Friday, February 9, 2018

Home Again

In case you didn't know, I am a huge Reese Witherspoon fan, so I was excited to see her latest rom-com, Home Again on the interwebs. I had some high expectations for this movie, and I have to say, it did not disappoint. Firstly, I have been home most of this week with some sort of head cold, so this was a perfect movie for hanging on the couch. Secondly, the NYTimes recently published an article about how Witherspoon is so smart because she came up with her own movie production company (all on her own! With her own head! AMAZING!) that wants to focus on making more movies for women, by women, etc. I'm not sure why the NYTimes felt that this was a revolutionary idea, because, DUH. Of course women want movies made for them. And of course women tell good stories, and can direct and act and all that jazz. I mean, really people. 
ANYways, his movie was written and directed by a woman (Hallie Meyers-Shyerand stars some wonderful actresses like Reese Witherspoon and Candace Bergen. The story is that Alice (Witherspoon) has just separated from her husband and moved back to CA from NY. She has two daughters and she is the daughter of a famous movie director (who is now dead) and her mother (Bergen) is a famous actress from her father's movies. The movie begins with Alice dropping her kids off at school and being just generally unsure about her life's direction. Witherspoon nails her role, man she is such a good actress.
It happens to be Alice's 40th birthday, so she sends the girls to Grandma's and she goes out with her friends to live it up. She ends up drinking too much and meeting some young guys and they end up partying all night long. These scenes were so amazing to me. Firstly, when a mom lets loose, sometimes she totally lets loose, especially with lots of stress in life. Secondly, moms miss going out and having lots of fun and sleeping in and all those things we did as kids, and this movie captured these sentiments so well. And, of course, we all want to be attractive to younger people, so this whole part was so satisfying to me. 
Of course, all comes crashing down the next day when her kids show up and the young guys are actually trying to get a film made but have just lost their place to live. The movie ends up being about kismet (being in the right place at the right time), and about the unexpected roles people can play in our lives. It's also about being a mom and going through a life transition and just being a woman, you know?
My favorite part of the movie (this may be a spoiler, I'm not sure) is after Alice sleeps with one of the guys (Harry), she asks him to come to a dinner party with her. He tells her he will meet her there, but ends up standing her up. She's upset, obviously, and the next day basically tells him that she doesn't want to be in a relationship where she is wondering whether the other person will show up or not. She is "too good" (meaning she knows her self worth) to put up with that. It is a remarkable scene because never, ever in rom-coms, do women stand up for themselves. Women always seem to be the last to know their true feelings, the last to understand the situation, the last to realize all of the elements. And in this movie, man, Alice knows exactly what she wants. And she gets there through the movie and through the people she brings into her life.
I loved this movie. I really, really hope this means there will be more movies made of strong female characters, lead characters, who know what they want out of life and who grab life by the balls. I also hope this leads to more mom characters who are complex and interesting and not just "mom" and also more stories about unexpected roles people can play in our lives. These stories are by far more interesting than the less complex rom-coms of the past.

1 comment:

  1. Speaking of strong women.... are you excited for A Wrinkle in Time!?

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