Now Showing: A Family Affair (2024) — A Romcom That Needed a Rewrite

I’ll be honest: most of my heart still lives in movies and shows made before 2010. That’s where I find the real magic, the comfort rewatches, the stuff that lasts. But every so often I wander into modern cinema hoping to be surprised, hoping to find that spark again. Now Showing is where I tell you if the new kids on the block actually deliver.

This review contains spoilers.

Tina Rowden/Netflix

You know that feeling you get when you can see the great movie inside the bad one? A Family Affair is exactly that.

I think this story would have been killer with like, three or four more rewrites. Which is ironic, because the plot basically revolves around Zac Efron’s character needing a major rewrite for his own film. Unfortunately, the irony isn’t clever. Instead it just stings, because you can see the great romcom hiding inside the undercooked lump of dough we actually got.

Tina Rowden/Netflix

The main cast does a lot of heavy lifting here, trying to build dynamic characters with the off-brand Legos they were given. Efron and Joey King bring a wonderfully surprising spark to the screen. Their comedic chemistry and back-and-forth energy is magnetic in a way that makes you lean in. Nicole Kidman, as always, elevates even flimsy material, though the script doesn’t allow her enough room to give us what we need from her.

Then there’s Liza Koshy, stranded in a role that never figures itself out. Her character was supposed to be pivotal (especially in the friendship conflict with King) but the groundwork just wasn’t there. When she finally calls King a bad friend, it lands with a thud because the movie never gave us stakes or history or any sort of established anything about her character to make us care. Though I’m not the biggest fan of Koshy, I don’t think the problem is with her acting; it’s the script’s inability to create fully formed characters. So being stuck in a secondary role, there was no hope for her.

Now let’s talk script holes and missing beats. More than once, it felt like whole scenes had been cut or never even written. Take the moment when Efron’s character accidentally says “love you” to Kidman over the phone, leading to an awkward hang-up. He immediately calls back to ask if he can see her. She hesitates. “Now?” She asks. And then… nothing. Hard cut. We never return to that tension. No payoff. No callback. It’s like loose pages fell out mid-scene and no one ever noticed.

Aaron Epstein/Netflix

Even the grocery store climax–with the mist from the vegetables billowing around them and the thunder rolling over the intercom–never circles back to earlier emotional threads. I was waiting for Efron to say something like, “I fell in love in New York” to tie in his story about bringing women to New York Street, and the fact that he didn’t give Kidman the breakup earrings. Because he loves her. Instead, it fizzles out.

That’s what makes A Family Affair so frustrating: the bones are there. With a sharper script and a few more drafts, this could have been the kind of romcom that sticks. It could have pulled on my heartstrings in a way a romcom hasn’t since the aughties. This is why, my children, you let things marinate before you cook. Giving something time to breathe can be the difference between a slam dunk or a half-baked mess. In the end, A Family Affair isn’t a love story. It’s a cautionary tale about what happens when you don’t do the rewrite. It had so much promise but instead it’s just a turd in a toilet.

Star Rating: 2.5 — just ok