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A family affair (A Family Affair, United States/2024). Address: Richard LaGravenese. Script:Carrie Solomon. Photography: Don Burgess. Edition: Melissa Bretherton. Cast: Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Joey King, Kathy Bates, Liza Koshy, Sherry Cola. Available in: Netflix. Our opinion: regular.
It is quite a dilemma what to do today with the fate of the romantic comedy. Yesterday it seemed like a question mark for the big studios that had fueled their coffers with the success of the genre in the 90s; At present, it is a challenge for platforms that see in this possible rebirth of an attractive “product” for their audiences. Youthful romance has already been expressed in fictionalized versions derived from literary successes, or in nineteenth-century style serials. Bridgertonthe adult romantic comedy has begun to explore its different aspects, from ‘remarriage’ exercises such as Passage to Paradise (2022) – starring two stars of that successful decade such as Julia Roberts and George Clooney -, until the development of an enthusiastic update with new faces such as With everyone except you (2023), starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. But how can streaming fit into this dilemma?
The recent Prime Video premiere of The idea of you found -via literary adaptation- a possible answer to that question by combining the romance with an age difference and the clash between the world of fame and that of ordinary life, something that for example he had explored with infinite charisma A place called Nothing Hill (1999). At the same time, the couple formed by Anne Hathaway and the British Nicholas Galitzine managed to combine viewers from different generations and shake some prejudices about the role of women in the face of social mandates and the scrutiny of public opinion. A family affair tries to go down that path, supported by an original script by Carrie Solomon (writer of only a few episodes of the series The Good Fight), the craft of director Richard LaGravenese (Beautiful creatures, P.S. I love you), and with performers -of course- from different generations: Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Joey King and a dazzling Kathy Bates.
However, A family affair It does not achieve what it sets out to do: it does not work fluidly, there is no chemistry between the main couple, nor moments of comic effectiveness in the plot, beyond some physical gags and a series of predictable mistakes.. One of the problems is the poor balance between romance with age difference and popularity – and perhaps also intelligence – that unites Brooke Harwood (Kidman) and Chris Cole (Efron). She, a prestigious Pulitzer-winning writer, essayist for Vogue and The New Yorker, intellectual and sophisticated, and he, a superhero movie star, frivolous, airheaded and gym addict; and the mother-daughter relationship between Brooke and Zara (Joey King), marked by prolonged family mourning (Brooke’s husband and Zara’s father died eleven years ago) and an underground competition that pushed both into guilty dependence. Added to this is that Zara is Chris’ full-time assistant, involved in his whims and eccentricities, aspiring to become a Hollywood producer but slow to pick up the clothes from the dry cleaners or buy dietary supplements at the supermarket in the wee hours of the morning. .
The story’s kick-off is the presentation of Chris as a parody of himself, a gesture that Efron seems to take too seriously. His physiognomy and motor skills are reminiscent of the robot Jaime from Super agent 86and that laughable archetype that he embodies at the beginning does not seem to be humanized throughout the story. His story with Brooke, which begins with a casual encounter of sex and tequila, never acquires the weight necessary for romantic comedy, and is modeled on lazy montage sequences with cinephile winks (to the cinema of Nora Ephron, but above all to Singing under the rain; (without songs, of course) that do not transcend the mere quote embedded in the story. Kidman tries to delve deeper into her character, both in her relationship with writing and in her unfinished business with her dead husband, but she only does so in a few conversations with her mother-in-law Leila, whom Kathy Bates expands beyond any secondary machinery in the story. Only in these contours does something more than the creaking of an old formula that has not yet been reinvented with the air of the present appear.
What energizes the main comedy situations is King’s drive, solvent in the preparation of a late teenager who doesn’t really know what to do with her life, in addition to demanding attention and quick solutions. With a better partner for comedy and a script more tailored to her character, she could show off her intuition and evident plasticity for the genre. The best precedent for this centrality of the “third party” exists in the brilliant interpretation of Julia Roberts in My best friend’s Wedding (1997), the one that as an obstacle in the union of the couple obtained the cheers of humor and the favor of the public. The romantic comedy requires something more than a sum of predictable topics and prefabricated scenes with a colorful facade and a few scattered jokes.. AND A family affair fails to turn his ideas into good results despite his efforts.
