In ‘Somebody I Used to Know,’ a city girl heads home when her life falls apart. Then meets her ex.
Also, Magic Mike returns, Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher star in “Your Place or Mine,” and more.
‘Somebody I Used to Know’
If you like rom-coms but are tired of them, Somebody I Used to Know will look familiar but different.
The big city gal who heads home to her small town is Ally (Alison Brie), a producer of schlocky reality TV, who decides to visit her mom (Julie Hagerty) when her life starts falling apart in Los Angeles. At the local bar, she re-meets Sean (Jay Ellis), the one she let get away a decade earlier when she left to pursue her dreams.
Sean and Ally have a picture-perfect day together and she begins to wonder if he was the one all along. With her career in the wood-chipper, she envisions the life they may have had.
But here’s the problem: Sean is getting married that weekend.
Ally is invited to the wedding and the cringe-inducing comedy goes back and forth on whether Ally is deliberately trying to break up the couple, accidentally trying to break up the couple, or merely confused and conflicted because Sean’s fiancee (Kiersey Clemons) is a fun-loving, cool, nice person. Someone Ally believes she once was.
The movie takes a lot of hoary rom-com plot devices and turns them on their head, and the characters are much more diverse than your typical Hallmark fare. They also curse a lot, get high, and some get naked. How much you enjoy Somebody probably depends on how much you relate to Ally, her questionable choices in her search for love, and your own relationship with a heartache-causing ex that you used to know.
Directed by Dave Franco. Written by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. (Rated R. Premieres Friday, Feb. 10, on Prime.)
‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’
Channing Tatum returns as dancer/stripper/choreographer Mike Lane, whose final lap takes him to London at the behest of a wealthy, world-weary socialite (Salma Hayek Pinault). While the pair create their own heat, she urges Mike to produce a sexy stage show. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. (Rated R. Premieres Friday, Feb. 10, in theaters.)
‘Close’
French/Dutch film about two teenage boys and their intense, perhaps too intense, friendship, and its consequences. Directed by Lukas Dhont. With English subtitles. (Rated PG-13. Premieres Friday, Feb. 10, in theaters.)
‘Your Place or Mine’
Reese Witherspoon has BFF Ashton Kutcher watch her teenage son (Wesley Kimmel) when the two trade coasts for a week and question their true feelings for each other. Rom and com ensue. With Steve Zahn, Rachel Bloom, Jesse Williams. Written and directed by Aline Brosh McKenna (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Devil Wears Prada). (Rated PG-13. Premieres Friday, Feb. 10, on Netflix.)
‘10 Days of a Good Man’
Turkish film about a missing person and how the search impacts the private eye on the case. With English subtitles. (Not rated. Premieres Friday, Feb. 10, on Netflix.)
‘Marlowe’
Period piece with Liam Neeson in another version of Raymond Chandler’s famed detective Philip Marlowe. With Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange. Directed by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, Michael Collins). (Rated R. Premieres Wednesday, Feb. 15, in theaters.)