Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher take on the classic rom-com story of a friendship-turned-romance on Netflix your place or minewritten and directed by The devil Wears Prada And 27 dresses Author Aline Brosh McKenna.
Debbie (Witherspoon) lives in Los Angeles with her son Jack (Wesley Kimmel), while Peter (Kutcher) is a bachelor in New York City and works as a brand consultant. They have been friends for 20 years but now spend most of their time together chatting about technology.
Things change when Debbie has to go to New York to complete an accounting program to get a better paying job but needs someone to babysit her son. Peter offers to travel to LA to stay with Jack and Debbie is allowed to live in his East Coast apartment.
Debbie agrees, and when she arrives in New York, she unexpectedly runs into Minka (Zoe Chao), whom Peter happened to be dating, and makes it her mission to show Debbie everything New York City has to offer. This includes meeting Theo (Jesse Williams), a book publisher who Debbie bonds with immediately, particularly because of her love of novels. Peter used to want to be a writer and Debbie has the ability to identify a great story, like an editor.
As Debbie and Peter spend time together, they realize that this friendship is, and can be, much more.
A core tenet of this story for McKenna is that you can evolve and change at any age.
“The idea that somehow you can grow up and mature and grow up at any age is a huge part of the film and something I really believe in,” said McKenna Yahoo Canada.
“Especially for women, I think when they go through the stage when their children are very young, there’s a chance to start fresh and do things that you’ve never done before. As someone who… didn’t do my first film until I was 53, 54, I think it’s pretty common for women to find their way a bit later. So that it kind of goes up and down around their child-wish adventure.”
As Jesse Williams pointed out, if you can pursue your dreams, you don’t age.
“As a parent, sharing the responsibility of caring for children and being a good parent and being able to sustain, if not rediscover, your own interests that can be lost in the process of growing up, being responsible and becoming a parent and pouring.” yourself into your child or children,” Williams said.
“You don’t age because you have enough space to pursue your creative interests, you’re not too old to write this book or paint or take these classes. I think it’s a really good example of that.”
“I kind of always have Reese on my mind”
When it came to casting this film, McKenna’s directorial debut, Witherspoon and Kutcher, was an easy choice.
“I’ve always wanted to work with Reese … and about 10 years ago we almost did a movie together,” McKenna said. “I gotta say, I kind of always have Reese on my mind.”
“She’s so intelligent and she’s so good at what she does. In the time that I’ve known her, she’s also become this tremendous manufacturing force and businesswoman. … So when I wrote woman who is intelligent and complicated and funny and a mother, those were all things that really made me think of Reese.”
For Kutcher, McKenna stated that the actor had the “depth” and “complexity” to take on the role of Peter.
“First and foremost his love of women, his love of making films like this, but also the depth and complexity that I knew it would bring to someone living their life a certain way,” McKenna said of the, what made Kutcher the right fit.
In rom-coms, the supporting cast are often just as important as the leads, with characters like Zoe Chaos Minka being necessary for some comedic relief.
“Minka is always getting her nails done, her outfits popping, but she has a master’s degree in differential calculus,” Chao said. “I think that’s pretty awesome.”
“I love that you never know what she does for a living, but she’s sort of the mayor of New York. I also really liked that she’s a really good wingwoman. She’s like the hype sister you need in this life. Before you think about it, she gets you excited.”
For Williams, the fact that Theo is a book publisher really excited the actor.
“I think as a literature nerd, I liked that he was a big book editor and surrounded himself with incredible stories and creatives, and that was kind of his anchor,” Williams said.
“It was rooted in something. It wasn’t just about meeting someone in a bar or something. He had a vested interest in what interests her and what Reese’s character wants for himself in life. So that was a fun base to build on.”
Why we can’t look away from a good rom-com
In recent years there has been debate about the disappearance of the rom-com genre, but the reality is that films set in this genre are some of the films we watch the most.
For McKenna, who has written some fan-favorite rom-coms, she combines the enduring power of the genre with its allegiance.
“Not everyone has kids, not everyone goes to the moon, not everyone fights a superhero, but everyone wants to find love in some way,” she said. “It may not be romantic love, it may be what love means to you.”
“But we all know it’s not easy. …Trying doesn’t make it and there is the hand of what appears to be fate or destiny. But since I don’t believe in those things, I think it’s more about learning how to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves. That was something I really wanted to emphasize: love has to find you, but then you have to grab it.”
