Stoner Jake Johnson inherits a dream cabin from estranged mum Susan Sarandon, but her bequest comes with conditions
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This is the kind of laid-back, likable-enough
American indie that acts like it’s emotionally intelligent and has deeply clever things to say about the human heart – but in its own way is as thin as any piece of fluff romcom. It’s the story of Leif (Jake Johnson), a perpetually adolescent man in his early 40s who lives in a friend’s shed in
Los Angeles and plays drums in a rubbish rock band with kids half his age. He’s got just enough going on to make it worth rooting for him: a cuddly beard, and devotion to his black labrador Nora.
The film begins with a knock at the door. Leif’s hippy mom Honey has died of
cancer. (Doctors were not her thing; she refused chemo.) Leif greets the news with a mellow stoner shrug: Honey abandoned him when he was 12 to join a cult and he hasn’t seen her since. Now she’s left him her luxury wood cabin in Yosemite – with strings attached. Before he can take ownership, Leif must complete a series of tasks: the instructions are on a VHS videotape at the cabin recorded by Honey (played by Susan Sarandon, who else?) before her death.