A Family Affair Review – IGN

What it does provide are clichéd lines like “don’t break my heart” and “he’s more than you think he is,” plus a beach getaway montage in lieu of any compelling plot points that might depict any deepening affection. Chris is a man who has made Brooke’s daughter’s life miserable for the last two years. His only redeeming qualities seem to be his hard body and the fact that he used to wait tables. The closest Efron is given to any sort of character development is a brief mention of childhood grief meant to explain Chris’ awful behavior. Why does A Family Affair want us to root for this guy again?

The film’s funniest moments stem from Chris and Zara’s love-hate dynamic; at one point, Zara amusingly uses the language barrier between Chris and the French director of his “Die Hard meets Miracle on 34th Street” blockbuster to call out his dating etiquette. Chris’ out-of-touch complaints about how much his life costs, the mishandling of an expensive shahtoosh T-shirt (“it’s one of a kind. I only have two!”), and his refusal to play a “blind alcoholic” because “it goes against my iconography” inspire a few chuckles, too. To King’s credit, she brings an endearing charm, goofiness and liveliness to the slightly neurotic Zara.

But LaGravenese struggles to bring out the absurdity of the stakes for his three central characters. And Solomon’s script, for all of its insider perspective, is too thin and frothy to deliver a substantial or satisfying commentary on how these competing romantic, familial, and professional relationships intersect between the trio. The screenplay throws in two token bffs of color – Stella (Sherry Cola) and Eugenie (Liza Koshy) – to be the Gen Z voices of reason. Yes, Zara is right to be weirded out by the romance and her script notes are valid, but the movie-within-the-movie and Stella’s work as an indie playwright don’t add anything. Eugenie’s character arc is likewise flimsy and designed solely for Zara to confront her self-involved tendencies when she fails to recognise her pal’s relationship woes – but it’s bizarre that she’s the only character really held accountable for her toxic traits.

At least Solomon throws in some intriguing threads for Brooke. Once her illicit romance with Chris is revealed, an argument with Zara signals a mother-daughter tension not just about Brooke’s intimidating success but also their shared mourning for a husband and father. King and Kidman have a natural rapport that grounds the more dramatic, emotionally wrought elements of A Family Affair. A later conversation with Brooke’s mother-in-law (breezily played by Kathy Bates) introduces another relatable theme about how career success and failure can doom a relationship – but these concerns go inexplicably unexplored with her current, egotistical beau. Instead, they’re skimmed over in favor of a Hollywood ending that feels far too easy and never truly earned.