Before the likes of The Lost City, Bros and Ticket to Paradise last year, Netflix was almost single-handedly responsible for reviving the rom-com genre with huge hits like To All the Boys I've Loved Before and its many, MANY Christmas rom-coms.
So Netflix feels like the perfect place for Reese Witherspoon to return to the genre for the first time since 2017's Home Again. She's even brought Ashton Kutcher along for the ride, making his first appearance in a romantic comedy for more than a decade since 2011's New Year's Eve.
With Crazy Ex-Girlfriend co-creator Aline Brosh McKenna – who also wrote 27 Dresses and The Devil Wears Prada – writing and directing, Your Place or Mine feels as close to a sure thing as can be. What could really go wrong with that mix?
Quite a lot as it turns out. Far from being a rom-com classic, Your Place or Mine is light on both the rom and the com and ends up feeling like a missed opportunity.
The set-up for Your Place or Mine is certainly unique. After a fumble under the sheets two decades ago, Debbie (Witherspoon) and Peter (Kutcher) realised they'd be better off as friends, and that's just what they became for two decades.
After enduring yet another break-up because of his unwillingness to commit, Peter offers to help Debbie out by flying to Los Angeles to look after her son, while she heads to Peter's home in New York to undertake a potentially life-changing course.
You'd think this would be the start of a comedy of errors where one of them changes their mind, leading to them having to stay together and realise why they actually love each other. But no, Debbie and Peter really do spend the majority of the movie in two totally separate cities, sharing only a couple of scenes where they're in the same place.
Despite numerous phone calls between the two (and camera trickery to imply just how close they are as soulmates), it's a concept that never sparks much romance. If Your Place or Mine subverted rom-com expectations it could work, but it ends up exactly where you think – and you worked that out long before the characters do.
There are aspects of Your Place or Mine that do work, but none of them are to do with the main duo. Zoë Chao is the main reason to watch as she steals the whole movie as Peter's ex Minka, who becomes Debbie's LA (and love-life) guide, often making the script funnier than it ought to be through her comic delivery.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend fans will also get some enjoyment out of appearances from the likes of Rachel Bloom and Vella Lovell. However, it's purely enjoyment on an 'Oh, I know them' cameo level as their talents are largely wasted, when they could have added much-needed humour if better used.
The main problem with Your Place or Mine comes down to its central concept. No amount of phone calls can compensate for the chemistry of a shared scene, even with the rom-com know-how of Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher.
If the title of Netflix's latest rom-com offering were a question, then there's only one answer: neither.
Your Place or Mine is out now on Netflix.
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