It’s tricky telling stories about couples with an age gap without offending someone. Prime Video’s recent Anne Hathway starrer “The Idea of You” understood the complete spectrum of what makes these movies tricky and instead offered a relatable, self-reflexive, character-driven approach to make it seem reasonable and responsible. With “A Family Affair,” director Richard LaGravenese also dives into a romance that brings an old woman and a younger man together. However, since it also carefully treads near and, when needed, away from the romance to offer a more interesting look at our fear of commitment, things work in its favor.
I mean, my positive outlook towards it can be summed up by two things. First, going in blind into the film without checking any of the updates that Netflix had made about it, and two, a set of low expectations from a streaming giant that has been notoriously delivering garbage each week in the name of entertainment. “A Family Affair” thus comes as a surprise because it allows these characters to be more than just plastic figures delivering dialogues. They become the embodiment of our constant fear of not kickstarting something just because we feel the end result might not be in our favor.
For one, it tells the tale of a self-absorbed movie star named Chris Cole (Zac Efron), who, after getting famous for the ‘Icrush Rush’ movies, has been roped into a 3rd part of the film that is shit on paper. His assistant, Zara (Joey King), is the one who basically runs his life for him but is often sidelined for all the hard work she puts in. She is constantly anxious about where her life is going because Chris, who had promised her that he would promote her to a producer who will be running his production, is always threatening to fire her for one thing or another. Chris is also one of those celebrities who finds it really hard to commit to a relationship; his two dogs are possibly the only constant companions he has other than Zara and his housekeepers.
When we first meet him, he breaks up with his latest fling and riles Zara up for not helping him get the latest Icrarus Rush movie to not sound so bad. Joey is pissed because all she has been doing is suggest him a rewrite and a writer who could fix it for him, but since Chris is too into himself, she decides to finally stand up for herself and quit. However, her quitting the job only sets her up for more remorse when unwittingly. Chris lands on her doorstep and meets Zara’s mom, Brooke (Nicole Kidman). Brooke is a famous writer and has been a single mother for almost 11 years, and the idea of a celebrity finding her interesting, charming, and beautiful results in instant sparks.
It’s not that only Brooke finds Chris interesting; it’s also the other way around. When Chris patches things up on the professional front with Zara, things get extremely awkward for her when she finds it difficult to digest that her mother is dating her boss. This leads to a story that dives into these three characters and how this awkward dynamic actually helps them learn a thing or two about themselves.
Director Richard LaGravenese, known for Freedom Writers and P.S. I Love You, cushions this story in a typical rom-com atmosphere. While there are some really conventional beats every now and then, the film mostly works because it allows these characters to discover their flaws, their ever-changing identities, and how one action affects the other one. The film is also held together by incredible supporting turns from Liza Koshy, who plays Eugenie – Zara’s best friend, and the legendary Kathy Bates, who plays Leila – Brooke’s mother-in-law and Zara’s grandmother. The sequence where Eugenie finally bursts out on Zara for being a really self-absorbed person or the one where Leila tells Brooke to allow herself to be swayed away by love without fearing that an end is near are two of the best moments from the film.
It also helps that Zoe King, Zac Efron, and Nicole Kidman are effortless in their roles and that writer Carrie Solomon is able to establish a zing in their personalities that never makes them feel like caricatures – something that Netflix has been guilty of doing off late. So, in spite of how the movie may sound on paper, the end result is a charming, intermittently funny movie about those people who finally decide to let themselves be loved.
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