From the new Netflix romantic comedy Your Place or Mine, to the surge of That ’70s Show nostalgia (the latter thanks to Netflix’s sequel series That ’90s Show), Ashton Kutcher is having a moment. And though you might not realize it from his perpetual babyface, it’s been nearly ten years since audiences last saw Kutcher in a movie as a leading man, in the 2013 Steve Jobs biopic, Jobs. (That said, he was a lead on the Netflix series, The Ranch, until 2020.) But the Kutcher fans who have missed seeing him the movies will be pleased to hear that he’s definitely still got it as a romantic charmer in Your Place Or Mine.
Written and directed by Aline Brosh McKenna, Your Place or Mine—which began streaming on Netflix today—stars Kutcher as a successful but lonely playboy, who has enough money for a swanky New York City bachelor pad, but no one special in his life to share it with. Well, he does have a platonic BFF named Debbie (played by Reese Witherspoon) that he—spoiler alert—secretly has not-so-platonic feelings for. Debbie is supposed to spend a week at Peter’s NYC apartment to finish up her business degree, and when her babysitter falls through, Peter volunteers to spend a week with Debbie’s son in Los Angeles. So, essentially, Peter and Debbie trade lives for a week. And though they spend the week on opposite sides of the country, they also spend it falling in love with each other.
As Peter, Kutcher is all crisp suits and sleek cars. He’s nothing like the rumpled, shaggy-haired man-child he played in his 2011 rom-com, No Strings Attached, in which he casually starts hooking up with his BFF played by Natalie Portman. (Which, incidentally, is the better of the two movies with the same premise released in the same year, the other being Friends With Benefits, starring Kutcher’s IRL wife, Mila Kunis.) That only adds to the appeal. Kutcher, at 45, is all grown up, and he looks good. His hair perfectly coifed. His face shows the lines of age, but in that rich-person way that it’s also somehow still smooth. His muscles are toned, but not bursting—as if he actually exercises without injecting an unhealthy amount of steroids.
But more important than his looks is the fact that Kutcher still knows how to turn on the charm. Because he and Witherspoon spend the vast majority of Your Place or Mine apart—a format that, unfortunately, doesn’t work for Netflix as well as it worked for Nora Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle—most of Kutcher’s scenes are spent acting opposite either child actor Wesely Kimmel (the nephew of talk show host Jimmy Kimmel). Kutcher, a dad in real life, has an easy, endearing back-and-forth with his young scene partner, as Peter attempts to help little Jack navigate the politics of middle school friendships.
It’s a shame Kutcher and Witherspoon don’t share more scenes together, because when they finally reunite at the LAX airport, Kutcher is in top form when it comes time for his big romantic declaration. Debbie confronts Peter about hiding his feelings from her for all these years. “Just tell me how you feel!”
“You know how I feel!” Peter responds.
“What?” Debbie scoffs. “That you’re in love with me or something?”
“No!” Peter exclaims. There’s a moment of shock, from both Debbie and the audience. Was this all a big misunderstanding? But then Kutcher takes it home: “Debbie, I am madly, deeply, overwhelmingly in love with you. And I have been since the moment I met you.”
Swoon. Doesn’t that just melt your heart? Credit is due, of course, to McKenna for writing that top-tier dialogue. But it’s Kutcher who pulls off this declaration of love beautifully, injecting just the right amount of certainty (he knows how he feels) and fear (he doesn’t know how Debbie will react) into his voice. And in case you weren’t already in love with him, Peter takes this romantic gesture one step further.
“I thought we were going to be friends forever,” Debbie tells Peter. “We’re not?”
“No,” Peter replies Kutcher lets his voice shake, just a little, as he says in a tone that leaves no room for argument, “We’re not going to be friends anymore, Debbie.”
Then he swoops in and kisses her. Like, really kisses her. I’m talking, “grabs her by the waist and holds her entire body against his,” kisses her. Witherspoon’s hands immediately wrap around his neck. It’s everything you want a romantic comedy kiss to be. If it doesn’t make your heart sing, I can only assume you’re a robot.
It’s impossible to watch that scene and not conclude that Ashton Kutcher has very much still got it. Let’s get this man back in romantic leading roles, if only for more kisses like that.
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