Seven Fucking Days - Blu-ray

Content: It's truly not an easy time for Judd (Jason Bateman). First he catches his wife Quinn (Abigail Spencer) in bed with his boss (Dax Shepard). And then his father, with whom he hasn't had particularly close contact in a long time, dies. At the funeral, Judd reunites with his siblings Wendy (Tina Fey), Phillip (Adam Driver) and Paul (Cory Stoll) - and old rivalries and conflicts quickly resurface. Judd wants to get back to New York as soon as possible, but then his mother (Jane Fonda) opens up to him and his siblings that it was their father's last wish that they honor him together with a shiva, a Jewish custom whereby they are not allowed to work or leave the house for seven days. Seven damn long days in which they are forced to deal with each other, with their marital problems, and with themselves. This can only end in total emotional chaos...

With this film adaptation of Jonathan Tropper's bestselling Seven Damn Long Days, director Shawn Levy (Nights at the Museum 1 -3) has staged an entertaining family comedy that scores particularly well with its first-rate cast and some genuinely amusing gags. Especially Jason Bateman once again proves to be a safe bet, as he manages to make his not exactly multi-layered character seem likeable and interesting. But also 30 Rock star Tina Fey and Adam Driver (Girls, Star Wars: Episode VII) get more out of their characters than the script actually allows. Especially in the moments that rely more on softer tones and restrained humor, the well-chosen cast pays off extremely.

You could now accuse the screenplay, for which Jonathan Tropper himself adapted his novel, that it is not exactly filled with originality and keeps getting lost in common cliché conflicts between the members of the Altman family. But that's not the film's real weakness, as Tropper rehashes these clichés with enough wit and charm that they still work quite well. What is distracting, on the other hand, is the decision to keep peppering the story with crude gags and completely unnecessary toilet humor. Thus, the film not only loses in level, but also some of the entertainment value, which is displaced by unpleasant Fremdschäm-Momenten.

This makes Seven damn long days still far from a bad film, but it just falls short of its possibilities. If you can make do with the less successful moments, you'll be treated to a really nice comedy about a dysfunctional yet somehow likeable family that has some genuinely nice and funny moments to offer that might even sound familiar to some viewers who come from a larger family themselves. If you like light American comedy fare and if the good actors can make you feel better about the rather flat gags, you can confidently spend Seven Damn Long Days with the Altmans. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The technical realization of the Blu-Ray is on a very high level. The image sharpness is great and allows even small details and textures to show to advantage. The coloring looks very warm and natural and also the tuning of black levels and contrasts support the positive overall impression of the image quality. The same can be said for the sound. Although there is no big effects fireworks due to the genre, yet the surround channels are repeatedly claimed by atmospheric ambient sounds and minor sound effects, resulting in an overall very coherent sound carpet. Very good!

Extras: In addition to an interesting and sympathetic audio commentary by director Shawn Levy and writer Jonathan Tropper (unfortunately not subtitled), the Blu-ray has six cut scenes (approx. 13:34 min.), a discussion between writer and director (approx. 4:28 min.), as well as some outtakes and alternate takes with Ben Schwartz as Rabbi Boner (approx. 6:27 min.). In the source material section, there are also some short featurettes on the brother-sister relationship with Jason Bateman and Tina Fey (approx. 5:38 min.), on the matriarch with Jane Fonda (approx. 3:59 min.), on sibling rivalry with Adam Driver and Corey Stoll (approx. 5:04 min.), and on the filming, also called the choreographed chaos (approx. 5:38 min.). Good!

Conclusion:Seven Damn Long Days works quite well as a family comedy thanks to the good cast - most notably Jason Bateman and Tina Fay. The film has a lot of very funny scenes, sparkling dialogue, and a few very nice moments to offer as well. Only the decision to spice the whole thing with a few crude gags and unnecessary fecal humor, the otherwise very positive overall impression marred permanently. On the Blu-ray, the film presents itself in appealing picture and sound quality and also the bonus material has some very worth seeing contributions to offer. If you like light comedies about dysfunctional families, you can safely take a look here. Recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp