
A Family Affair Synopsis: The only thing worse than being the assistant to a high-maintenance movie star who doesn’t take you seriously? Finding out he’s smitten with your mom.
Directed by: Richard LaGravenese
Written by: Carrie Solomon
Released: 06.28.2024
Runtime: 114 minutes
Rated: PG-13
Zara (Joey King) is the executive assistant to Chris Cole, a demanding actor who is also the biggest action star in the world. While her dream is to become a producer, Zara instead runs mundane errands and helps Chris break up with his many girlfriends. Frustrated and feeling underappreciated, Zara quits. When Chris realizes how much he depends on Zara, he goes to her home to ask her to return to work. It’s there that he meets Brooke, Zara’s mother. Sparks fly, and Brooke and Chris begin an affair that threatens to jeopardize their relationship with Zara.
Brooke (Nicole Kidman) is a successful author suffering from writer’s block as she navigates the challenges of her intertwining personal and family lives. Despite the film’s obvious flaws, Kidman gives a nuanced portrayal of a woman struggling to find herself outside of being a widow and mother. She plays well off of Joey King, who is not terribly easy to love as Zara.
It’s easy to sympathize with Zara over having to work with a challenging, out-of-touch Chris. However, Zara still comes across as a privileged nepo baby who can’t seem to see her mother as a woman who is entitled to a love life. However, the mother-daughter dynamic feels genuine, as does Brooke’s relationship with her wise mother-in-law, Leila, played by Kathy Bates. When the movie focuses on the complexities of these family relationships and lets the romantic angle take a backseat, it works really well.
Speaking of romance,Ā Zac EfronĀ as Chris Cole provides a pleasing, if underutilized, presence as Brooke’s romantic interest, complicating the already delicate family situation. Efron and Kidman have nice chemistry, but their relationship development comes across as stilted at times, and the film’s narrative suffers because of it. We suspend our disbelief for romantic comedies, but it’s still somewhat disappointing when a promising premise shifts into predictability, relying on familiar tropes in the genre rather than attempting something new.
There are some issues with the pacing as well, and I felt like some scenes went on far too long while others didn’t delve quite as deeply into the characters’ motivations as they could have. There is a small side plot regarding Zara’s best friend, who is going through a breakup, but the storyline feels contrived and useful only in the sense that it shows how self-absorbed Zara is. It wasn’t necessary, as this was already seen in Zara’s interactions with everyone else around her.
Ultimately, A Family Affair offers an enjoyable watch, primarily due to its talented cast and what they bring to the otherwise uneven material. However, it struggles to offer much beyond the familiar rom-dramedy formula. For those in the mood for a light, feel-good film with some solid performances, it delivers, but A Family Affair is largely forgettable.
Watched: 11.01.2024
Notable Song: A Womanās World (Remix) by Estelle