Your Place or Mine brings us a throwback to the early 2000 rom-coms, yet the charm of Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon keeps the film fresh and exciting. Is it predictable? Yes. Was the ending rushed? YES. Let’s talk about it.

We open the movie with Debbie (Witherspoon) and Peter (Kutcher) hooking up in 2003, and they are best friends two decades later. However, Debbie lives in Los Angeles with her son, Jack, and Peter lives in New York as a single bachelor. Debbie and Peter switch places for a week, so she can take a class to help her get a better job. When they do the switcheroo, they realize that even though they are best friends, the other has kept many secrets. Throughout the movie, it’s slowly revealed that Peter has been in love with Debbie all along, and he just never said anything because he was afraid of rejection.

Aline Brosh McKenna makes her movie director debut. You may be familiar with her written work: Devil’s Wears Prada, 27 Dresses, and the TV show Crazy Ex-girlfriend. She knows her way around a rom-com setting, so what makes Your Place or Mine unique? Nothing, in particular, makes this movie the best from her discography, and though the film claims to be ‘different’ (like every movie ever made), it does have a charm.

Although Kutcher and Witherspoon don’t have much in-person on-screen chemistry, you can feel the magnetics doing their job when the two are in the same room together. If only the two had more scenes together, it would feel more fulfilling and believable that their characters belong together.

Netflix rom-coms are plagued with rushed endings, and this film is no different. You People faced the same, brushed-over ending, and the movie was over. Your Place or Mine feels even worse. They use the Arial font to describe the film’s ending rather than just showing a quick montage. In thirty seconds (or less), we are told that Debbie accepts the new job, Peter becomes a writer, Debbie’s son Jack (Wesley Kimmel) plays on the hockey team, and all is well. Why not show us quick scenes of Peter and Debbie doing cute things together? They are a new couple, after all. Or Peter at a book signing… or Debbie at her new job. It sure does not give us enough for a movie that runs under two hours.

As stated previously, it was hard to imagine Peter and Debbie getting together in the end. We didn’t see enough of them, and for a good 80% of the movie, Debbie has a love interest, Theo (Jesse Williams). There’s so much with these two that there’s a good second in which we think Debbie might go the distance with Theo… but of course, not really because this isn’t their story, right? There needed to be more Debbie and Peter moments in person! Again, a quick montage at the beginning and/or ending would have been sufficient.

It was great seeing Kutcher back inside the movie world and even more exciting to see Witherspoon back inside her rom-com genre. Kutcher has done his fair share of rom-coms– The Killers (2010), What Happens in Vegas (2007), and Just Married (2003). Meanwhile, Witherspoon has a massive list of rom-com royalty: Legally Blonde 1 (2001) and 2 (2003), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Just Like Heaven (2005), Four Christmases (2008) (and more!). So was it a shock that their natural charisma would shine in this film set? Absolutely not.

As the supporting cast, Tig Notaro (Alicia), Steve Zahn (Zen), and Zoe Chao (Minka) served their purpose for the film, but I got to give credit where credit is due. Chao killed it as Minka, Peter’s ex-girlfriend. Instead of going the route of a crazy ex-girlfriend out for vengeance, they made this role as a confident character who knows that Peter is missing out on her but still wishes him well. Don’t we want all ex’s felt the same? As for Alicia and Zen’s characters, they are just foils and comedic relief. It’s not well disguised, but for the most part, it works.

Rank: 3.5

Your Place or Mine is not a bad or perfect movie either. It’s at that sweet spot where you could watch it with the family or alone on a Sunday afternoon. It’s a safe movie with some minor flaws. At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with watching a rom-com.