Film Reviews & Movie Analysis

She might be home again but it’s far from Alabama, as the sunny skies of California don’t warm the uncertainty that now shrouds Alice’s life. Figuring out how to be her best possible self after a separation, Alice adopts a new mantra; Loose one guy, gain three.

If this is life at forty then sign me up.

Turning forty and recently separated, Alice Kinney (Reese Witherspoon) is trying to figure out this new phase in her life with two kids and no career. A chance meeting with budding film Director Harry (Pico Alexander) and an almost one night stand, finds her with not one but three new house guests when her mother invites Harry and and his two friends to temporarily move in.

The homeless artistic trio; Harry the Director, Teddy (Nat Wolff) the Actor and George (Jon Rudnitsky) the writer are battling to stay true to the essence of the short film that has given them their shot in Hollywood. Drawn into Alice’s world of school runs and mealtimes, everyone one makes the best of the unique but oddly natural situation they’ve been thrown into.

Being separated means that somewhere there is still a husband, and he (Michael Sheen) is none to pleased to learn that his wife has started moving on with three younger men.

Low key I love Reese Witherspoon, a fact that only came to my attention a year or so ago. What’s nice is that in spite of her advocation for women in Hollywood to be given more diverse and well rounded characters to play – she’s not saying that they shouldn’t play those light fluffy ones as well – a role she does just as amazingly, and with just as much talent as she does playing Cheryl Strayed in Wild. Kudos.

Getting back on topic, overall I thought the movie was fun and cute; it was set in Hollywood so the sunshine and the use of outdoors gave everything a relaxed hue. The industry aspect was handled tastefully with the right amount of satirical digs to be accurate and humorous without being disrespectful.

A lot of playing with numbers had to be done to get the ages of the characters to work well. Have the boys too young and you risk inexperience and lack of clout, coming across more like children than young men. If Alice was too old then the word cougar being thrown around would have been less of a joke and more of an accurate description. As it was though, the guys – in their mid to late twenties could pass on the lovable younger brother side. The worrying kind that you can gab about your love life with, and as the love interest, Pico Alexander’s height and suits helped smooth over any bumps  in appropriate age differences.

Call me a hater but I found Harry’s good looks incredibly annoying – but at the same time loved every second of it, in a nice guilty pleasure kind of way. It made it easier to relate to Alice’s attraction to him, and yet still gave us a reason to be mad at him if the situation called for it. I sound like a crazy person but trust me, it makes sense!

As we know I am a stickler for timings and was happy that his movie didn’t over stay its running time, ending at a pleasing 90-ish minutes. With uncomplicated movies there really is no need for things to go on much longer no matter how enjoyable they may be.

For the most part Home Again incorporated believable enough elements in the characters lives to bridge the necessity in them coming together.

However in one aspect it royally failed was Alice’s career. Starting out in the interior design business after having a number of other failed startups felt like a good arc to have to herself; learning new things, falling down, bouncing back with vigour blah blah blah. Instead this aspect of the story burned itself out rather quickly, and at the end of the day she neither lost nor gained anything from the experience.

A lot of the conflicts that flared up over the course of the movie was met with an overreactive response which seemed like a cop out in pretty much every case. Yes it was a little irritating, but debatably because of the length and tone, it can be forgiven.

Finally, and don’t judge me because I know it’s a piece of fiction. I know…. But I can’t help myself; Would you really let three random guys (no matter how cute) come and live with you for no reason whatsoever? Come on, she had two kids young kids and this massive house all to herself – has Alice never seen Michael Haneke’s Funny Games? This could have gone in a whole ‘nother direction – and it would not have been pretty.

Despite all I’ve said; there isn’t really too much to say. This movie was everything it needed to be – pitfalls and all – which was incredibly satisfying. The characters were enjoyable to watch and learn about, and it felt like there was still so much left to work with. Home Again has the potential to be the first chapter/prequel to a television spin off, but it wouldn’t work without the exact same cast and the chances of that happening are pretty darn slim so I won’t get anyone’s hopes up.