Reminders of Him

Like “It Ends with Us,” which was also based on a Colleen Hoover novel, “Reminders of Him” is a movie whose willingness to be deeply unpleasant saves it from becoming a soap opera.

It’s smaller, quieter, and it feels true. Not soapy, not silly, not like something ripped out of an airport book buy. That’s the first step.

In spite of its faults, Vanessa Caswill's latest directorial effort offers a pair worth rooting for and winning romantic leads, proving that Monroe and Withers have what it takes to captivate audiences in a genre that they haven't previously been linked to.

Yes, Reminders of Him is very much an ordeal, but not so much because it’s bad. It’s an ordeal because of all the emotional muck these characters have to drag themselves through to get to the other side.

Unfortunately, Reminders of Him isn't a very good film, at least in the traditional sense. But, like Regretting You, there's a certain level of lizard brain enjoyment that transcends much of the film's flaws and allows for all the soapy, melodramatic elements to be enjoyed at their own level.

Vanessa Caswill’s film feels reverse engineered to maximize emotional impact.

There isn’t a single original idea to be found here, nor a twist you can’t predict immediately. This film has what Siskel and Ebert used to call “the Idiot Plot.” That is, a plot that doesn’t contain a single credible moment, and would be over if everyone involved wasn’t an idiot.