There is a fast-food side to these romantic comedies where everything is stitched together and where we understand from the first ten minutes what turn things are going to take. Not bad, but tasteless. “The Underside of the Family”, which is released this Friday, June 28 on Netflix, with Nicole Kidman, Joey King and Zac Efron, is entirely in this vein. A light and easy romance.
Zara is the assistant of Chris Cole, the most prominent actor in Hollywood, who plays crazy superhero roles. Megalomaniac and self-centered, he mistreats her and she slams the door. It is while trying to convince her to come back that the star comes across the mother of his employee, a novelist with a solitary soul, who has not known love since the death of her husband eleven years earlier. Almost immediate love at first sight, on both sides. The start of a passionate romance that Zara will have difficulty accepting.
Get out the violins! All the ingredients are there. The characters, white and beautiful, live in sumptuous and opulent Hollywood villas, hug each other while watching the waves of the Pacific crash on the cliffs or at night in the middle of deserted film studios. A dream in spades? Except that in 2024, the cursor of what was once fantasized has now moved. The codes have evolved. And even lightness has the right not to be lazy.
We smile heartily at some gags and funny lines from Zara, revolted as a teenager can be in front of this improbable couple. If Nicole Kidman is quite insipid in this undersized role, Zoey King, who plays the young woman, does not take herself seriously and that’s pleasant. The dialogues are desperately flat (Special mention to “Enough about me. Did you always know that you wanted to be an actor?” or the particularly sought-after “Can we still remain friends?”) and all without interest other than to spend time.
on Netflix, a comedy by Richard LaGravenese with Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Joey King (1h51).
