- An unexpected romance has comic consequences for a young woman, her mother, and her celebrity boss, who experience a series of adventures with love and identity in the background.
- In the main roles in the film “Family matter” occur: Joey King, Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron. We also see on the screen Liza Koshy and Kathy Bates. The production hit Netflix on June 28.
- The new Netflix comedy disappoints, both in terms of comedy and romance. It’s hard to find any merits that would encourage you to reach for this title. In my opinion, it’s better to give it a wide berth.
Just recently, a film hit the streaming platform Prime Video, in which the main plot was a relationship with a large age difference. Specifically, the woman was older than the man. What’s more, he was a famous musician, and she was the owner of an art gallery. I’m talking about the production “The Thought of You” starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine. Why am I mentioning it? Because watching the new Netflix titled “A Family Matter” I rightly had the impression that I had recently seen an almost identical film.
The main character of “A Family Matter” is 24-year-old Zara (Joey King), who works as an assistant to a famous actor, Chris Cole (Zac Efron). When the woman has had enough of her boss’s excessive whims, she decides to tell him that she is quitting. However, he does not want to give up and decides to pay her a visit with the intention of convincing her to come back. When he visits Zara’s house, he finds her mother, Brooke (Nicole Kidman), there. It only takes a few minutes for the man to become infatuated with the older woman. In the process, he regales her (and unfortunately the viewers) with a clichéd compliment – “You had a daughter when you were a teenager?”. This is just the beginning of the shivers of embarrassment that will not leave us until the end of the screening.
As with “Just the Thought of You”, on the screen we watch a romance between an older woman and a younger man. In addition, he is a famous star, and she is an artistic soul (in this case, a writer). The aforementioned Prime Video production is slightly better than the Netflix novelty, because it does not have any comedic elements. In “A Family Matter,” in addition to an unconvincing romance, the creators served us very unsuccessful sketches, from which only Joey King emerges unscathed.
Kidman and Efron, first of all, do not find their place in comedy scenes, and secondly, they are unable to convince the viewer to believe in the feelings between them. No wonder – their romance begins after exchanging just a few sentences. True, they are connected by traumatic experiences from the past, but at times one can wonder why these two characters could like each other, let alone fall in love!
I really tried to find some positives in this movie. I always try to do that when I review Netflix productions. Weak comedy, even worse romance, unlikable characters… The internet is full of comments about the appearance of actors, pointing out the amount of Botox in their faces. In the case of Zac Efron, I think he is a better dramatic actor than a comedic one, and I liked his role in “Brothers of Steel” much more. As for Kidman… Well, it is clear that she is slowly giving up on cosmetic medicine and I hope that we will soon see better acting performances from her.
“A Family Affair” could have been a film that skillfully tackled the subject of love after fifty, but unfortunately, the final effect discourages rather than encourages romantic adventures in adulthood. In a duel with “The Very Thought of You,” the Netflix novelty clearly loses badly.
3/10
“A Family Affair”, directed by Richard LaGravenese. Netflix release date: June 28, 2024
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