Bland Romantic Comedy
Home Again (2017)
** (out of 4)
Alice (Reese Witherspoon) separates from her husband Austen (Michael Sheen) and moves their two daughters from New York to Los Angeles. Before long Alice meets three aspiring filmmakers and ends up in a relationship with one of them. Before long the four adults and two kids are becoming like a family but then the husband shows back up.
You know, there was a time when Witherspoon was my favorite actress but then she became a movie star and very popular and it just seems that there have been a lot of disappointing movies since then. We've seen her in one romantic comedy after another and the only thing they all have in common is the fact that they're not very good and they basically waste her talent. HOME AGAIN is almost an awful movie but thankfully the cast are good enough to keep it from reaching those levels.
There are all sorts of problems with this movie but the biggest issue is the screenplay, which just isn't very good. It's certainly not original and that's the biggest downfall because there's really nothing that happens, which surprises you or anything that you won't see coming from miles away. Even worse is the fact that the film has no personality and it seems as if the story really doesn't know what it wants to do. If anything, a more serious drama probably would have been better but the lightweight comedy is just rather childish and the film tries way too hard to be cute.
The direction really isn't anything to write home about and in all honesty there's no real style or anything else. The film plays it as safe as it can and at time it does get quite annoying. I will say that I enjoyed the entire cast and really wish they had something better to work with. Rico Anderson, Nat Wolff and Jon Rudnitsky are all good in their roles as the filmmakers. Michael Sheen is always entertaining. You've got Candice Bergen in a small role and it's always nice seeing her. As for Witherspoon, she's good but we've seen this type of character way too many times and it's just becoming boring.
HOME AGAIN is a pretty by-the-numbers romantic comedy and one that can be skipped.
** (out of 4)
Alice (Reese Witherspoon) separates from her husband Austen (Michael Sheen) and moves their two daughters from New York to Los Angeles. Before long Alice meets three aspiring filmmakers and ends up in a relationship with one of them. Before long the four adults and two kids are becoming like a family but then the husband shows back up.
You know, there was a time when Witherspoon was my favorite actress but then she became a movie star and very popular and it just seems that there have been a lot of disappointing movies since then. We've seen her in one romantic comedy after another and the only thing they all have in common is the fact that they're not very good and they basically waste her talent. HOME AGAIN is almost an awful movie but thankfully the cast are good enough to keep it from reaching those levels.
There are all sorts of problems with this movie but the biggest issue is the screenplay, which just isn't very good. It's certainly not original and that's the biggest downfall because there's really nothing that happens, which surprises you or anything that you won't see coming from miles away. Even worse is the fact that the film has no personality and it seems as if the story really doesn't know what it wants to do. If anything, a more serious drama probably would have been better but the lightweight comedy is just rather childish and the film tries way too hard to be cute.
The direction really isn't anything to write home about and in all honesty there's no real style or anything else. The film plays it as safe as it can and at time it does get quite annoying. I will say that I enjoyed the entire cast and really wish they had something better to work with. Rico Anderson, Nat Wolff and Jon Rudnitsky are all good in their roles as the filmmakers. Michael Sheen is always entertaining. You've got Candice Bergen in a small role and it's always nice seeing her. As for Witherspoon, she's good but we've seen this type of character way too many times and it's just becoming boring.
HOME AGAIN is a pretty by-the-numbers romantic comedy and one that can be skipped.
- Michael_Elliott
- 28 sep 2018