Home Again is hardly terrible but also hardly as charming as the filmmakers thought it was in spite of Reese Witherspoon whose talents are hardly taxed. This is at best a rental otherwise it’s a story that should’ve aired on the Hallmark Channel.
Home Again
(2017)
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama, Romance
Universal | PG13 – 97 min. – $34.98 | December 12, 2017
Date Published: 12/05/2017 | Author: The Movieman
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THE MOVIE — 2.5/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Recently separated from her husband, Alice Kinney (REESE WITHERSPOON) decides to start over by moving back to Los Angeles with her two daughters (LOLA FLANNERY, EDEN GRACE REDFIELD). While celebrating her 40th birthday, Alice meets Harry (PICO ALEXANDER), George (JON RUDNITSKY) and Teddy (NAT WOLFF), three young filmmakers who need a place to live. Complications soon arise when she agrees, with prodding by her mother (CANDICE BERGEN), to let the men stay in her guesthouse temporarily. As Alice develops a budding romance with Harry, her newfound happiness comes crashing down when her ex (MICHAEL SHEEN) shows up with a suitcase in his hand.
Review: Reese Witherspoon is a charming woman. Unfortunately, Home Again lacks any charm and features a lazy story, half-baked script and one-dimensional supporting characters. I’m not quite sure how this made it as far as it did, but the only reason it’s even watchable is for Witherspoon, and even then it’s barely so. Add in your typical movie children, meaning they’re precocious to the point of annoyance, and there are moments that were honestly hard to sit through. As for the supporting cast, well, I couldn’t have cared any less for any of the three dudes who appeared to be lesser versions of characters seen on Entourage while Michael Sheen is vastly underutilized as an ex-husband who at least wasn’t a complete d-bag.
Home Again was written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer and if that last name sounds familiar, that’s because she is the daughter of filmmakers Nancy Meyers (who produced) and Charles Shyer, director of Father of the Bride (as well as its sequel). Meyers-Shyer makes her debut as both writer and director and although perhaps the latter aspect it’s not terrible, albeit it’s a very conventional style, even though the rom-com genre doesn’t exactly lends itself to unique filmmaking; however the final scene is quite amusingly shot like some sort of commercial. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.0/5 |
| This release comes with a title-embossed slip cover and inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy and a DVD Copy. The only feature is an Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Hallie Meyers-Shyer and Producer Nancy Meyers. |
VIDEO – 3.75/5 |
| Universal releases Home Again onto Blu-ray with a 1080p high-definition transfer (MPEG-4 AVC codec) and in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio. This looks like any other romantic-comedy in HD, meaning colors are generally bright in keeping with the light-hearted nature of the story, skin tones appeared natural and detail was fairly sharp and well defined. |
AUDIO – 3.75/5 |
| Similarly, the included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is standard yet effective. Dialogue levels, which does comprise 95% of the film, comes through with nice clarity and some moderate depth is on display with the music/score. |
OVERALL – 2.5/5 |
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Overall, Home Again is hardly terrible but also hardly as charming as the filmmakers thought it was in spite of Reese Witherspoon whose talents are hardly taxed. This is at best a rental otherwise it’s a story that should’ve aired on the Hallmark Channel. The Blu-ray release offers fine video/audio transfers but with only a commentary track, the features are lacking. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.