home again movie reviews

Usually there is nothing wrong with indulgent escapism as a cinematic commodity. But it's probably more than a little tone deaf right now to trot out to see a cream-puffy Hollywood rom-com fantasy involving coddled well-off people. Consider that one of the bigger setbacks faced by at least three characters at some point in "Home Again" is that they choose to eat cold leftover lasagna straight out of the same red Le Creuset pan. Oh, the humanity.

After observing thousands of Houstonians forced out of their own now-demolished homes by a devastating flood and their self-sacrificing rescuers, I found myself from the get-go having difficulty summoning much sympathy for Reese Witherspoon 's Alice, a newly separated mother of two who we first meet as she sobs in her bathroom on her 40th birthday. Her New York City-based music-biz husband ( Michael Sheen ) apparently refused to give up on the hard-partying lifestyle that such a profession requires. So she and her sitcom-sassy grade-school daughters have moved back to Los Angeles, where her ex-actress mother ( Candice Bergen , the only cast member who is able to ring much zing from her semi-comedic lines) and a ready-made network of giddy gal pals applaud her return.

Not that Alice has problems finding a new home since she inherited a vintage spread from her late Oscar-winning director-father, a revered ‘70s icon, as well as a sporty classic car. (Sorry, I don't have the gene that allows you to instantly know a make and model, but the sloping roof suggests a Porsche). The one-floor, hacienda-style abode is big enough to accommodate  not just a built-in pool and a courtyard spacious enough to hold group yoga classes for her friends. There is also a roomy cottage that enables three cash-strapped 20-something filmmaking brothers ( Nat Wolff , Jon Rudnitsky and Pico Alexander , a name that befits a cocktail) to camp out with her while waiting for their movie deal to go through. That Alice just met this trio on a drinking binge while celebrating her big 4-0 at a bar and almost slept with one of them (Alexander, who is adorable and knows it)—well, this act of charity seems to be the very least she can do. That makes for one big kooky makeshift family. Then her estranged husband has second thoughts and shows up unannounced at her door. Supposedly amusing testosterone-induced alpha-male antics follow.

The blizzard of white privilege that bedecks "Home Again" is practically blinding (I counted three ethnically diverse actors in small speaking roles). If this sounds  something like a junior-league variation on something like "It's Complicated" with the addition of our heroine relying on her trio of house guests as unpaid child-care providers, a tech troubleshooter and a live-in boy toy, that's because it is. Eau de Nancy Meyers , the queen of upper-class affairs of the heart amid decadent décor porn, is all over this. But she is actually on the sidelines as one of the producers. Instead, this is the brainchild of her 30-year-old novice writer-director daughter, Hallie Meyers-Shyer , and the organic apple certainly didn't fall far from the artisanal tree.

To be fair, I confess to having a lovingly curated weak spot for much of Meyers' oeuvre after she split from hubby Charles Shyer (who fared less well without her input): " What Women Want ," "Something's Gotta Give," "The Holiday," " The Intern "—primo wish-fulfillment chick flicks one and all, and each eminently re-watchable. But even if "Home Again" was released when there wasn't a national crisis affecting a large portion of the country, it would still seem somewhat off. Meyers-Shyer has said that she wanted to reflect the fact that women seem to be getting divorced earlier in their lives these days combined with a gender twist on a May-December romance. Fair enough. But the hurdles that Alice faces aren't all that relatable or even much of a problem once she summons the courage to verbally confront them. Her nice estranged husband wants her back. Her easy-access young sex partner has maturity issues. Her first client in her new career as a decorator is a stereotypical self-centered nightmare, a role that totally wastes Lake Bell 's talents.

Speaking of which, after her awards-worthy work in " Wild " and on TV's " Big Little Lies ," Witherspoon is taking at least two steps backward as Alice. She is just too smart of an actress to believably play a pushover who is prone to anxiety attacks and being taken advantage of by others. When her brief imitation of Bell's snarling Labradoodle is her funniest scene, there is a problem here.

Apparently, the most unbelievable part of the film—that Alice would allow three strangers to move in with her and her young daughters—actually happened to a woman that Meyers-Shyer knew. Fine. But her job was to make it believable in her movie instead of just a plot contrivance. Yes, the casual-chic interior designs shine as much as her mom's ever did. But I never really felt at home with "Home Again."

Susan Wloszczyna

Susan Wloszczyna spent much of her nearly thirty years at USA TODAY as a senior entertainment reporter. Now unchained from the grind of daily journalism, she is ready to view the world of movies with fresh eyes.

• Pico Alexander as Harry
• Michael Sheen as Austen
• Nat Wolff as Teddy
• Candice Bergen as Lillian Stewart
• Lola Flanery as Isabel
• Reese Witherspoon as Alice Kinney
• Lake Bell as Zoey
• David Bilow

Cinematographer

• Dean Cundey
• Hallie Meyers-Shyer
• John Debney

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Home Again Reviews

...a decent-enough premise that’s employed to watchable yet pervasively forgettable effect...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 8, 2022

A film that's not romantic enough for you to care, and not funny enough to make you laugh, "Home Again" barely qualifies as a rom-com. This is a movie that, while inoffensive, isn't worth your time.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | May 19, 2022

It's the wistful Reese rom-com that you expect from it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 5, 2020

[It] may have its heart in the right place as a bit of light, escapist entertainment, but it stops just short of artificially pausing conversation to let canned laughter dictate the audience's reaction.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 28, 2020

If you're just hankering to see Witherspoon on the big screen again, you could do worse. But we know she's capable and worthy of so much more.

Full Review | May 13, 2020

The most I can say is that it made me want to take a vacation to Santa Barbara.

I didn't really need to see this movie.

It has a good cast trapped in a script that is not challenging enough.

Full Review | Sep 20, 2019

Is there anything less relatable than rich, successful white people whining about how hard they have it?

Full Review | Original Score: .5/5 | Mar 21, 2019

Unfortunately Home Again wasn't a romantic comedy... It was a sitcom about 3 guys trying to get a screenplay made in LA and an older woman helping them out.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Mar 7, 2019

What a pleasure to see a film that's lighthearted and free from the raunch that dominates most chick flicks nowadays.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 20, 2018

Usually considered somewhat of a spark plug in her plucky-type of roles , Witherspoon is curiously reduced to playing what amounts to a walking sleeping pill in Meyers-Shyer's mawkish, contrived comedy Home Again.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Dec 19, 2018

Something's clearly missing, though it's never quite clear if the extra oomph Home Again needed was left on the cutting room floor or out of the script entirely.

Full Review | Dec 19, 2018

"Home Again" feels like comfort food, specifically low fat vanilla bean ice cream from Whole Foods. Yes, the film is that white, frothy and delightful.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 2, 2018

Are you sure this isn't a television pilot for CBS?

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 30, 2018

I can already tell that it's going to be one of those movies that I watch over and over again once it's available on TV.

Full Review | Aug 26, 2018

On the whole, though, Alice is such a wet character, and her plight so shallow and insignificant, it is a struggle to care. Stay, go, cry, laugh, wake me when it is over.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 23, 2018

I think it's an excellent debut effort... a film doesn't have to make a grand social/political statement or make you squeamish to be enjoyable. Go Reese! Go Candice! Go Hallie!

Full Review | Aug 21, 2018

Reese is always appealing, but this film is clueless, sexist and at mostly just down right offensive. Sorry Reese, nothing to like here.

Full Review | Jun 22, 2018

The film is cute and funny and light, with really nice messages about love and dreams and family, giving it a classic romantic comedy feel that is the definition of a comfort watch.

Full Review | Jun 6, 2018

"HOME AGAIN WONT TAKE YOU HOME"

What You Need To Know:

(PaPaPa, RoRo, HH, B, LL, V, SS, N, AA, DD, MM) Very strong mixed pagan worldview with strong Romantic, humanist elements where there’s not even the slightest hint of a moral compass guiding any of the characters, the main character A separates from her husband because of his poor decisions and sleeps with another man multiple times although she is still married and only separated from her husband, all of the characters seem to have a “que sera sera” type of attitude, the main character allows her heart and feelings to guide the majority of her decisions, good or bad, she makes the decision to divorce her husband even though he comes to her asking to work it out, and everyone seems to be perfectly okay with divorce, plus some positive moral elements regarding the main character’s relationship with her two daughters; 14 obscenities and profanities (including several GDs), plus a man is heard vomiting in the bathroom after having too much to drink; light violence, the worst of which is two men get into a mild fist fight and wrestle on the ground outside with a bit of scrapes/blood on their faces, but nothing excessive or disturbing; a moderate amount of sexual content such as many mentions of the past multiple occurrences of adultery to many other women by the main character’s father (including the fact he got another woman pregnant while married to her mother), main character sleeps with one of three younger men staying at her house multiple times although she’s only separated and not divorced yet from her husband; brief upper male nudity in a hot tub and when two men strip down to their skivvies to swim in the ocean, plus a woman’s bare back is shown; alcohol use and drunkenness in several scenes (one man gets sick during a woman’s birthday celebration), including main character goes on a date with a man and gets drunk and lays out on a bench outside until someone picks her up; cigarette smoking includes images of actors in movies smoking cigarettes and some drug references such as one character unpacks his bag and a small plastic bag of marijuana falls out, a young daughter asks to be put on anti-depressants “just like all the other kids,” and main character pops a pill for anxiety; and, strong miscellaneous content includes depiction of a dysfunctional family, main character separates from her husband with her two children and moves them across the country, divorce is validated, main character only saw her father every other weekend as a child growing up, and many examples of moral relativism.

More Detail:

HOME AGAIN stars Reese Witherspoon as Alice Kinney, the daughter of a famous classic Hollywood director known for his movies featuring Alice’s mother. The story opens as Alice is settling into her childhood home in Los Angeles with her two young daughters after they have left New York, including Alice’s husband, the father of their children. Alice has been separated from Austen for about five months. Alice isn’t romantically involved with anyone else. She’s just trying to get her feet on the ground back in her old home and maintain a relatively normal life for her daughters.

On her birthday, Alice goes out for dinner and drinks with some friends. She stumbles into three young filmmakers, new to Los Angeles and ready to pursue all the opportunities the entertainment capital of the world offers. Immediately attracted to one of the guys, Harry, Alice invites the three men back to her house. There, Harry gets sick after drinking too much and vomits, keeping her from doing something she might regret in the morning.

The next day, Alice’s mother brings the girls back home earlier than expected, and they all run into each other, catching everyone off guard. After one of the young filmmakers, George, accidentally stumbles upon all of her father’s old film paraphernalia, he realizes who Alice and her mom really are. Alice’s mother, fascinated by these young aspiring artists, invites them to stay for breakfast and then indefinitely. Alice reluctantly accepts to be the hostess of these newly homeless, starving artists. Thus begins a series of comical and romantic adventures and entanglements.

HOME AGAIN is written and directed by Hallie Myers-Shyer. She’s the daughter of Producer Nancy Meyers, who directed the very successful, MOVIEGUIDE® Award winning movies WHAT WOMEN WANT and the 1998 remake of THE PARENT TRAP, and Charles Shyer, the director of FATHER OF THE BRIDE, the 1991 remake of the Vincente Minnelli movie starring Spencer Tracy, and its 1995 sequel FATHER OF THE BRIDE II.

Sadly, however, HOME AGAIN isn’t as family-friendly as those four movies, including the more adult-oriented WHAT WOMEN WANT. Although it definitely has some heartwarming moments between the mother and her daughters and laughs throughout, HOME AGAIN portrays some dysfunctional family values. Much of the humor and situations are for a more mature audience. Worse, the movie’s godless worldview is strongly Romantic. Thus, the characters pursue their personal dreams and happiness apart from God and without any objective moral standards, much less any strong biblical standards. Consequently, HOME AGAIN contains a high amount of questionable content, including multiple examples of infidelity by multiple characters. Sometimes the movie portrays its adult situations as an internal struggle, but they’re also often passed off as something that just “happens” and not an actual decision that was made by a person capable of choosing to do the right thing.

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Home Again Reviews

• 41   Metascore
• 1 hr 37 mins
• Drama, Comedy
• Watchlist Where to Watch

A recently separated woman moves to LA with her two daughters, where she rents out her guesthouse to three much-younger men—one of whom she soon begins dating. Her new life gets even more complicated when her estranged husband re-enters the picture.

Midway in Home Again, Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s fluff-filled romantic comedy, someone says to make a good movie you need two things: luck and talent. Well, Meyers-Shyer certainly has luck on her side. Her parents are acclaimed writer-directors Nancy Meyers (What Women Want, Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday) and Charles Shyer (Baby Boom, Father of the Bride), and young Hallie grew up on their movie sets. And for her directorial debut, Meyers-Shyer enlisted her mom to co-produce it, and persuaded her dad to serve as the film’s second unit director. Lucky, indeed.   Unfortunately, the rookie helmer and screenwriter doesn’t yet possess her parents’ keen observational skills or wit. While Home Again is competently directed and performed, it plays like a high-gloss Hallmark movie, or a pale imitation of a sophisticated Nancy Meyers rom-com. It’s as if Meyers-Shyer went snooping through her parents’ files and found an early draft of a discarded script and shot it.   As Home Again begins, Alice Kinney (Reese Witherspoon) is crying in front of a bathroom mirror. Why? It’s her 40th birthday. Although she lives in a fabulous Hollywood home complete with a pool and guesthouse, doesn’t really need to work, has two wonderful, doting daughters, and seems to be content with a recent separation from her New York-based husband (Michael Sheen), she’s weeping. It’s an unconvincing moment in a movie filled with implausible occurrences. To celebrate turning the Big 4-0, Alice goes to a bar with some girlfriends and meets three twentysomething filmmakers struggling to make it in La La Land. Soon, everyone is crashing at Alice’s posh bungalow, where she makes out with 27-year-old Harry (Pico Alexander). Alice’s mom (Candice Bergen) pops in the next morning and takes an instant liking to the boyish trio and persuades Alice to let them take up residence in the guesthouse. After all, Alice’s late father was a legendary filmmaker; he would wholeheartedly approve, she says. Soon, they are all one big happy family, with Alice’s daughters looking up to the guys like big brothers. Of course, they don’t know that Harry is mom’s friend with benefits. The sex in Home Again is scrubbed clean and discreet, and completely off-screen, but this sanitized presentation is part of what makes Home Again feel so fake. Of course, complications of the formulaic-type arise, but a happy ending is never in doubt.   Witherspoon, who is in nearly every scene, is always pleasing to watch. She does sweet and adorable better than anyone but, sadly, that’s about all the Oscar winner is called on to do here. Bergen and Sheen are terrific, but underused, as is Lake Bell as a snooty Beverly Hills-type who hires Alice to decorate her daughter’s bedroom and then dumps her. As for Alexander, he’s the weak link. He’s tall and handsome, but pure vanilla. What Alice sees in Harry---beyond sex---remains a mystery.   Home Again is purportedly about a woman finding the strength to make a mid-life change and courageously forge ahead. But the movie’s version of that change is pure fantasy. Nothing in Home Again would actually happen. Of course, one reason we go to the movies is to live in a fantasy world for a couple of hours. The film’s target audience, largely female, will likely view it as cute and cuddly, while others will see it as calculated and cringeworthy. Either way, here’s hoping Meyers-Shyers steps out of her parents’ revered shadows for her next film and bravely forges her own singular, filmmaking path.  

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Time Out says

A newly separated mother takes on three young male lodgers: perhaps a better idea for a ’70s sitcom than a comedy film. Alice (Reese Witherspoon) is a perky, flustered interior designer who juggles dull work dramas with romantic conundrums. Chief of these is handsome Harry (Pico Alexander), who’s staying in Alice’s guesthouse with his buddies (Nat Wolff and Jon Rudnitsky). Aside from being aspiring filmmakers, each of these men is defined by one characteristic, so what starts as amusing becomes rather tired over the course of nearly two hours. ‘Home Again’ is too superficial to maintain tension as a character-driven drama, and not funny enough to overcome an aimless plot.

Written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer, the daughter of romcom legend Nancy Meyers (who also produced this), it’s loaded with knowing references to the movie industry. But it can’t decide if it’s ‘Entourage’, ‘Friends’ or even a polygamy drama, which is what early trailers seemed to suggest (if that was ever the intent, it chickens out). Witherspoon lights up the screen as always, but she’s underwritten. Given Meyers-Shyer’s background, it seems odd not to have given her heroine a job in the film industry: that might have resulted in something meatier than this glossy time-passer.

Release Details

• Release date: Friday 29 September 2017
• Duration: 97 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Hallie Meyers-Shyer
• Screenwriter: Hallie Meyers-Shyer
• Reese Witherspoon
• Michael Sheen

Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.

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