Reminders of Him

Reminders of Him is the latest adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel, and thankfully, unlike It Ends With Us, it has yet to be marred with any behind-the-scenes feuding. But the drama within this romantic story about an ex-con mother falling for her dead boyfriend's best friend leaves a lot to be desired. 

Longlegs’ Maika Monroe is Kenna, our lead and narrator, who returns to her hometown after serving five years of a seven-year prison sentence for vehicular manslaughter while under the influence. She stomps into the story by kicking down a roadside remembrance for her boyfriend Scotty Landry, who ‘always hated memorials’. This clumsy expression of anger will filter through the film as she strives to find work and a way to meet their five-year-old daughter, Diem (Zoe Kosovic), after losing her parental rights to Scotty's WASP-ish parents, Grace (Lauren Graham) and Patrick (Bradley Whitford).

Her backstory is breadcrumbed through flashbacks, showcasing her budding romance with Scotty, the tense relationship with his parents, her court sentencing, jail time and the night of the accident. All the while, she's growing closer to Ledger (Tyriq Withers), the dreamy former NFL player-turned-bar owner who is a sort of uncle to the adorable Diem and has his own demons about being absent from Scotty's life. Withers' restrained but sensitive performance makes him a perfect romantic lead to swoon over, but there's something that doesn't quite click with Monroe's character.

No amount of Maika Monroe's huffing and puffing can add depth to her character

Kenna arrives back in her hometown without any mention of parents or friends. Did they die? Did they disown her? Who knows! The few pals that she makes at her rental unit, like the bluntly funny Lady Diana (Monika Myers), barely make an impression on her emotional journey. She has little agency in the film, with Ledger playing the role of white knight: offering her work, lifts, empathy, steamy sex, and ultimately, laying the path to redemption.

There are hints of a class divide. Kenna mentions living on ‘her side of town’ and once worked at a dollar store; the middle-class Landrys have a nice car and fancy house, and they exhibit a coldness towards Kenna from before the accident. Yet Hoover, who co-wrote the script with Lauren Levine, is never willing to get into these obvious social prejudices that both led to her arrest and her subsequent ostracisation as an ex-con. She's just a sad girl whose identity revolves around being a mother and a lover to two men, which no amount of Monroe's huffing and puffing can add depth to. 

It is fitting, then, that this is called Reminders of Him – it never gives her enough to work with.

In cinemas worldwide Fri Mar 13.