Another romantic comedy comes to Netflix; “your place or mine?” features the well renowned Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon in a trope filled friends-to-lovers story. Though it has the second best opening weekend as a romance movie in Netflix history, does it compare to the original rom-coms of the 2000’s? 

Even if romantic comedies are not for you, the vast majority have heard about the “10 Things I Hate About You,”  “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” “The Proposal,” or “13 Going on 30.” They have become staples for the genre, holding some of the most views ever obtained for a rom-com. “your place or mine?” follows two best friends who met in their twenties at a poker game, Peter and Debbie have two separate lives on opposite sides of the country. Debbie lives in LA as a teacher and Peter lives in New York City as a marketing executive. As a last ditch effort to make more money to afford her son’s medications, Debbie takes a course for accounting that can only be finished in New York City where Peter lives.

What was supposed to be a week spent with her best friend turned into them switching places. Peter goes to LA to watch her son while Debbie stays at Peter’s during her accounting course. The story progresses and they each find things out about each other that they never thought could be true, threatening their 20 year long friendship for the first time ever. 

In comparison to the OG’s of rom-coms, it takes a different approach to the progression of romance. As the audience it is obvious from the beginning that there was a spark between Peter and Debbie. Whereas the movies of the 2000’s attempted to make it more subtle, much to the audience’s entertainment. In addition, “your place or mine?” makes multiple pop culture references that can feel out of place in comparison to what the audience is used to, such as ‘04 fashion references and TikTok jokes. 

After so many romantic comedies have been made, it is understandable that “your place or mine?” feels a little too basic and pattern filled. You as the audience know the characters and their personality before they are even shown in the movie just because that is the mold of the main characters that have been used time and time again. Though the rom-com audience gets excited at the idea of a new movie, disappointment is evident when it is a movie that is predictable at best. 

Rom-coms follow the cookie cutter pattern just as action movies or sci-fi’s, but “your place or mine?” is a little too predictable. The love and the humor are much appreciated, and Ashton Kutcher with Reese Witherspoon make the movie that much more eye catching, however “10 Things I Hate About You,” and “13 Going On 30” still hold the mark of an enjoyable rom-com.