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| Our vapid heroes |
A Review of Your Place or Mine by Nick Olszyk
Distribution Service: Netflix
MPAA Rating, PG-13
CNS Rating, Not Rated at the Time
of this Review
Reel Rating, Two Reels
It is not a well-kept secret that romantic comedies are a guilty
pleasure of mine. The stories of how couples meet, often fraught with humous
misunderstandings, is a celebration of God’s providence that goes all the way
back to the first poem uttered by a human, Adam’s ode upon seeing Eve for the
first time:
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
He gives her the
greatest gift he can imagine: his own name, his own essence. In Your Place or Mine, Peter and Debbie are too thick skulled to
give their names, so they will settle for their houses. It’s not the worst
rom-com ever, but it tries hard to be.
In 2003, Peter (Ashton Kutcher) and
Debbie (Reese Witherspoon) hook up at a party, which isn’t a promising start to
a romance but oddly becomes the start of a two-decade friendship. In 2023, Debbie
needs a place to stay in NYC to finish a degree in statistics, so Peter lets
her crash at his posh apartment while he goes to LA to babysit her son Jack (Wesley
Kimmel). Essentially, they are trading lives for a week. Peter strikes up a
quick affinity to Jack, whom he perceives as the victim of helicopter
parenting. “We are NOT eating your disgusting casseroles,” he tells her. Instead,
Jack is treated to gluten-free pizza and is allowed to try out for the hockey
team. Debbie finds a manuscript from Peter’s writing days and, without his
knowledge, sends it to an editor. Both think they are doing the right thing, although
their secretive approach should be a sign of duplicity.
It’s hard to invest in Your Place or Mine when the stakes are so mind-numbingly low.
Peter and Debbie are affluent, smart, and able to pretty much do whatever they
want. Both have high paying jobs with plenty of free time. Both have a
succession of attractive suitors with no end in sight. They “suffer” from a myriad
of 1st world problems like Debbie’s suitcase having only two wheels
rather than four or Peter trying to find nut-free desserts for his suite at the
Kings game. Perhaps the reason that love has eluded them is that everything has
been so easy. They’ve never had to sacrifice anything. When Debbie needed Peter
to watch Jack, he was conveniently “between clients.” Debbie’s ex-husband is off
“rock climbing ten months of year,” giving Peter and Debbie free reign to
develop their relationship. Their lives are a constant cycle of pleasure,
support, and affirmation – why complicate things with love?
At the same time, they clearly love one
another and are destined to be together. Even though they are “just friends,”
they call constantly and share their deepest thoughts. The audience learns that
Peter went to rehab for alcoholism, and Debbie took care of his affairs during
his stay. Their secretive agendas, though destined to come to light, are
motivated by a genuine desire to make the other happy. Ultimately, the script
writes itself. The truth will come out, they will argue, realize their love,
and kiss in the most romantic spot possible – next to a walking escalator in an
airport.
Your Place or Mine has
brief moments of humor but overall is aggressively dull. Even Kutcher and
Whiterspoon’s usual bright personalities couldn’t save this snoozefest. What
this reviewer has always dreamed of is a romantic comedy about poor people who
love each other and show that affection creatively through limited means. That
would be a match worth celebrating.
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