‘Your Place or Mine’ is No ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ But It has My Favorite ‘Legally Blonde’ Reese Witherspoon
- The pulsating chemistry between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is missing between Witherspoon and Kutcher. But, hey, it has a Bollywood ending.
On the eve of Valentine’s Day, I took my blonde friend, Debbie for an Indian buffet. She filled her plate with chicken tikka masala, achari chicken, lamb vindaloo, and tawa fried beef. Whereas I ate yellow tadka dal over rice. Later she played with her fork and spoon and asked me: “How am I supposed to eat this? Being a vegetarian, I looked confused for a split second but then shrugged my shoulders and helpfully offered “with naan, always with naan.”Because of limited vegan choices, I helped myself to two servings of sweet rose-flavored kesari halwa and extolled its virtues, as the sugar hit my bloodstream. Following my cue, Debbie did the same. It was a bit sweet but quite splendid for Valentine’s Day. The Indian food, especially the halwa kept me quite happy for the whole day. In the evening, I went for a long walk, watched the sunset, talked to other friends, and listened to music. By the way, if you don’t have time to plan a special date in the middle of the week. Order some Indian curry and a dozen long-stemmed roses and watch “Your Place or Mine.”
Last night, I watched Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher in “Your Place or Mine” on Netflix. It is pitched as a romantic comedy directed by Aline Brosh McKenna. But it is a bit sappy and highly unlikely as romcoms go. It could definitely happen to someone from Reese Witherspoon’s universe but I can’t imagine a regular desi millennial or zoomer swapping lives with their best friend across the country! Especially if they have a school-age son, with a known hypersensitivity to several things. But since Reese pitched the idea, everyone had to roll with it, and I watched my favorite actress from “Legally Blonde,” happily. Don’t get me wrong. I am a huge fan of Ms. Witherspoon. She is a very engaging actor, who has transformed her love for fiction into a big business. Conceived during the Covid pandemic to showcase Indie women authors, Reese recently sold her Hello Sunshine book club for $900 million. Bravo.
Debbie (Witherspoon) and Peter (Kutcher), are two friends (ex-romantic partners) who have kept a connection despite their separate lives across the continental U.S. In real life, most friends drift apart but not these two beautiful people.
But the script of “Your Place or Mine” is not very thought-provoking. Debbie (Witherspoon) and Peter (Kutcher), are two friends (ex-romantic partners) who have kept a connection despite their separate lives across the continental U.S. In real life, most friends drift apart but not these two beautiful people. Debbie is a very OCD single mom/accountant who lives in Los Angeles. In her busy life, she has no time to get an updated wardrobe or luggage with wheels “spinners.” While Peter is an aspiring writer and holds a corporate job in the Big Apple and can’t keep a steady girlfriend.
On the whim of the writer, on one fine day without dilly-dallying, they simply swap their homes and responsibilities for a week. This starts the ball and camera rolling toward a predictable romance. They are destined to see life from a different perspective and think in an “out of the box” way. The cupid’s arrow that has evaded them for a decade finds its mark. And just like that their long-term friendship is transformed into a love story. It has a Bollywood ending! Peter Coleman becomes a published author, Debbie Coleman an editor and Jack gets to play hockey.
I really liked the young newcomer Wesley Kimmel, who plays Debbie’s son Jack. Wesley is the most real person in the story. He looks and acts the part and kind of holds the story together. Because without him, there is no relatability, trust, boundaries, or conflict. Wesley reminds me a bit of Jonah Baldwin (Ross Malinger) in the 1993 classic “Sleepless in Seattle,” one of the most successful romcoms in box office history. The pulsating chemistry between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in Sleepless is missing between Witherspoon and Kutcher.
Also, Miss Debbie Dunn’s other love interests are contrived in the form of a random gardener “Zen” (Steve Zahn, again only possible in Miss Witherspoon’s universe who literally lives in Debbie’s garden in the hope that she might notice him through his horticulture), and the dashing publisher Theo Martin (Jesse Williams) who is impressed by the “script” Debbie gives him to read, her charming personality, the little black dress, knowledge of several book plots and random quotes by Faulkner, Edith Wharton, and Walt Whitman.
“Your Place or Mine” may not be perfect for Valentine’s Day but it has great views of the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. It is also romantic in a predictable kind of way. Rumor has it that Aline Brosh McKenna was inspired by her own life for the script. Who can forget her greats as in creating “The Devil Wears Prada,” “27 Dresses” and co-creating “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”
With one foot in Huntsville, Alabama, the other in her birth home India and a heart steeped in humanity, writing is a contemplative practice for Monita Soni. She has published hundreds of poems, movie reviews, book critiques, and essays and contributed to combined literary works. Her two books are My Light Reflections and Flow through My Heart. You can hear her commentaries on Sundial Writers Corner WLRH 89.3FM and the Princess Theater.