Your Place or Mine
Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher star in Your Place or Mine, a Netflix rom-com from writer-director Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses). After sleeping together once 20 years ago, Debbie (Witherspoon) and Peter (Kutcher) have remained best friends, despite now living on opposite sides of the US. Debbie is a single parent to a 13-year-old boy (Wesley Kimmel), whereas Peter has a successful career in New York. But when their plans to meet in the same city go awry, Peter agrees to travel to LA to look after Debbie’s son so that she can travel to New York to pursue her own career ambitions.
Over the following few days, they discover more about themselves and each other. It’s very familiar ground for the genre, and this flick plays everything as safely as possible. It’s clear where the plot is going from the get-go, with little in terms of surprises or jokes along the way.
While they’re not technically onscreen together for long, Witherspoon and Kutcher work well as the leads. Kutcher’s natural charisma and comedy experience makes him the perfect choice for the roguish Peter, even if he’s not able to hit the dramatic beats as well. Likewise, Witherspoon’s likeability is equally suited for the neurotic rom-com archetype she plays. Slick split-screen editing brings them together during scenes, and their rapport just works.
What doesn’t work so well is the script’s determination to hit as many genre clichés as it can. There’s the bullied kid, the oddball neighbour (enthusiastically played by Steve Zahn) and the competing love interest (Jesse Williams). The result is a simple premise that becomes bloated with too many ideas, which ultimately detract from both the romance and the comedy. The plot is so overstuffed that the pair reach the necessary third-act break-up with only ten minutes left in the runtime. It’s resolved within a matter of seconds, which leaves viewers wondering why the filmmakers even bothered.
Kutcher and Witherspoon are entertaining enough to make Your Place or Mine a light-hearted watch. But with its cookie-cutter script and bloated plot, it’s likely this movie will be forgotten about after switching off the TV.
Andrew Murray
Your Place or Mine is released on Netflix on 10th February 2023.
Watch the trailer for Your Place or Mine here:
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