Film Review: You’ll Be Counting the Minutes Until You Too Can Be ‘Home Again’

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CHICAGO – Seeing so many films on a daily basis, you would think that I would grow tired of them. I don’t. Instead, I begin to notice the same formulas in films, like the one in “Home Again”. Unfortunately for “Home Again” you’ll spend most of the film wondering just how much longer before you can be the same.

Rating: 1.0/5.0

The film uses the tried-and-true formula we have come to expect from many of these types of family comedies, except this one feels more tried than true. Much like Reese Witherspoon’s character in the film, we as an audience deserve better. Too long have films like this one taken us (the audience) for granted. We deserve better than these stagnant, one-sided films that ultimately don’t respect our time and leave us unfulfilled by the time they reach their predictable ends. We deserve something new, refreshing and exciting in our lives, and “Home Again” is not up to the task.

First-time writer/director Hallie Meyers-Shyer gives us an amalgam of every romantic comedy she has ever seen. The film’s premise is the only part of this project that event makes any attempt at originality, and even that comes off as too convoluted to be enjoyable. A newly separated mother of two faces a midlife crisis that leads her to let three complete strangers stay with her and her young children. Each of the three men acts as a different, essential part of her psyche telling her what she should be doing or how she should be reacting. Their logic is sound, but no less upsetting to watch as they are essentially showing that they have more maturity and life wisdom than this single mother.

Continue reading for Jon Espino’s full review of “Home Again”

Who needs a man when you can have four in ‘Home Again’
Photo credit: Open Road films

Continue reading for Jon Espino’s full review of “Home Again”