Can ‘Your Place or Mine’ Really Call Itself a Rom-Com?
Your Place or Mine sets out to be a rom-com, but does it really accomplish it? With a couple that only shares the same space for a few minutes, it is hard to cheer for them to end up together.
If the awkward photos of Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon on the red carpet were telling us something, it was that the lack of chemistry would translate to the screen. Sadly, there are no butterflies between Peter and Debbie that make us want to see them together.
As characters they work perfectly and as viewers we want to see where their storylines go. But do we really care enough about them as a couple? Or do they work better as friends?
Ashton Kutcher does a great job as Peter. We truly get to see his journey, going from someone who creates stories for others without having a brand to a man who owns up to exactly who he is.
Peter’s solo story is more interesting than his feelings for Debbie because we truly get to see who he is as a person. The 13-year-old kid who is still battling with his inner demons after losing his father, became the father figure Jack needed.
Your Place or Mine makes us want to watch more of Peter and Jack whether his mom is involved or not. This relationship allows not only Peter to grow but also Jack.
What surprises us in this movie is that, unlike most rom-coms, we are more invested in the parallel relationships the main characters have with other characters and not each other.
While we want to see how Peter helps Jack become his own persona outside of his mom’s fears, we are rooting for Debbie to realize there is more to life than being a mom terrified of what may happen.
Truth is Debbie’s storyline becomes more interesting when Minka comes into the scene. Everyone deserves a friend like Minka who will push you to think outside the box and take risks that will change your life.
Without Minka, we wouldn’t have Theo. Even though Debbie ends up realizing she is in love with Peter, Theo is the perfect love interest.
Your Place or Mine may have been a better movie if Debbie and Peter remained friends, and Debbie ended up with Theo. The chemistry between Reese Witherspoon and Jesse Williams is more palpable through the screen.
In the perfect rom-com world, friendship between a man and a woman would have prevailed, and Debbie would have moved to New York to become an editor and see where things go with Theo. Or at least in the kind of memorable rom-com the movie wants to be.
For the most part, the script feels awkward or at least it was delivered awkwardly.
When the movie starts, it seems like every line said is being read from the script. It feels like every moment works separately but not as a whole.
The one thing Your Place or Mine does right is the screen split when Debbie and Peter are on the phone or in the beginning when they are starting their day walking around their respective cities.
Most of Debbie and Peter’s interactions are through the phone, so showing both of them on the screen is a great touch. As the audience we get to see how they react in “real” time to what the other person is saying.
We are in on their secrets or lies as we know what is happening and get to see their faces when they feel called out. It also helps see how their realities are different but may make sense if they decide to get together.
The only time the screen isn’t split while they are on the phone is when Jack is in the hospital. By making this choice, the movie shows us the tension between these two characters. Can they find their way back to one another after this?
Chemistry is what the audience looks for the most in rom-coms. Sadly, Kutcher and Witherspoon do not have it or at least do not make us feel it through the screen.
If we think about romantic comedies and chemistry, we are reminded of Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days or Cameron Diaz and Jude Law in The Holiday.
This time around, as viewers we can’t feel that madly, crazy, overwhelming love that Peter describes when he is confessing his love to Debbie. It should feel magical as it’s set in an airport — where most rom-coms have huge demonstrations of love.
However, when these two characters are holding hands and trying to figure out if it feels good, we can tell it doesn’t. It is awkward and just like them we are wondering if it “feels kinda good” or if the friendship is stronger.
Lately, rom-coms have been coming back, trying to give us that early 2000s feel. The nostalgia of those movies has kept the genre alive, but Your Place or Mine doesn’t fall into that category.
If the movie had been about two friends who do life by each other’s side without feelings for one another and finding other partners, it would have worked.
Making Kutcher and Witherspoon the love interests may have been what categorizes this movie as a rom-com flop. Even though there are things that work, it mostly doesn’t feel like the movie accomplishes what it set out to do.
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What did you think of Your Place or Mine? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Your Place or Mine is now streaming on Netflix.
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Lara Rosales
By day, Lara Rosales (she/her) is a solo mom by choice and a bilingual writer with a BA in Latin-American Literature known as a Media Relations Expert. By night, she is a TV enjoyer who used to host a podcast (Cats, Milfs & Lesbian Things). You can find her work published on Eulalie Magazine, Geek Girl Authority, W Spotlight, Collider, USA Wire, Mentors Collective, Instelite, Noodle, Dear Movies, Nicki Swift, and Flip Screened.