“Your Place or Mine” Movie Review

 

“Your Place or Mine”

Movie Review

 

'Your Place or Mine,' an American romantic comedy film written and directed by Aline Brosh McKenna, will be released in 2023. Reese Witherspoon plays Debbie, and Ashton Kutcher plays Peter, best friends who decide to swap houses for a week.

Debbie Dunn and Peter Coleman have sex and spend the night together in her home in Los Angeles in 2003, after an evening of poker with a couple.

Debbie and Peter are still best friends after twenty years. He has relocated to New York City and has established himself as a successful businessman, while she remains in Los Angeles and works as an accountant at her son Jack's middle school.

Debbie calls on Peter's birthday, saying she'll be in New York soon to finish an accounting program and get a better-paying job. His six-month girlfriend is standing next to Peter as he speaks with Debbie. As they walk downstairs to catch their Uber for work, she realizes their relationship is doomed and ends it.

Debbie's ex-actress husband's girlfriend Scarlet is supposed to watch Jack for a week, but she declines when she is offered a two-week role in Vancouver. Peter, who is suddenly single and unemployed, offers to accompany Jack to Los Angeles.

Peter picks up Jack at school in California, where he discovers that Jack's classmate Wade has stopped being friends with him. Evan had taken Jack's place when he was denied permission to join the hockey team. Peter also learns about Debbie's overprotective parenting style.

Peter meets Zen when he arrives at the house. He's a self-made millionaire who spends his afternoons gardening on Debbie's property in the hopes that she'll notice him. Because the house is covered in post-its and other notes detailing all of the DOs and DON'Ts, Peter decides that things should be more relaxed and less rigid.

The two friends criticize each other's apartments. While Peter's has a beautiful view, it lacks character, and many items, such as kitchen utensils, are still in their packaging, whereas Debbie's is full of knick-knacks and mementos.

To re-establish Wade's friendship with Jack, Peter buys tickets to a Kings game and encourages Jack to invite Wade and Evan, but this backfires when they ignore him.

Meanwhile, Debbie attends accounting classes in New York and meets Peter's ex-girlfriend Minka, who invites her out for drinks. Minka helps her catch the attention of book publisher Theo Martin at the bar, and he gets her phone number.

Debbie is surprised when Minka tells her at Peter's apartment that Peter has written a novel; Debbie had assumed Peter had told her everything. She gives the manuscript to Theo after reading it while on a date with him. When he initially refuses, she poses as a freelance editor, and Theo agrees to look over it.

Peter persuades the hockey coach to let Jack try out. He offers Zen a beer and chats with him, pleased. Zen elaborates on his plan to remain present until Debbie notices him. It brings back memories of Peter's feelings for her.

Debbie accidentally activates the remote camera, allowing Peter to see her hooking up with Theo. Trying to move on, he contacts an old LA contact, but despite her interest, he can't bring himself to go home with her. Disgusted, he tells their mutual friend Alicia that he has been in love with Debbie since they met.

 Back in New York, Debbie aced her exam, decorated Peter's apartment, and unintentionally discovered his hidden mementos of her, including a poker chip identical to the one she kept from their night together. When Debbie meets with Theo, he encourages her to work for a large publishing house. Although she is grateful for his encouragement, when he mentions feelings he may have for her, she admits she has already fallen for someone.

Peter calls, and before Debbie can express her feelings, he informs her that Jack is in the hospital due to an injury sustained during a hockey tryout. She is inconsolable and demands that Jack be put on. He tells her to stop it, that he's fantastic, and that he wants things to change at home.

In Los Angeles, Peter and Debbie meet, and after a heated argument, they can't be apart and kiss passionately. Six months later, Peter is a published author, Debbie works as an editor for an indie publishing house, Jack is a fixture on the hockey team, and Peter finally moves in with them.

Your Place or Mine isn't exactly a romantic comedy. Despite wasting time on a love triangle, it moves quickly. Your Place or Mine is a lovely watch in terms of technology. The production design, cinematography, and even the costuming nicely capture the contrast between Debbie's bright and colorful life and Peter's drab city-boy vibe. Your Place or Mine has a solidity to it that is comforting; there is a sense that the creative team behind it knows what they're doing.

The fact that Witherspoon and Kutcher's personas are larger than their characters, and that these characters are not tailored to their strengths, ultimately hinders this film. Your Place or Mine, on the other hand, is a fun film to watch. It hits all the emotional beats, is competently made from start to finish, and remains engaging. True, the character development could have been better. It's cute, sentimental, and just in time for Valentine's Day. The best thing that has come out of this is the beginning of Brosh McKenna's directing career, and there is much to look forward to.

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