sSometimes, and perhaps increasingly, the pleasure of films lies in the little things. Netflix’s delightful romantic comedy A family affair, written by newcomer Carrie Solomon and directed by Richard LaGravenese, a veteran director and screenwriter who knows what he’s doing, it explores familiar territory from a film released earlier this year: an “older” single mother has an affair with a much younger son. man, inviting judgment and ridicule from those around her. We just saw this idea, developed quite nicely, in The idea of you, starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine. In A family affair, It’s Nicole Kidman’s successful writer Brooke Harwood who falls in love with movie star Chris Cole (Zac Efron), although there’s an added complication: Brooke’s daughter Zara (Joey King) is Chris’s personal assistant. , and she can’t stand him. .
You might complain that two films on the same subject, released within a few months of each other, are perhaps one film too many. (The idea also appears in French filmmaker Catherine Breillat’s beautiful erotic drama Last summer, (which premiered at Cannes in 2023 and is just now hitting U.S. theaters.) Or you could see this mini-trend as evidence that a number of filmmakers are smelling the same scent in the air: Women over 50 don’t want to be written off; they want to be seen, appreciated, loved. The idea is so simple that you wonder why people aren’t doing it five films like this every year for the last 50 years. But here we are: the older woman-younger man thing is still such a novelty that we almost can’t believe our eyes when we see it.
A family affair begins with Zara reaching the end of her rope with the childish and demanding Chris, the burly, smug star of a hit fantasy action franchise. He’s at a restaurant, about to break up with a sweet if bland girlfriend who’s expecting a marriage proposal. His parting gift is a pair of diamond earrings – good work, if you can get them – but he doesn’t have them with him. They’re in Zara’s bag, and she’s stuck in typically horrible Los Angeles traffic. Finally, she makes the delivery, and Chris, callous and clueless, does the job. Zara picks him up to take him home, and he squirms in the passenger seat clapping to Cher’s “I Believe in Love” as it plays on the car stereo, feeling every beat in his cold, empty, but heart. also undeniably undisciplined. Zara rolls her eyes.
Later, they argue. He fires her or she quits, it’s hard to say which. But Chris likes Zara and needs her. Hoping to get her back, he goes to her house, or rather the not-so-shabby house she shares with her mother, Brooke, who is dusting off her bookshelves with such glamor to the tune of “Dreaming” by Blondie when Chris arrives. She doesn’t hear him ring the doorbell, so he goes in right away – he’s a movie star, so he can do it! Even he knows that. After a few crazy moments where she verifies that he’s not a thief, the two sit down on the couch and start talking. There’s tequila involved and one thing leads to another.
You’ve certainly seen this sort of thing before, but Solomon and LaGravenese (whose resume goes back to including deeply enjoyable novels like 1998’s) Living out loud) are not so much about renewing genre conventions as they are about trusting in their perennial reliability. Brooke has been a widow for a long time. (She is very close to her mother-in-law, played with enthusiasm by Kathy Bates.) Zara loses control when she discovers that her mother is romantically involved with her terrible boss, but she must learn that the world doesn’t revolve around her. .
The learning the lesson part is where the film fails. The best part of A family affair is the conclusion, the scenes where Brooke and Chris meet. On their first real date, Chris asks Brooke if she would like to go for a walk after dinner. “Where do you hang out in Los Angeles?” she asks. “New York!” he says happily, because in the dream world of Los Angeles, you’re never far from a studio. Although the banter between Efron and Kidman is quite amusing – the two have played lovers before, in 2012 film The newsboy– it may take a while for them to adjust to your face. There has been a lot of talk on the Internet about Efron’s chin, which has changed drastically in size and shape in recent years. Efron has been cheerful in dismissing the speculation, claiming he suffered a serious accident years ago that required his jaw to be reattached – hence the change in shape. And Kidman – well, she is Kidman. Maybe we need to accept the reality that in order to be a fifty-something and be able to attract a thirty-something, you yourself need to have semi-miraculously slowed the ravages of time.
But that’s Hollywood for you, and this is, after all, a film that is unapologetically set in a fantasy land. When it shines, which it often does, it’s perfectly pleasant. Efron has always been a fantastic actor, long before audiences started “taking him seriously,” whatever that means, in The Iron Claw. His timing is dazzling. In an early scene, he sends Zara to the supermarket to buy a special protein powder—he’s too famous to appear there—and she calls him to make sure she’s buying the right kind. As she pushes her cart through the store, she marvels aloud at the zillion and one varieties of Oreos in the cookie aisle. When she arrives at the “strawberry shortcake,” we see Chris at home, listening on the phone, his eyes shining like lightning. “Do you want some?” Zara asks him hesitantly. “Yes!” he says, as if he had just discovered one of the great wonders of the modern world. It’s doubtful the actual product will deliver on that promise, but isn’t that always the case when marketing is involved? Later, he will meet Kidman’s real Brooke. Together, the two are almost too unreal for words. Again, that’s Hollywood for you – a place where, in real life, age is definitely no just a number. But we can dream, can’t we?
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
