After weeks of teasing steamy scenes between thirst-trapped Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman, Netflix is now streaming A Family Affair — a rom-com that trots out the tiring age-gap trope once again. The latest rom-com is a testament to Hollywood’s delusion that simply pairing provocative stars can salvage even the most tepid stories. The plot revolves around Chris Cole (Zac Efron), an insufferably arrogant movie star whose knowledge of everyday life is as limited as his acting range.
His character, a mid-thirties diva with intimacy issues, stumbles into the life of Brooke Harwood (Nicole Kidman), a widowed fashion writer living in a waterside mansion, and happens to be mother to Cole’s frustrated PA, Zara (Joey King). The two are thrust together in a series of contrived and painfully unfunny situations that are meant to pass for a forbidden romance. From the outset, the film’s premise reeks of desperation.
Chris, in a fit of pique, barges into the home of his overworked assistant, only to encounter Brooke. The ensuing romance between Chris and Brooke feels inorganic, wooden, and devoid of any genuine chemistry, relying instead on the novelty of the star-pairing to carry the story. A still from ‘A Family Affair’ The rather obvious parallels with Prime Video’s Anne Hathaway starrer, The Idea Of You , from earlier this year, seemed inevitable.
Where The Idea of You delivered a nuanced new look at a middle-aged woman’s romance with a younger star — infused with genui.
