Year of Release: 2017
Director: Hallie Meyers-Shyer
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Michael Sheen, Candice Bergen, Pico Alexander, Jon Rudnitsky, Nat Wolff, Lola Flanery, Lake Bell, Eden Grace Redfield, Dolly Wells, Reid Scott, P.J. Byrne, Ben Sinclair, Josh Stamberg, Jen Kirkman
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2
Watch it on Amazon
Synopsis and Review:
"Home Again" is the feature directorial debut of Hallie Meyers-Shyer, who had a series of small acting roles in her parents films while growing up (she's the daughter of Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers, both of whom are successful writers and directors, with films including respectively "Baby Boom" and "Something's Gotta Give"). "Home Again" follows the story of Alice a recently separated mother of two girls, who has just moved back to LA, after living in NY for quite some time. She's living in her dad's house, a well known film director who passed away leaving her the property, and her mother still lives in the area as well. Alice is trying to set up her own business as an Interior Decorator, but one night while celebrating her birthday with her girlfriends, she meets a group of three young men, all of whom are trying to make their way in Hollywood, with a spec script they've been shopping around town. They all drink too much and Alice ends up having a casual tryst with Harry, the charismatic leader of the group. When her mother shows up in the morning, she suggests to Alice inviting the young men to stay, since they've been evicted from their last place, and they are actually talented and can bring some levity to her life. And they can stay in the guest cottage. While initially hesitant, Alice agrees, and the new living arrangement ends up working out for them all.
"Home Again" feels very much influenced by the works of Nancy Meyers, most demonstrably, since it captures a glimpse into the world of a wealthy group of people, all of whom live in impeccably decorated houses, and where for the most part, the journeys of self discovery the characters embark on, are always quite shallow, and prompted by a romantic breakup. In this case, the lap of luxury is inhabited by Reese Witherspoon's Alice, who remains for the entirety of the film, somewhat of a cypher as a character. She seemingly is consumed by her romantic relationships: on one hand the dissolution of her marriage, and on the other, embarking on a new one with a younger man, with a side note being added on her career. The career path, which gets summed up in very broad strokes, gets even shallower in its observation when she gets to work for a character embodied by Lake Bell, apparently a criticism on self centered wealthy women, who can't see anything besides their selfish needs. This particular part of the narrative, while it's supposedly funny, it's never broad enough to make Bell's character likable or zany, mostly making her come across as crass or out of touch with reality. None of the supporting characters also demonstrate any dimension, something that also extends to the 3 young men staying in the cottage house. While there's a sitcom/CW show premise to this film, none of the characters or even situations actually touches much on reality. The cast tries to bring these characters to life, but this film feels like a disservice to Reese Witherspoon's career, who frankly deserves better characters, the same going for Michael Sheen and Candice Bergen. Forgettable.
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