Your Place or Mine - a movie review

The filmmaker :Aline Brosh McKenna

Writer : Aline Brosh McKenna

Starring : Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher, Zoe Chao

You'll initially be let down if you opt to watch "Your Place or Mine" in order to witness Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher's romance. Before the final 12 minutes, they are not in the same room.

This specific Netflix rom-plot com's involves two old friends moving homes for a week in order to shake each other out of their ruts. Maybe they'll fall in love too? (Do not many rom-coms conclude in that manner?)

He's a wealthy consultant who resides in a stylish but chilly New York apartment, while Witherspoon plays the earthy and protective single mother of a 13-year-old child in Los Angeles. After 20 years of dating, they concluded that friendship was the preferable option.

Every day they converse, which costs the filmmakers a lot on split screens. For the past 20 years, they have developed a close bond through supporting and uplifting one another. There is no really appropriate response when someone asks him the obvious question, "If you two like one other so much, why aren't you together?" Another is offered by her: "Oh, barf."

The main action of the movie is brought on by a last-minute emergency: When Witherspoon's primary childcare plan falls through and she needs to go to New York, Kutcher's character chooses to travel to Los Angeles as a fallback. He tells her, "You need help, and I'm coming. They end up in one other's houses where they meet each other's pals and usually cause trouble.

"Your Place or Mine" is a lighthearted and jovial film written and produced by Aline Brosh McKenna, who is better known for satires like "Devil Wears Prada" and "My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." If you're in the mood for gorgeous folks appearing unsure and insecure on Valentine's Day, this is perfect.

The movie starts out plodding along with an astonishing lack of urgency, as if Brosh McKenna was content to just fill the screen with her two attractive stars and position them in picturesque settings. At first glance, you could think it's a romantic comedy about real estate.

One eventually begins to view the other as a problem that has to be solved. Kutcher attempts to relax the son of his closest friend by giving him junk stuff to eat.

Things that are prohibited around mom include letting him watch scary movies and allowing him to try out for the hockey team. Everything is to him an extension of his work: "That's what I do: I enter and take care of things quickly and efficiently."

Witherspoon discovers an old work that her best friend had kept from her on the other side of the country and thinks she must try to have it published. She also makes out with a hot publisher named Jesse Williams, who is smouldering, and defies reason when she doesn't fall head over heels in love with the cool, seductive, and irresistible blue of his eyes. Where was I, exactly? She is shocked when Witherspoon's character discovers the book. She explains, "We tell each other everything." A pal responds, "Of course you don't." This movie promotes taking a chance, going for it, and not taking the safe route.

The movie gives Witherspoon and Kutcher the chance to display their inherent comic timing, particularly when they find themselves in awkward situations. Witherspoon says: "I have to finish this programme by the end of the year so I can apply for that available senior accounting post at the regional school district," which is one of the scenes that drags on and occasionally has exposition that is clunky.

Smaller parts occasionally inject vital jolts of quirkiness, such as that of Tig Notaro and Steve Zahn in LA and Zo Chao as the slinky ex-girlfriend of Ashton Kutcher's character in New York. Zahn plays a wacky gardener who is credited with composing two strange songs for the soundtrack, while Notaro's humour is as dry as a cactus.

Speaking of songs, the Ric Ocasek estate must have received huge sums of money from the producers. No less than nine tracks, including "Heartbreak City," "Drive," and "You Might Think," have been used to establish Kutcher's persona as a fan of The Cars. The soundtrack to the movie might serve as a greatest-hits collection.

The movie builds to a sequence where Witherspoon and Kutcher share a zip code, and it does a wonderful job of turning the typical rom-com airport scene on its head. The movie responds to the query "Can men and women just be friends with a strong: "Um, barf." at that point.