'Your Place or Mine' review: Better to skip this one!
While many will be spending Valentine's Day with their romantic and platonic loved ones, there is a handsome self-deprecating population left who would rather invest all their emotions in fictional love stories. Targeting this faction perhaps, Netflix dropped its latest rom-com Your Place or Mine, starring massive stars Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher. But is this capable of soothing your heart? Read our review.
Here's a summary of the story
Written and directed by Aline Brosh McKenna in her directorial debut, the plot is quite in tune with Hollywood rom-com sensibilities. It's about best friends Debbie (Witherspoon) and Peter (Kutcher) who swap their houses for a week. While Debbie is a single mom of a teenager and obsessively meticulous, Peter is infamous for being rich and commitment-phobic. Will years-old equations change in seven days?
Every character feels artificially built, cosmetically put together
Although the one-line description hooks you, the one-hour and 51-minute-long execution is uninspiring at best. We have a spirited, well-read, practical female lead, an irresponsible but fun male lead, a couple of designated best friend side characters, a goofy omnipresent comic relief, and an insanely attractive love interest in the mix. Yet, you never get immersed enough to believe in the characters' realness.
The leads lack chemistry - what could be worse?
Both Witherspoon and Kutcher have led, separately, worthwhile tales of love with great gusto and heart. But here, they don't mesh together and you find yourself thanking the gods for putting them physically apart for the greater length of the film. For people claiming to be best friends for 20 years, the leads' interaction should not invoke this much cringe.
Makers get confused with expectations from rom-com genre
Yes, as a genre, rom-coms are expected to be light, warm-hearted, and easy to watch. But that doesn't mean it can be superficial. Makers bring together the best friends-to-lovers trope, bonding with your future lover's kid trope, new girl in the city trope, and two characters getting out of their shells because of love trope but you hardly ever root for the people onscreen.
Jesse Williams gets wasted, Wesley Kimmel is charming
Witherspoon, who has also produced the venture, leads her solo scenes with intent. Kutcher loses his touch in places. The talented Jesse Williams is not given much to chew on but does what he's asked to—looking all dreamy. Zoe Chao and Tig Notaro are decent with their one-dimensional characters. Young Wesley Kimmel impresses, while Steve Zahn brings an amusing weirdness to the table.
There are far better rom-coms available, so why bother?
Before its premiere, Your Place or Mine was pegged to be the return vehicle of the 2000s glorious rom-com era. But that didn't happen. While we wait, my advice would be to go safe and watch any classic romantic tale on the day of love. Verdict: 1.5 stars out of 5 (because of Kimmel's performance and the very few genuine laughs the film evoked).
