A Family Affair: The Best Part Was Its Title

An unexpected romance begins between famous movie star Chris Cole (Zac Efron) and writer Brooke Harwood (Nicole Kidman), which is further complicated by the fact that Brooke's daughter Zara (Joey King) is Chris's personal assistant.

I was surprised that Nicole Kidman, who's an amazing actress, actively signed on to be part of such a terrible movie. The plot was boring, and the characters were incredibly one dimensional. Brooke would continually claim to have her daughter's best interests in mind, then do something entirely opposite. Repeatedly. She had the right to explore new love as a widowed mother, but her careless attempts at pacifying her daughter were really irritating to watch. Her characteristics were cliche; Chris was interested in her because she's "different" i.e she reads and writes books as if no one in L.A. does. She's also conveniently attractive with no wrinkles or stretch marks anywhere (very believable for a woman her age).

My biggest problem with the movie was Zara. While it's reasonable that a relationship between your mom and your boss could be awkward for you, she was so immature about everything. She was an incredibly unsupportive friend and a very selfish daughter. I understand that the purpose of her character was to show her eventual development, but I really struggled to just watch her. She was so particularly aggravating and I'm not sure why. But I guess that means Joey King did a successful job.

There was nothing really special about this movie. We got a typical happy ending where Brooke and Zara make up, Chris and Brooke start dating, and Zara finally lands her dream job as a Hollywood director. Everything was painfully predictable. I should've known considering Netflix doesn't have a great history making romantic comedies. Overall, it's a decent mindless watch but don't expect groundbreaking cinema.