About the film (courtesy of Universal Pictures):
After a perfect outing with her boyfriend, Kenna (Maika Monroe) makes an unbearable mistake that sends her to prison. Seven years later, Kenna returns to her hometown in Wyoming, hoping to rebuild her life and earn the chance to reunite with her young daughter, Diem, whom she has never known. When Diem’s custodial grandparents adamantly refuse Kenna’s attempts to see her daughter, Kenna discovers unexpected compassion, and then something truer and deeper, with former NFL player and local bar owner Ledger (Tyriq Withers). As their secret romance develops, so do the dangers for both of them, leading Kenna toward heartbreak and, ultimately, the hope for a second chance.
The latest of Colleen Hoover’s books brought to life on screen, Reminders of Him is one I wish to do the opposite of. Wrought with a lack of chemistry, too many unlikeable characters and about 30 minutes longer of a runtime than it needs this movie is a rough watch. It is worth noting that as a 25-year-old man, I am not the target audience for Colleen Hoover’s books nor the films that have been created as an homage to them. Many people in the theater seemed to enjoy the duration of the movie and its cast and felt emotionally moved by their performance. I however, did not.
Reminders of Him opens earnestly enough with Kenna Rowan (Maika Monroe) roving into Laramie, Wyoming and removing a monument to her late boyfriend Scotty (Rudy Pankow). The premise is heavy: Kenna has just finished a seven-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to an accident that resulted in Scotty’s death. She returns to the town where it started with the singular goal of meeting her daughter, Diem (Zoe Kosovic), who is being raised by Scotty’s parents.
Reminders of Him immediately leans into a very gray aesthetic with lots of overcast skies and muted tones that seems to suggest a level of grit and realism. However, that realism is quickly undercut by the sheer convenience of the plot. Within what feels like minutes of her arrival, Kenna finds herself at a local bar owned by Ledger Ward (Tyrique Withers), who happens to be Scotty’s childhood best friend. The movie asks the audience to swallow a massive coincidence right out of the gate, and unfortunately, it never stops asking for those leaps of faith.
As Reminders of Him progresses, Ledger and Kenna begin to “fall” for each other in an abrupt and almost forced manner where rather than relishing in shared grief, their first kiss almost caused whiplash with how blinding it was. The chemistry just didn’t feel natural enough to have gotten them to that point which is the whole crux of this movie. Everything that happens from this point on in the film is the result of their “love.”
Perhaps most frustrating is the portrayal of Diem’s grandparents. Grace (Lauren Graham) and Patrick (Bradley Whitford) are poised as makeshift Disney villains, which feels unjust given the context. They are understandably protective of their only son’s legacy, yet the movie asks us to resent them for sheltering a child from her father’s convicted killer. With Grace’s (Lauren Graham), Diem’s grandmother, stalking Kenna and issuing her a restraining order being her greatest act of evil and Patrick’s (Bradley Whitford), the grandfather, being striking Ledger in a heat of the moment scenario.
This movie suffers from a common trope where if the main cast had just interacted in a meaningful way for longer than five minutes there wouldn’t have been a need for its nearly two-hour runtime. Reminders of Him also heavily leans on approximately three characters in the film for comedy relief and feel good moments that fall short in the face of everything else going on. This movie is a slow burn that tries to put a cheery topper on and bring everyone together too quickly and just feels too unbelievable for its own good.
Reminders of Him is in theaters starting Friday, March 13th.
