It may not expand the boundaries of contemporary cinema but this light romantic comedy is carried along by Reese Witherspoon's effortlessly effervescent on-screen charm.
She plays Alice Kinney, a mum of two young daughters who just moved back to Los Angeles from New York after separating from her self-involved music executive husband (Michael Sheen). While celebrating her 40th birthday in a bar, she meets a trio of 20-something guys trying make it as film-makers, but lacking a place to live. Thanks to some gentle prodding from her mother (Candice Bergen), Alice lets the trio temporarily crash in her pool house, and their presence begins to have a positive effect on Alice and her girls.
It seems pertinent to note the lineage of Home Again's writer/director Hallie Meyers-Shyer - she is the daughter of Charles Shyer and Nancy Meyers, formerly married film-makers responsible (either together or separately) for films like Father of the Bride, Something's Gotta Give and It's Complicated.
Home Again definitely feels like it was made by a second-generation romantic comedy writer/director (Alice herself is the daughter of a famous director): the aspirational lifestyles on display here are portrayed with warmth and confidence, and Meyers-Shyer easily gets you to invest in the well-being of its subjects. The film's sunny demeanour helps paper over its lack of depth, and Alice has a very nice kitchen indeed.
The only real issue is that Witherspoon's recent Emmy-nominated performance in the TV mini-series Big Little Lies did such a good job of subverting the cliches that hamper these kinds of characters. But that's not enough of a problem to derail the proceedings.
