Your Place or Mine

Both breezy and deeply emotional, Brosh McKenna’s directorial debut could be a leader in the rom-com renaissance the movies have so desperately needed.

It’s a breezy charmer — the kind of movie these obits have been mourning over the years. The film returns to the genre’s blueprint and sticks with it. There are a couple of instances of subversion, moments when Your Place or Mine winks and pokes fun at itself. But for the most part it doesn’t want to surprise or be more clever than the viewer; it aims to please, and in doing so helps re-energize the romantic comedy.

Cut out the extra layers of nothingness piling up in the margins and you’ve got the kind of surreal tension that only romantic comedies, that dying but not dead genre, can offer: a case being made for romantic love, even when it doesn’t exist.

Your Place or Mine will probably do just fine for Netflix, standing out from a pack of Valentine’s Day-timed rom-coms because Witherspoon is her, and Kutcher is him. But those awkward red-carpet photos weren’t the only part of this exercise that didn’t quite work, whatever place one happens to watch it.

Your Place or Mine is thoroughly mild, considerate and well-behaved. But where’s the fun in that?

In a funnier world, Zoë Chao and Tig Notaro are starring in their own romantic comedy together.

Even for a third-rate farce with two stars who appear together onscreen for no more than a total of five minutes, it’s derivative and preposterous—worse than a rejected TV pilot, and about as romantic and funny as a root canal.

Eu ainda estou incrivelmente chocado como o Ashton Kutcher envelheceu, e ainda não sei se gosto dele assim, tá estranho. No mais, o filme trata de dois amigos e... bem... dá pra perceber de longe o final né? Só vale mesmo porque são carismáticos, todos os personagens, mas os diálogos poderiam ser bem melhores e poderia ser mais engraçado também.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

IN A NUTSHELL: Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Netflix gives us a romantic comedy with two of the most bankable stars in the genre! This is Aline Brosh McKenna’s directorial debut in a feature film. She also wrote and produced the film! The idea came from a personal experience she had that was somewhat similar. YOUR PLACE OR MINE sees Reese and Ashton playing Debbie and Peter, who’ve been best friends for 20 years even though they’re total opposites. Practical, risk-averse accountant Debbie craves routine and stability with her son Jack (Wesley Kimmel) in LA; Stylish brand consultant Peter thrives on change in New York City. When they swap houses and lives for a week, they learn they haven’t told each other everything after all and discover what they think they want might not be what they really need. TIPS FOR PARENTS: Unmarried people sleep together (We don’t see any action) Some profanity We see a shirtless man. Kissing THINGS I LIKED: I really like the cast, which includes Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher, Rachel Bloom, Steve Zahn, and Tig Notaro. I really loved Rachel Bloom and Vella Lovell together in the musical TV comedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I was sad we don’t get to see more of either of those two in this movie. Jason Bateman and Reese Witherspoon are two of the producers of this movie. As a published author of 31 books, I love it when movies feature writers and people who love literature. All of the characters are fun and endearing. Several characters keep asking Ashton Kutcher’s character, “What comes next?” He has a hard time answering that question, reminding us that we should always be looking forward, making plans, and having a clear vision of the future we want. There is a lot of humor and quick-witted banter. THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE: I’m super old-fashioned and never slept around before getting married, so I’m not entertained watching other people do that. It’s extremely predictable but still a fun watch. Cliched but cute airport scene. It feels like a rom-com from 10 or even 20 years ago. It’s not particularly fresh. Every time Ashton Kutcher kissed Reese Witherspoon, I kept thinking about his wife in real life, Mila Kunis, and how she must have felt about that. It killed some of the romantic moments for me. As it turns out, Reese and Mila have been friends for years. Mila poked fun at them recently, pointing out how they looked so awkward on the red carpet at their press events while promoting the movie.

bad [ bad ] adjective, worse, worst;(Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36. not good in any manner or degree.

All of the attempts at jokes bomb. It is almost as if the movie has never been through editing process. There is a distracting amount of awkward dead air that should be trimmed. To be honest, one-third of the movie should.