Scant Chemistry in Cross-Country Romance

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Best friends Debbie (Reese Witherspoon) and Peter (Ashton Kutcher) fall in love after house swapping for a week.

Netflix

Your Place or Mine has Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher as longtime besties discovering romance after a cross-country housing swap. The saccharine-sweet plot never leaves a doubt to the happy ending. That fulfills standard romantic-comedy expectations, but there’s a nagging technicality. The film overdoes split screen editing and graphics to visually aid the separation motif. This results in the protagonists having scant chemistry because there’s literally a dividing line between them. Fluffy extraneous characters, meaningless subplots, and a long runtime further weaken the romance. I did enjoy the rocking soundtrack chock-full of The Cars’ classic hits.

In 2003 Los Angeles, Debbie (Witherspoon) and Peter (Kutcher) have a one-night stand in her apartment. He ghosts her for a spell, but they reconnect as dear friends. Twenty years later, Debbie is a divorced bookkeeper and overprotective mother. Thirteen-year-old Jack (Wesley Kimmel) has every allergy known to man. Peter moved to New York City and became a wealthy consultant. The pair talk every day via texts, calls, and video chats. This bothers Peter’s stream of girlfriends.

The Cool Savior

Netflix

Debbie has an opportunity to finish her degree by taking a statistical modeling class in the city. It lasts a week and has to be done in person. Her babysitter (Rachel Bloom) bails with no warning. Peter, recently single and done with a project, volunteers to take care of Jack. Debbie will stay in his luxurious, high-tech NYC bachelor pad. He’ll hang with Jack and be the cool savior.

The change of scenery has a marked effect on both. Debbie comes out of her shell. Minka (Zoë Chao), Peter’s hipster ex and neighbor, becomes her guide to freedom. In LA, Peter unshackles Jack and tries to help him make friends. As they spend time in each other’s lives, Debbie and Peter soon realize what has been missing from their own.

Modern Romance

Netflix

The Devil Wears Prada and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna makes her feature film directorial debut. Her goal is to create a sophisticated modern romance about finding your true love. Debbie and Peter have had the hots for each other since shacking up. They yap constantly but never discuss their true feelings. This creates a divide where secrets are kept between friends. There’s merit and a degree of sweet creativity to McKenna’s intent.

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Problems arise in the execution. McKenna’s over reliance on split screen as a narrative tool fumbles the hope for connection. You see Debbie and Peter at the same time, but they’re not interacting in a way that develops bonding. The methodology becomes distracting when it should be bringing them closer. McKenna should have taken a page from Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail both had characters that fell in love from afar. The gulf between those characters vanished as the storyline naturally brought them together. McKenna needed to drop the bells and whistles. Traditional editing techniques would have better served the film.

Ensemble Shenanigans

Your Place or Mine has supporting characters that honestly have no purpose. Steve Zahn is wasted as Zen, Debbie’s next door neighbor who just hangs out all day as a free gardener. He also wants her affection but goes nowhere and adds nothing. A good chunk of ensemble shenanigans could have been cut. Better pacing may have alleviated the primary visual flaws.

Your Place or Mine is a production of Aggregate Films, Hello Sunshine, and Lean Machine. It premieres exclusively on February 10th on Netflix.

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