Home Again

Directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer, Home Again follows Reese Witherspoon’s Alice as she finds herself living with three aspiring filmmakers alongside her two small children. It’s a decent-enough premise that’s employed to watchable yet pervasively forgettable effect by Meyers-Shyer, as the filmmaker, working from her own screenplay, delivers a mostly sluggish endeavor that’s weighed down by its often astoundingly generic atmosphere and predictable narrative – with the movie, by and large, boasting the feel of a product that’s emerged directly from a template for stories of this ilk (ie virtually every single touchstone one might’ve anticipated, including the fake breakup, eventually makes an appearance). There’s little doubt, then, that Home Again’s mild success is due primarily to its affable atmosphere and raft of likable, charming performances, with, in terms of the latter, the picture receiving plenty of mileage out of Witherspoon’s predictably winning work (and it doesn’t hurt, either, that she’s surrounded by equally agreeable periphery players). By the time the unexpectedly moving climax rolls around, Home Again has undoubtedly confirmed its place as a thoroughly run-of-the-mill romcom that never quite wears out its welcome.

**1/2 out of ****