Film Review: YOUR PLACE OR MINE (2023): Aline Brosh McKenna’s Comedy Has Some Laughs but is Light on Romance

Your Place or Mine Review

Your Place or Mine (2023) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Aline Brosh McKenna and starring Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher, Tig Notaro, Zoe Chao, Jesse Williams, Wesley Kimmel, Steve Zahn, Rachel Bloom, Griffin Matthews, Vella Lovell, Shiri Appleby, Tanner Swagger, Mystic Inscho, Michael Hitchcock, Rene Gube, Ted Griffin, Gloria Calderon Kellett and Tom Yi.

Movies where the two romantic leads are positioned in different locations are hard to admire because they don’t give the audience the opportunity to evaluate the physical chemistry of the lovers at hand. In Alina Brosh McKenna’s comedy, Your Place or Mine, the two would-be lovers have known each other as friends for at least 20 years but something feels manufactured about the love story the film presents to the viewer. That being said, the scenes with Reese Witherspoon have a certain sweet nature about them which could make the movie appealing to her fans. Meanwhile, her romantic interest is played by Ashton Kutcher who is adequate but doesn’t drive home his scenes the same way Witherspoon is able to. Witherspoon is an Oscar winner so it’s not necessarily fair to compare the performances, but the Witherspoon scenes are just more interesting than the Kutcher ones.

Witherspoon plays Debbie Dunn who has a young son, Jack (Wesley Kimmel) but is, for the convenience of this movie’s plot, single. Kutcher’s character, Peter Coleman, goes from one failed relationship to the next. Debbie and Peter are longtime friends on opposite sides of America. When Debbie gets the opportunity to go pursue her dream of furthering her education in New York, Peter comes to California to watch Jack. It’s like the pair is trading places to work on getting in touch with their inner selves and finding what they really want in life. Of course, Peter carries a torch for Debbie which is why none of his relationships work out.

In L.A. where Debbie’s house is, we meet a neighbor named Zen who is played by the excellent Steve Zahn but Zen is a poorly sketched character who only works in the film as someone who others can bounce ideas off of. It’s not Zahn’s fault that the character is underdeveloped, but it is a shame that he is. Also in L.A. is the wise-cracking Alicia (the always reliable Tig Notaro) who Peter shoots the breeze with in some of the movie’s best scenes.  As Peter gets to do the whole father figure thing while hanging out with Jack, he bounces ideas off Alicia and these scenes work tremendously well. to the picture’s advantage.

In N.Y., Debbie begins to date Theo Martin (Jesse Williams) as the plot develops. You see, Debbie discovers an old manuscript that would-be writer Peter has so she wants Theo (who works in publishing) to read it. Theo may have other things on his mind than the manuscript, though. It seems Theo wouldn’t mind getting it on with Debbie even though they are total opposites. One wonders why a character as seemingly smart as Theo would pursue the more down to earth Debbie since Debbie is clearly not on his wavelength. It’s OK that Debbie is who she is but the scenes with Theo pursuing her ring false because of the differences in the characters’ personalities.

Witherspoon shines adding some real distinct character traits to Debbie that makes her relatable even if she doesn’t have all the book smarts that her character yearns to have. Debbie loves The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton and can discuss it well but gets her New York rivers confused. Go figure. She’s cute and believable. Kutcher’s Peter feels realistic in terms of his character development, but Kutcher’s one-note performance doesn’t capture all the character’s nuances as well as it could have.

The movie keeps the lovers in opposite locations for much of the film. This could make viewers frustrated because we don’t get to see a lot of the on-screen chemistry of the stars since they’re not together physically until the end of the movie. Still, audiences may revel in enjoying the charming Witherspoon who is always watchable in almost every project she takes on.

Your Place or Mine ultimately suffers from being too cute for its own good. Of course, Peter and Jack will bond and by the movie’s end, you’ll know where the story is headed if you didn’t guess it from the very first frame of the picture. Sleepless in Seattle did a story like this much better but, of course, that film was expertly made and Your Place or Mine is more on the level of an everyday sitcom, for better or worse.

The charismatic Reese Witherspoon will make Your Place or Mine worth a look for her fans. If Tig Notaro had a bigger role, though, it may have been more intellectually stimulating. It’s ultimately a light as air movie that will be pretty good for Valentine’s Day and probably barely tolerable any other time of the year for anyone who isn’t a die-hard fan of either Witherspoon or Kutcher.

Rating: 6/10

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