Home Again Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Home Again Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 12, 2017

Home Again tells the meandering story of a middle-aged mother of two, her estranged husband, her mother, and three young would-be Hollywood movers and shakers who all come together under one roof for a few romps in bed, some soul-searching, and so forth. The film, from Writer/Director Hallie Meyers-Shyer (who wrote the Father of the Bride films as well as the remake of The Parent Trap), daughter of filmmakers Nancy Meyers (The Holiday) and Charles Shyer (Baby Boom), makes her debut behind the camera with a film that's adequately acted and competently put together but devoid of anything more than standard-issue RomCom substance with little to differentiate itself from the pack. It's a zero-sum picture, a lackluster effort that's nearly devoid of novelty, charm, and humor, the latter two in particular critical to the genre's success but here fleeting qualities that offer rapid-fire reprieves from an otherwise rapidly deteriorating movie watching experience.

Infatuated.

Alice Kinney (Reese Witherspoon) has just turned forty. She's separated from her husband Austen (Michael Sheen) and has moved across country from New York to Los Angeles, her childhood stomping grounds, with her daughters Isabel (Lola Flanery) and Rose (Eden Grace Redfield). Her recently deceased father was a prominent Hollywood filmmaker, her mother (Candice Bergen) a famous actress in those films. Also fresh in Los Angeles is a trio of young men -- Harry (Pico Alexander), Teddy (Nat Wolff), and George (Jon Rudnitsky) -- with aspirations of making it in Tinseltown. Their writing, acting, and filmmaking has caught the eye of the industry and they're pushed hard towards the top, though they're going to have to decide if they will allow the promise of success to stymie their collective creative genius. One day, they meet Alice in a bar. She's immediately taken to Harry, and he to her, and the two spend then night in bed together. The other friends crash at her place, too, and the next morning, George stumbles into a room that makes it clear Alice is related to Hollywood royalty. Suddenly, the boys' infatuation with her takes on a whole new meaning. They move in, and as the relationship between Alice and Harry blossoms and the boys and Alice's daughters become friends, Austen makes a move to come back into his wife's life as the young filmmakers struggle with the possibilities Hollywood lays before them.

At least the mismatched age thing hasn't been done to death. The romance has the draw of the awkward possibility that the girls might find mommy in bed with a man who is young enough to be her son and the dynamics of his friends (one of whom, Teddy, is his brother) living under the same roof. That's probably the main draw here, because even as there's some tertiary freshness to the story in terms of the boys' search for Hollywood fortune and glory and some of the zippy little inside access the film provides, there's little else here to differentiate it from the pack. Home Again follows some crude ebbs and flows as the relationships between the characters maneuver through the core permutations, the expected ups and downs and unsurprising surprises that fail to inject any real vitality into the picture. The result is a linear film that feels tired when it doesn't feel disjointed, pushing plot mechanics on life support and tiresome tropes as core story movers and shakers. It's all well and good and serviceably entertaining in a bubble, but audiences in-tune with the genre's basics will find the movie to be more designed and executed by rote rather than by heart.

The film's talented and affable cast struggles to bring more than a slowly-beating heart, basic levity, and shallow depth to the picture and the characters they play. The script leaves them with little of interest to bank on, and combined with the film's sluggish structure there's little opportunity for any of them to shine. They can't, and through no fault of their own, breath much life into cardboard cutouts, characters written and developed as if by a crude, dated handbook that banks on uninspired maneuverings, not soulful depth and honest heart, to build them up and move the film along. Home Again certainly finds a handful of tender moments and sweet spots -- particularly towards the end -- but they're hardly enough to resuscitate a film that is, by that point, all but lost to the pervasive emptiness and generic construction that leads to the end.

Home Again Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The digitally photographed Home Again holds serve on Blu-ray. Noise besets the image for the duration, more prominent in lower light but evident in well-lit and colorful scenes, too. Otherwise, the image impresses. Color are abundant, a shade warm but very vigorous and vibrant; there's a substantial variety throughout the film, and both color nuance and saturation are always highlights. Detailing is fine. The digital image is sharp and clear, capturing robust details on essential front-and-center elements while always presenting various background locations with tangible complexity and welcoming realism. Flesh tones carry a hint of that warmth mentioned earlier. Black levels can push mildly murky but generally hold up well enough.

Home Again Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Home Again features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack that capably conveys the movie's fairly modest sonic needs. Music enjoys cheerful reproduction and satisfying front-side spread; surrounds are used modestly, but effectively. The track opens up for some light but mood-enhancing atmospherics here and there, including background restaurant din or buzzing nighttime insects. The track further expands to offer some pleasing dialogue reverberation near the end. The spoken word drives the majority of the movie, and it's presented with consistently sound placement and prioritization, not to mention lifelike clarity, throughout.

Home Again Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Home Again contains one extra, an audio commentary track with Director/Writer Hallie Meyers-Shyer and Producer Nancy Meyers. A DVD copy of the film and a digital copy voucher are included with purchase.

Home Again Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Home Again is watchable in the most basic of ways. If it's anything it's genre comfort food, a film that delivers only the most crude and essential of movie basics that shape a story and characters but do absolutely nothing innovative or memorable with any part of them. Performers give the film a decent effort, but they're stuck behind a vacuous script and bland technical execution. Universal's Blu-ray offers capable video and audio that's reflective of the film's modest sound design. One extra, a commentary track, is included. Skip it.