Review of A Family Affair, directed by Richard LaGravenese

While this blog post is going to come out in 2025, sometime in April, I made a vow towards the end of 2024. I wanted to diversify the kinds of content I was consuming, especially when it comes to books and movies.

If you’re new here, welcome! I’ve been running this blog for about three years now, and only just started taking it more seriously as I entered a new period of unexpected unemployment.

That said, running a blog where you write reviews (and summaries for movies), you tend to reflect pretty heavily on the movies themselves and what kinds of movies you’re watching.

There’s an entire business side of this as well, as international cinema tends to not make any money—that’s my focus, and I’m fine with sacrificing some of the financial benefits of covering popular English-language cinema.

I wanted to diversify because the world and what different people make is absolutely cool and wonderful. Watching a Georgian movie and then a South African one is a fascinating pivot, but also we can see how filmmaking traditions vary across cultures.

And this is a long-winded way to say that I watched A Family Affair because of this new agenda. I realized I watched the same kinds of movies genre-wise and wanted to branch out, and this had been just added to Netflix when I watched it.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to bore you with the semantics just in the introduction.

When her mother begins a relationship with her boss, one woman finds herself feeling exasperated.

Our main character in this movie is Zara, who is 24 and works for a famous actor in Hollywood: Chris Cole. As we can see straight off the bat from Chris, he’s a bit narcissistic and doesn’t respond well to other people. Zara is a bit done with him because of this, as she has to do all of his whims as an assistant, and she feels like he doesn’t appreciate her much.

We also see that whenever he breaks up with a woman (he’s a womanizer), she has to help him get the act together and actually do it. But when he changes the gate code to his home while she’s out doing her job, she decides she’s had a enough. She quits on the spot.

Chris can’t live without her though, and he shows up at her house to offer her a new job with him. However, she’s not home when he comes to the door, and her mother Brooke opens it up instead. She lets him come inside to wait for Zara, and then while he’s chatting with her mother, the two of them have some chemistry.

And when Zara comes home, she discovers the two of them having sex. This obviously pisses her off, and Chris tries to reassure her that this isn’t going to happen again. She accepts his job offer, but on the side he invites Brooke to dinner and she agrees to come.

With a new gala coming up, Zara connects the dots pretty quickly when it comes to Chris and her mother. At the gala, she forces her way in with her friend, and then she confronts her mother and Chris. Brooke tells her daughter that this is the happiest she’s been since she was with Zara’s father.

However, this doesn’t end well, as she ignores how Zara feels about the situation and doesn’t address the actual problem. The next big event is Christmas, and Chris comes with the duo to Zara’s grandmother’s house. This is Brooke’s mother-in-law, and when Leila sees Brooke and Chris together, she talks to Zara.

We also learn that Brooke’s relationship with Zara’s father wasn’t the best, but Zara hears this conversation by accident. Zara goes to put bags in the car, but then spots diamond earrings that he uses to break up with women in his bag. Zara confronts them again because of this, and Brooke asks Chris to leave.

The next time Zara is at her job, she is asked to find him. He’s hiding by himself, as he’s not feeling the best about himself. Turns out he’s feeling like a bad guy and he did actually want to date Brooke. The earrings were just in his bag. Zara then talks to her mother and admits her mistake, but her mother refuses to listen.

Zara feels bad and makes a moment where they all meet at a supermarket and clears the air with all their problems. Brooke and Chris start dating again, and a year later, they’re still together. Zara also gets a job promotion from Chris, and their relationship is also better than ever.

Overall Thoughts

It’s a fine movie, a bit campy at times but doesn’t go all the way there. I wasn’t expecting much from the movie if we’re going to be honest, but I felt like I was entertained throughout.

That said, it does feel a bit mismatched and odd at times. The pairing of Efron and Kidman wasn’t the best for me, and they both feel like they’re here for the paycheck. The only performance I cared for was Joey King’s, and she did the best with the material she had.

I don’t think I’ll ever return to this movie because of that. It’s a one and done for sure.

But if you want to watch it/haven’t already, don’t let one lukewarm review spoil your party! Go watch it and form your own opinion independent of someone on the Internet.

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