Film review: ‘Home Again’

Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer, the 1980s and ‘90s romcom royalty who wrote and directed a string of hits - from “Baby Boom” to “Father of the Bride” to “The Parent Trap” - also collaborated on Hallie Meyers-Shyer, now a debutante writer-director.

Recent American history has shown us there are occasional pitfalls to nepotism and Meyers-Shyer’s “Home Again” is proof there’s more to filmmaking than genetics.

The film tells the story of Alice Kinney (Reese Witherspoon), herself the daughter of a Hollywood dynasty, who leaves New York with her two kids, Rosie (Eden Grace Redfield) and Isabel (Lola Flanery). The towheaded ensemble ensconces themselves in the comfortable climes of the Kinney family’s Spanish-tiled dream house in Los Angeles.

Soon after her move, Alice meets Harry (Pico Alexander), and the film sets up the apparently still mind-boggling premise that a man in his mid-20s would desire to have sex and maintain a relationship with a gorgeous 40-year-old mother of two.

Meyers-Shyer has certainly absorbed the chaste style of her mother’s films - Harry and Alice are not seen engaged in any canoodling more intense than neck kissing. The real pornography is in the Kinney compound itself - sunshine falls continuously on the most fabulous Pottery Barn set (with snacks provided by Whole Foods and crockery by Le Creuset). The director’s over-lit shots make her all-white white cast look even whiter.

The twist in the plot is that Harry, however well-coiffed, is homeless, as are his two buddies, the actor Teddy (Nat Wolff) and the screenwriter George (Jon Rudnitsky). The triumvirate are allegedly on the cusp of a filmmaking breakthrough, getting “Best film I saw at South By” hype and taking meetings in Hollywood. The boys look clean enough, so Alice invites them to stay in her comfortable home and absorb their sparkling conversational habits. Sample dialogue: “Eventually ain’t today, my bro.”

While she has a job of sorts as a freelance decorator (there is much shuffling of fabric swatches on mood boards), it’s disappointing that Alice doesn’t even get a sassy best friend. You think it will be Zoey (Lake Bell), but it turns out she’s just a mean client. If anything, the role of protagonist’s pal is filled by Alice’s mother, Lillian Stewart (a subdued Candice Bergen), who pinches the cheeks of grandchildren and manchildren alike.

Just when everyone is settling into a nice routine and you can really feel a nap coming on, Alice’s estranged record exec hubby Austen (Michael Sheen, styled somewhere between a badger and a weasel) arrives on the scene. To match the boys, Austen is dressed like a J. Crew catalog and his interactions with Harry and Co. resemble the awkward conflicts you might imagine between the guy in khakis on page 7 and the dudes in pullovers on page 10. Flipping through the mail, you could make up your own stories more gripping than the ones in this film.

“Home Again” relies on no fewer than four music montages to drown out the dire dialogue - one of them is a formulaic party anthem by LMFAO. Actual laughs prove much harder to come by.

As Reese grimaces her way through another airless conversation you find yourself in the theater wondering where this movie lands in your “worst romantic comedies of the century” pantheon. How it has come to this for Ms. Witherspoon?

The promise of her career that ran from “Election” to “Walk the Line” is long gone. She has done important things, like running a production company that focuses on female-written and directed projects but, as a talented comedienne, it’s unclear what she saw in this script. And, because “Home Again” was shot across just 30 days, it’s disappointing we don’t have a better project to look forward to soon.