A rom-com co-starring Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher. Sounds at least OK, doesn't it?
Well, it may have been, had Aline Brosh McKenna — the writer-director of "Your Place or Mine," which debuts on Netflix this week, thus arriving in plenty of time for Valentine's Day — actually put them together for a meaningful amount of the flick.
After watching Witherspoon's Debbie and Kutcher's Peter hook up two decades earlier — with Brosh McKenna ("The Devil Wears Prada," "27 Dresses") playfully walking us through all the visual indications that this is, in fact, taking place in 2003 — we see the pair in 2023 talking as they face each other in bed. This present-day scene is a microcosm of the movie, as they aren't actually in bed together but instead chatting on the phone, as they do daily, from separate beds in Los Angeles (Debbie) and New York (Peter).
As it turns out, these 40-somethings — she's older in "lady years," she quips on this, his birthday — quickly became besties.
Debbie married a rock climber, a union that, although not meant to last, did produce her beloved now-13-year-old son, Jack (Wesley Kimmel, nephew of the host of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"). An accountant, Debbie is orderly and meticulous when it comes to Jack, who is on the small side and has myriad food allergies.
Highly paid consultant and onetime aspiring novelist Peter, meanwhile, has remained a bachelor, moving on from a relationship about as easily as he shuffles from one client to another. (With his outgoing personality and great hair, he leaves both beautiful women and men in suits wanting more.)
Debbie is set to visit Peter in the Big Apple for a week, during which time she'll take the final exam for her master's degree, qualifying her for a better-paying job. Peter is really looking forward to that much time with his long-distance girlfriend, er, female friend.
However, an issue with Debbie's sitter means not that she must take Jack with her — we were beginning to sniff an infant-family thing happening here — but instead that she simply can't go. Peter, being the great guy he is, books a flight to LA. He will take care of Jack at her house, he insists, while she will enjoy the cold comforts of his amazing-but-barely-lived-in apartment.
Reluctantly, she agrees, leaving behind a host of instructional notes and several frozen casseroles, which Peter pitches. He intends on letting Jack live a freer existence — Debbie, we know, will not approve — and trying to help him make friends at school.
Soon after getting settled in New York, Debbie makes pals with one of Peter's exes, the always-up-for-a-good-time Minka (Zoe Chao).
And so we have our would-be pair still on opposite coasts, having separate adventures. But when Debbie's begins to involve a handsome book editor (Jesse Williams of "Grey's Anatomy"), Peter's mood changes for the worse. (Wait, maybe he didn't leave sunny California those many years ago because he's terrified of earthquakes!)
Here's the thing: While not ideal, it would be OK that "Your Place or Mine" is so intent on keeping apart its main characters were their respective goings-on simply more entertaining.
The father-son-like bonding done by Peter and Jack? That kind of thing's been done a lot more effectively. Debbie's time with Minka and then with Theo? It's OK, at best.
It's never irritating to spend time with these creations of Brosh McKenna — and thanks largely to Witherspoon ("Wild," "The Morning Show") and Kutcher ("No Strings Attached," "Vengeance"), it's sometimes even mildly enjoyable — but it's also never enthralling.
Chao ("Love Life") usually is able to inject some personality into a project, but she adds only so much to the proceedings. Similarly, the always-welcome inclusion of Steve Zahn ("White Lotus"), whose guitar-strumming Zen spends his days tending to the lush plant life surrounding Debbie's home, doesn't move the needle. We get even less from a particularly bland Tig Notaro ("Star Trek: Discovery"), whose Alicia has known both Debbie and Peter for decades.
In fact, the most personality "Your Place or Mine" has to offer is its frequent use of the music of the Cars, which eventually is explained. But, uh oh, it's NOT magic; when we're not hearing the tunes of the late Ric Ocasek and the boys, there's not much of a rhythm.
Not shockingly, this rom-com does finally crackle — just a bit — when Debbie and Peter actually are together again in the same physical space. (That they're initially still actually moving in opposite directions is another nice little touch by Brosh McKenna.)
It's too little, too late, though, for this to resemble anything close to a hot date.
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'YOUR PLACE OR MINE'
2 stars (out of 4)
Rated: PG-13 (for suggestive material and brief strong language)
Running time: 1:49
How to watch: Netflix
