The Film Reports

2 stars

Romantic Comedy

Home Again was advertised as a modern rom-com, one where a single mum, played by Reese Witherspoon, has just turned 40 and has a romantic relationship with someone who is 15 years her junior (Pico Alexander). When I decided to watch this, I was after a traditional rom-com. A simple plot, uncomplicated where you know how things will work out. Home Again is not that. It’s barely a rom-com.

My first issue is the plot(s). There’s about a gazillion stories happening at the same time, and they are never given space to actually become important or interesting. 1) There’s the “rom-com” part with Witherspoon’s character, Alice, and Alexander’s, Harry that begins when Harry moves into her house, along with his younger brother Teddy (Nat Wolff) and George (Jon Rudnitsky). But it’s not really a romance. And this plot line becomes secondary in the film very quickly. 2) The three boys are a team trying to get their movie made, with little success. 3) Alice is trying a new career, to become an interior designer but she only has one client who is using her as a personal assistant. 3) Alice’s husband wants to get back together. 4) George and Alice’s daughter Isabel (Lola Flanery) become friends. 5) Isabel enters a competition at work.

It’s a wreck. Even the performances seem stilted, especially Reese Witherspoon’s. I was very surprised at this because it’s Reese Witherspoon but there’s more than one instance where it is very noticeable that she really did not care about this film.

However, the film is easy viewing. If you’re bored, and in a very relaxed state of mind, this isn’t terrible per say. Could you find a thousand or so other films that could serve the same purpose and still be better than this one? Yes. But it’s not terrible.

Watch it: this is a strictly Sunday kinda film.