After his wife leaves him for someone else, Ted spirals into depression and decides to die by suicide. First, he wants to tie up some loose ends. He moves in with his politically incorrect brother and his family. He confronts his old school teacher who made his life hell. She is suffering from dementia in a home for the elderly. Whilst confronting her he meets her granddaughter Greta. He confides his plan to her and she takes an interest. She wants to document his life leading up to suicide. He then confronts his childhood bully who it turns out is extremely sorry for the way he treated him and wants to make amends. They become friends. He sleeps with his high school crush who is married with 5 children. She leaves her family for him. He eventually tells her he doesn't want that and she is hurt. His nephew comes out to him and he starts to realise everyone is suffering problems. Greta's grandmother dies and he is supportive. He backs away from a kiss reminding her he won't be there and she is angry as he is running away. He learns her mother died by suicide which is why she has so many barriers up and was interested in his story. His nephew beats up his boyfriend out of confusion and goes to jump off a cliff. Ted and the family try to talk him down but he slips anyway. Ted and his brother jump in. Knocked out Ted reconnects with his dead father who tells him how important living is. Ted is resuscitated and goes on to stay in the town he grew up with Greta surrounded by all his family, his new and old friends.
The premiere took place at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. The film was released in select theaters on April 24, 2015 before a video on demand, digital store, DVD and Blu-ray release on May 12, 2015.
Reception
, a review aggregator, reports that 10% of 10 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 1.9/10. Metacritic rated it 24/100 based on six reviews. Justin Chang of Variety called it "a dismal, tonally disastrous small-town farce". Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a serious misfire" whose tonal shifts would be difficult for a veteran director to manage. Ethan Alter of Film Journal International wrote, "Cox must have seen something in this screenplay that encouraged her to film it, but whatever that critical element was, it’s not apparent in the finished product." Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that the film "lurches along a wobbly line between salacious comic nastiness and nauseating sentimentality" without properly integrating them into a cohesive whole. Joe Neumaier of the New YorkDaily News wrote: "Courteney Cox's misbegotten project is a comedy-drama that, to Cox's credit, doesn't feel at all like a TV sitcom. The former "Friends" star clearly wanted something special, but sadly the result is... this." In one of the few positive reviews the film received, Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Anchored by a nicely understated performance by Seann William Scott, Just Before I Go effectively juggles a wealth of genuine, at times profound, emotion with quite a bit of nutty-raunchy humor."
