HOME AGAIN Review — You can go…

On a very personal note, when you put Reese Witherspoon and Candice Bergen together (as they were in Sweet Home Alabama), set them in absolutely gorgeous L.A. homes, throw in handsome and charming male eye candy, and wrap them in a plot about Hollywood, you’ve served up all my favorite things on a pretty platter. How can I help but love it? It’s as if the filmmakers said, “Lisa Johnson Mandell, for all you do, this one’s for you!”

Here you have Witherspoon playing Alice, a conscientious mother of two who has fled New York and her detached husband (Michael Sheen) to return to the comfort of her childhood home in Pasadena, which has apparently been willed to her by her deceased father, a famous director.

When her mother (Bergen) invites three hot, young aspiring filmmakers to crash in Alice’s guest house, all comedy and romance breaks loose. And when Alice’s husband returns to the fold to try to reclaim what he feels is rightfully his, the plot thickens.

I’m sure you can understand why attractive younger men getting a crush on a 40-plus woman appeals to me, but it’s a nice twist to see an older woman who’s name isn’t Mrs. Robinson being an object of desire to her juniors. No one bats an eye when it’s older men with a younger women — that, in fact, has become a tired cliche.

I think some had unrealistic expectations of this film, based on the fact that Home Again was written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer, the daughter of rom com royalty: writer/director/producer Charles Shyer (Smokey and the Bandit, Private Benjamin, The Parent Trap, Father of the Bride) and writer/director/producer Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give, The Intern, The Holiday, It’s Complicated). While you might have caught a glimpse of Meyers-Shyer playing small roles in her parents’ films, this is her first shot at writing and directing a major motion picture.

I think it’s an excellent debut effort, and I look forward to seeing more from Myers-Shyer. 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!

Rated PG-13

2 Hours

Get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

HOME AGAIN Review — Reese Witherspoon and Candice Bergen and – What’s Not to Like?

by Lisa Johnson Mandell