What Is the Story About?
A Family Affair follows a 24 year old Zara who works as a personal assistant to a narcissistic Hollywood star Chris Cole. She is tired of being taken for granted and under-appreciated and quits her job. When she quits, Chris arrives at her home un-announced to apologise to her and there sparks a relationship between Chris and Zara’s mother Brooke.
What happens when Zara gets to know about her boss and Mother’s relationship, how she reacts to her mother finding an escapade since her father’s death and finds her own calling amidst all of this, forms the crux of the film.
Performances?
Zac Efron channels the intolerable snobby hollywood star Chris Cole effectively. But after the actor’s turn in The Iron Claw, his character and performance in A Family Affair comes a little too shorthanded. However, his chemistry with Nicole Kidman who is graceful and endearingly radiant as Brooke is very refreshing.
Joey King plays Zara, a young girl in her early 20s, struggling work and existential crisis with believability. Her scenes with Nicole Kidman and Kathy Bates adds the charm in this soul-less romantic comedy.
Kathy Bates plays another version of her grandma character from Are you there God? It’s me Margaret, albeit a less fleshed out one. She is such a delight onscreen nevertheless.
Analysis
Written by Carrie Solomon and directed by Richard LaGravenese, A Family Affair is a romantic comedy-drama that circles around a famous action star of Hollywood, his personal secretary and her writer mother.
The film begins with Zara, a 20 something woman who is visibly frustrated with her boss – the narcissistic Hollywood star Chris Cole. She runs errands for him, fixes his personal schedule, fixes his dates and even stages and cleans his mess after break-ups.
One fine day, Zara quits her job finding it too hard to work with a demanding boss like Chris. Playing the same character in the Nth action franchise over and over again, Chris has reached a point of stagnation in his career where it isn’t really going well for him. Struggling with his mid-life crisis and seething incapability of handling things on his own, he goes back to Zara requesting her to have her back to work.
This is when Chris meets Brooke, Zara’s mother and an acclaimed writer. Having lost her husband 11 years ago, meeting Chris awakens lost desire and adrenaline rush in her and they hit it off quite well. Zara unknowingly walks in and sees the duo getting intimate. Wary of his playboy nature, Zara warns Brooke against Chris. However, the duo sneak out behind Zara’s back and get into a relationship.
One of the best things about A Family Affair is Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron’s easy-on-the-eyes chemistry. They look nice together and their Romantic scenes ooze comfort. The film also has some nice scenes between the mother-daughter, Mother-in-law & daughter-in-law and that’s about it. The lead couple should have atleast had some well-written romantic scenes together.
A Family Affair doesn’t rise above cheesy mediocrity. It refuses to embrace maturity in its characters. It reluctantly moves the viewer and drowns in nothingness. The characters are sweet, credits to the charm of the actors, because the writing barely aids them. And yes, there’s nothing funny about the film.
In short , A Family Affair sticks to the mediocre Hollywood bubble of romantic comedies and does barely anything to save its characters from the drenches of predictability. If there’s anything worth remembering once the movie is done, it’s the chemistry Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman shares and that’s not how well written romantic comedies are.
Music and Other Departments?
Don Burgess Cinematography doesn’t stand out-of-ordinary. The camera-work and lighting sticks to the regular rom-com colour palette. Siddhartha Khosla’s music is quite average and doesn’t stand out for the genre it caters to.
Highlights?
– Zaf Efron & Nicole Kidman’s chemistry
– Cast
Drawbacks?
– Convenient Writing
– Unfunny Comic gags
– Depth-less characters
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes, very selectively.
Will You Recommend It?
Yes, but with huge reservations.
A Family Affair Review by Binged Bureau