, Tall Girl; the list goes on—and here, we’re seeing it again: Our leading lady is making a decision between two men, one white and one a man of color. The man of color is always much more charismatic and better for our girl, as she questions her ties to the white man.
Tig Notaro as Alicia, Ashton Kutcher as Peter.
Erin Simkin / Netflix
In this movie, Peter threatens the life of Debbie’s poor son while she’s away from home—and she still leaves Theo waiting on an answer about their relationship. Debbie spends almost the entirety of the runtime with Theo, a perfect set-up for them to fall in love against all odds, but she still opts for a man who stores his writing projects in the oven. Rom-coms are unbelievable and fantastical, sure, but this is far-fetched in a way that depletes any of the movie’s already minimal charm.
This tension between Theo and Debbie, though, comes as a direct result of Peter being in a different city, as usual. No joke; the lead actors spend a whopping two scenes together in the entire film. Kutcher’s wife, Mila Kunis, recently said in an interview that she tried to help her husband work on his chemistry with Witherspoon. For what, the awkward first time they have sex? The sappy airport ending? On how to teeter on the edge of (but never really get into) phone sex or FaceTime flirting? Long-distance relationships exist, sure, but watching Witherspoon force herself to have chemistry with an iPhone isn’t exactly the ideal romantic comedy scenario.
Though Your Place of Mine has many signature rom-com elements—the houses are big, bright, and beautiful; the cities sparkle while our leads fall in love; the side characters are quippy and fun—the romantic heart of the movie is drained into a dry, soulless dump. It’s hard to mess up a friends-to-lovers plot starring two beautiful A-List stars with rom-com credentials. But putting them in no scenes physically together, their feelings for each other strapped to a flimsy friendship based on one hook-up, will do it. Instead of debating whose place to stay at, maybe Kutcher and Witherspoon should’ve booked a hotel in the middle to spend some quality time together.
