that Sarandon wanted in. How could she not? &amp;quot;We liked the idea of exam\u00ADining the \u00ADromantic possibilities for a 60-year-old woman in a crappy job with two grown sons,&amp;quot; Jay says. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s kind of an overarching theme in which everyone in this movie is standing just outside the potential for happi\u00ADness, and they&amp;#039;re a little bit stuck.&amp;quot; Trust the Duplasses to give their characters just the right push. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/interviews/a12345/the-duplass-brothers-on-going-mainstream-652276/>