Home Again (2017)

Directed by: Hallie Meyers-Shyer | 93 minutes | comedy, drama, romance | Actors: Reese Witherspoon, Michael Sheen, Pico Alexander, Nat Wolff, Jon Rudnitsky, Eden Grace Redfield, Lola Flanery, Candice Bergen, Reid Scott, Lake Bell, Josh Stamberg, April Martucci, PJ Byrne, Michael Cyril Creighton, Kovar McClure, Hank Chen, Paige Cato

Put a single mother, three charming young men and a tad jealous father figure in one film, wrap a sweet story around it and voila: the arrival of a new romantic comedy is here. It is not very surprising that Hallie Meyers-Shyer is following in her parents’ footsteps as a filmmaker. Directing romantic films with a touch of humor has apparently been born to her. But what do you want when your parents are called Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer? Both have already shown that they have mastered this specific genre with well-known films such as ‘The Parent Trap’ (1998), ‘Alfie’ (2004) and ‘The Holiday’ (2006). Thanks in part to the necessary encouragement from home and the involvement of her mother as a producer, Meyers-Shyer makes her film debut with ‘Home Again’.

Alice Kinney (Reese Witherspoon) has decided to move from New York to Los Angeles with her two adorable daughters because daddy Austen (Michael Sheen) spends more time on his job than on his own family. While her daughters are homesick and have to get used to the new environment, Alice sees starting again and also turning forty in this single situation mainly as a stumbling block. Nevertheless, she tries to make the best of it and when she goes out with friends to celebrate her birthday, she meets three ambitious half-twenties of the other kind. It soon turns out that she has a flirty click with the prettiest of the bunch. After a lot of alcoholic drinks, hangover-free Alice finds all three men in the house the next morning – unexpectedly or not.

During breakfast it becomes clear that Harry (Pico Alexander), Teddy (Nat Wolff) and George (Jon Rudnitsky, whose voice is reminiscent of presenter Ty Pennington from ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’, but that aside) are looking to lodging to make it as a film director, actor and writer in Hollywood. And if that’s convenient, Alice is bursting with living space. Temporarily or not, she needs very little to be convinced to take three unknown boys into her home and makes the spacious garden house next to her even more spacious home available. However, her somewhat naive decision pays off, because the male company provides the desired attention and (romantic) atmosphere in the house. Everyone seems very happy, until Austen suddenly shows up on the doorstep with an expression of regret. As a result, Alice is faced with a ‘difficult’ choice: will she choose the fairytale scene or will she give the father of her children another chance?

While certain comedic situations will actually bring a smile to the face and, in particular, make female audiences swoon at some romantic scenes, Meyers-Shyer generally paints a “too good to be true” picture in Home Again. . Most of the characters are just a bit too perfect and the whole thing contains an overload of (sometimes predictable) coincidences, which unfortunately weakens the credibility of the overall picture. The three gentlemen not only have their appearance with them, but they also behave exemplary. One gives love, the other always offers a listening ear or gets along well with the children. They all know how to give substance to the perfect family that Alice longs for in their own way.

Despite the lack of depth, Reese Witherspoon (even though she has played stronger roles) manages to express the fun and chemistry between the various characters sufficiently and appropriately together with her opponents. ‘Home Again’ is a well-intentioned first attempt by the thirty-year-old director, but Meyers-Shyer has watched her parents’ films just too often and has followed a similar pattern, which lacks authenticity. All in all it is a fairly amusing as well as typical women’s film, but at the same time one of the many within the rom-com genre.