In 2003, 20-somethings, Debbie and Peter, find themselves attracted to one another and end up sleeping together. However, their night of passion is less than Earth-shattering and when all is said and done, they agree to remain friends instead.
Fast-forward to 2023, and now in their 40s, Debbie is a single mom living in LA, while Peter is living in New York, and in a relationship on the brink of fizzling out. As agreed, they have remained close friends for the past twenty-years, and they maintain their long-distance relationship through regular calls.
Such is the strength of their friendship, when Debbie needs to take an important trip away to New York, Peter offers to travel to her home in LA to look after her son, Jack. Debbie accepts this kind offer, and for a week the pair temporarily trade lives, staying at each other’s homes.
With Debbie now in New York and Peter in LA, they soon start to learn a few things about each other they didn’t know. But will this ‘life swap’ impact their friendship, or make it grow stronger?
Written and directed by Aline Brosh McKenna, Your Place or Mine stars Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher, Wesley Kimmel, Steve Zahn, and Tig Notaro. The movie is a romantic comedy, which is new to stream on Netflix from today, and it arrives just in time for Valentine’s Day.
However, before you stick this film on your ‘watch list’ ahead of the big day, it is important that you know two things about Your Place or Mine. Firstly, this romantic comedy is not particularly romantic, nor is it comical; and secondly, it’s not very good either.
Your Place or Mine is a total snooze-fest that doesn’t entertain, it just exists. Thirty minutes in you’ll be wondering when the jokes will start, and by the mid-point you’ll either pray for it all to end, or you’ll simply disconnect your television set and throw it at the nearest wall.
If you watch this movie and make it from start to finish, you should give yourself a pat on the back for sticking it out. However, I don’t recommend wasting precious moments of your life on this tosh, as it really isn’t worth it.
Your Place or Mine is a complete and utter misfire, which is mind-numbingly dull. Having your fingers gnawed off by a rabid dog would be less painful than sitting through this film, and arguably a little more exciting.
Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher take on the lead roles of Debbie and Peter for this picture, and both are completely wasted in their parts. Witherspoon and Kutcher are a lot of fun in the right film, as is evident from their back-catalogue of projects, but here they sleepwalk through every scene, trying to make the best out of a lacklustre script.
What doesn’t help either of them, is the fact they barely share any scenes together. With the story splitting their characters up, Witherspoon and Kutcher mostly interact via a series of split-screen video calls, and this stops them from developing any on-screen chemistry.
It becomes very clear, very quickly, that Witherspoon and Kutcher filmed most of their scenes separately, which robs the movie of any potential spark, and makes the entire thing even more painful to watch. Despite principal photography for this film taking place in late 2021, the whole thing plays like something filmed at the very beginning of the pandemic, when no one could interact face-to-face, and it all feels like a call-back to a time best forgotten.
I’d like to say that Witherspoon and Kutcher are the only wasted talent in this movie, but even supporting actors such as Steve Zahn and Tig Notaro are given the shitty-end of the stick too. Zahn plays a one-note hippy gardener who gets very little to do, while Notaro’s involvement in this movie seems to revolve entirely around coffee.
I swear to all that is sacred, Tig Notaro’s entire motivation in this film is to stand around drinking coffee. Every one of her scenes involves the beverage in some shape or form, and she appears to have a cup permanently stuck to her hand throughout the movie.
I really hope there wasn’t any hot coffee in the cup at any time during filming, as she could have seriously injured herself. Never have I watched a movie where one character has utilised the same mundane prop for so long, and I really hope I never see this happen again.
I also hope I never see this movie again. Your Place or Mine is absolute rubbish.
I’m trying to think of something positive to say about this movie, but I’m drawing a complete blank. While I believe writer/director Aline Brosh McKenna wants this film to say something meaningful about friendships and romantic relationships, whatever is trying to be expressed here falls by the wayside and nothing of any value is achieved.
This film simply doesn’t work on any level. Unless you have lost the use of your eyes, and therefore can no longer read my words, believe me when I say you should avoid Your Place or Mine at all costs.
Don’t watch it, don’t think about it, and don’t waste any more of your time reading about it. Let’s all move on, forget this movie ever happened, and watch something else.
__
Thank you for taking the time to read this review on It’s A Stampede!. For more reviews, check out the recommended reads below.
It's A Stampede! 
Leave a Reply