‘Your house or mine’: is the new romantic comedy by Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher worth it?

Before the recent arrival of ‘The Lost City’, ‘Bros’ and ‘Journey to Paradise’ (some of the best movies of 2022), Netflix was almost solely responsible for reviving the genre of greatest hits rom-coms. like ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and their many, MANY, Christmas rom-coms.

So Netflix’s movie catalog is the perfect place for Reese Witherspoon to return to the genre for the first time since ‘Back Home’ in 2017. She even managed to book Ashton Kutcher on the trip, making his first rom-com appearance in over a decade since 2011’s New Year’s Eve.

With the co-creator of the ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ series, Aline Brosh McKenna, who also wrote ’27 Dresses’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, to the script and direction, ‘Your House or Mine’ feels as close to a safe rom-com as possible. What could really go wrong with that mix? Well, it seems like a lot. Far from being a classic of the genre, the film is light on both romance and comedy and ends up feeling like a missed opportunity.

The premise of ‘Your House or Mine’ is certainly unique. After making a mistake between the sheets two decades ago, Debbie (Witherspoon) and Peter (Kutcher) realized they’d be better off as friends, and they’ve been for two decades. After enduring another breakup due to his unwillingness to commit, Peter offers to help Debbie by flying to Los Angeles to care for their son, while she heads to Peter’s New York home to embark on a course that could change him. life.

You’d think this would be the start of a comedy of errors where one of them has a change of heart, leading to them having to stay together and figure out why they really love each other. But not, Debbie and Peter actually spend most of the film in two totally separate cities, sharing only a couple of scenes where they are in the same place..

Despite numerous phone calls between the two (and camera tricks to imply how close they are as soul mates), it’s a concept that never sparks much romance. If ‘Your House or Mine’ subverted expectations of a rom-com, it might work, but it ends exactly where you think, and you caught it long before the characters did..

There are aspects of ‘Your house or mine’ that work, but none of them have to do with the main duo. Zoë Chao is the main reason to watch the movie and see how she steals every scene in which she appears as Peter’s ex, Minka, who becomes Debbie’s guide to Los Angeles (and love life). , often making the script funnier than it should be thanks to its comedic overtones.

‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ fans will also enjoy appearances by Rachel Bloom and Vella Lovell. However, it’s pure fun to enjoy the cameos, that ‘Oh I know them’ moment, as his talents are wasted instead of being used to add a good helping of humor, something the movie desperately needs..

The main problem of ‘Your house or mine’ comes down to its central concept. No amount of phone calls can make up for the chemistry of a shared scene., even knowing the rom-com track record of Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher. If the title of Netflix’s latest rom-com was a question, then there’s only one possible answer: none.