Charming cast almost saves bland "A Family Affair"

A Family Affair (2024)

For a serious drama, a wacky farce, or even a mix of both, "A Family Affair" does have one dishy hook: a movie star’s assistant discovers her mother has slept with and is now dating the Hollywood hunk. Sometimes charming but mostly bland and inoffensive, this lightweight fluff has all of the ingredients to be more than it is, particularly with a cast this appealing and watchable. It’s a tepid affair, as it turns out, but it is also the nicest, sunniest May-December romance that you could watch at home with Mom.

24-year-old Zara (Joey King) has been the long-suffering assistant to 34-year-old diva movie star Chris Cole (Zac Efron) for two years. When she decides to assert herself and quit, Chris comes to her Malibu family home to get her back. Enter Zara’s Australian mother Brooke (Nicole Kidman), an accomplished writer who lost her husband 11 years ago. The two break into the tequila and get to chatting, and before you know it, Brooke and Chris are getting it on (in the most chaste, shirt-ripping fashion), only for Zara to walk in and get frazzled. Because of this little affair, Chris offers Zara to be his associate producer while still wooing Brooke, who hasn’t felt this happy in a while. Of course, Zara needs to know that his intentions with her mother are pure. 

What starts with a fine setup for a breezy farce strays into dull, overlong romantic-comedy goo. Things would be different if the romance were electric and if the comedy were punchier, but alas, here we are. Even the satirical Hollywood stuff—Chris is shooting the latest terrible action tentpole in what is pitched to him as “'Die Hard' meets 'Miracle on 34th Street' meets 'Speed'”—is never sharp enough. Perhaps this needed the cozy Nancy Meyers touch and more McMansion porn. Or, like the film’s key plot point involving a script rewrite, maybe "A Family Affair" needed one, too. Read the full review at GuyAtTheMovies.com

Grade: C

Netflix released "A Family Affair" (111 min.) to stream on June 28, 2024.