When Los Angeles-based Debbie needs to take a course in New York to finish her degree and advance her career, her best friend – and one-time hook-up – Peter agrees to give her his place in the city for a week while he travels to L.A. to watch her teenage son. While the two get a taste of a different life, they realize what they’ve been missing. This is Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher’s return to romantic comedies after what feels like forever. Reese’s last rom-com was 2017’s Home Again, while Ashton hasn’t appeared in the genre since 2011’s New Year’s Eve. I was very excited to hear that they partnered for Netflix’s Your Place or Mine, since we can all admit they’re two of the genre’s most notable actors. The movie has a very 2000s rom-com feel, which may have been the point. This may or may not please moviegoers, but I enjoyed it because I personally believe the genre peaked in the late 90s and early 2000s. Writer-Director Aline Brosh McKenna is not a stranger to this genre either, having written plenty of rom-coms herself, including 27 Dresses, The Devil Wears Prada, Laws of Attraction, and Three to Tango. Your Place or Mine lands somewhere in the middle of those films in terms of quality. Again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Your Place or Mine has plenty going for it – its star power, dedication to The Cars-based soundtrack, and above-average execution of various genre tropes. Playing the Sleepless in Seattle card was a gamble, in which the two leads don’t share much screen time until the end of the film (and the very beginning). But unlike Sleepless in Seattle, Debbie and Peter communicate via FaceTime and text messages. It works fine here, but makes gauging Debbie and Peter’s chemistry somewhat tricky. Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks had you rooting for them without ever saying a word to one another before they met (other than ‘Hello‘), but Reese and Ashton are not anywhere near the rom-com tier of Meg and Tom. Your Place or Mine is a fine rom-com. I found it sweet and entertaining, though I think more could have been done with the romance. It felt like the movie focused more on Peter and Debbie’s personal journeys than their journey together. I will give a shout-out to the supporting cast: Steve Zahn, Tig Notaro, and Zoe Chao, all of whom brought their own comedic flavor to the movie. I don’t think Your Place or Mine will end up in the vault of the greatest rom-coms of all time, but it achieves what it sets out to do: to entertain you with a promised HEA. Watched: 02/10/2023Notable Song: Drive by The Cars