Director: Hallie Meyers-Shyer
Writer: Hallie Meyers-Shyer (Screenplay)
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Michael Sheen, Candice Bergen, Pico Alexander, Jon Rudnitsky, Nat Wolff, Lola Flanery
Plot: Life for a single mom in Los Angeles takes an unexpected turn when she allows three young guys to move in with her.
Tagline – Starting over is not for beginners.
Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Home Again starts as Alice (Witherspoon) is looking to start a new life with her daughters Isabel (Flanery) and Rosie (Redfield) back at her father’s home in LA. Harry (Alexander), George (Rudnitsky) and Teddy (Wolff) are three young man looking to produce, direct and star in their first movie, just about to sell their first piece of work.
When Alice is celebrating her 40th, she meets the three and invites them back to her home, where they discover they Alice is the daughter of a famous director and she agrees to let them stay a while until they sell their script, but could it be the thing that helps Alice restart her life again.
Thoughts on Home Again
Characters – Alice is a newly single mother and daughter of a famous Hollywood director, she returns to a childhood home, she needs to find work as she is working through her separation. She just turned 40, which sees her meets three aspiring filmmakers and allows them to stay in her guest house, which will see her start to open up about her life again. Austen is the ex-husband that is still in New York, he has always told stories of how he might head to LA. Harry, George and Teddy are the young filmmakers that are trying to get their first full feature made, which will see them moving in with Alice, where they can learn the LA environment, and help Alice around the house.
Performances – Reese Witherspoon take the romantic comedy in her on steps, she will always be a great lead in these styles of movies, Michael Sheen will get added laughs through the film, with Pico Alexander, Jon Rudnitsky and Nat Wolff all working well as the young ambitious figures.
Story – The story here follows a newly single mother that reluctantly lets three filmmakers stay in her guest house, which will see her start to open up in life again and the three young men learn the importance of growing up in a cutthroat industry. This is a nice enjoyable story to watch, showing us how growing up in the shadow of a celebrity can make your life look less important, and restarting will always be so much more difficult. It shows how growing up for people in LA is always going to see friendship broken, tested and pushed to the limits, because not everyone is going to be moving at the same pace.
Comedy/Romance – The comedy in the film with give us a few laughs along the way, with the romance being more of what ifs, we don’t tend to fall too heavily on either side of the two genres, focusing more on the drama of life.
Settings – The film uses the LA setting to show just how fast the lives of the people around the town will go.
Scene of the Movie – The big break meeting.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The design job scenes.
Final Thoughts – Home Again is an enjoyable comedy that will get the laughs, while bringing the bigger message to the importance of being loyal in life.
