‘Reminders of Him’: Colleen Hoover Adaptation Plays It Too Safe To Be Believable 

Alci Rengifo

Romance novels, like thrillers, tend to produce authors that become brands onto themselves. In the realm of weepy beach reads, Colleen Hoover currently reigns supreme. Like Nicholas Sparks before her, Hoover knows how to concoct the kind of love stories people wish they could experience. “Reminders of Him” could have been ludicrous, steamy fun. Instead, this adaptation, co-written by Hoover, barely tries to at least get heated. When you have a tale about a woman getting into a relationship with the best friend of her dead boyfriend, we expect to enter guilty pleasure territory. Instead, it has a curious staleness, like a Lifetime movie taking itself too seriously.

Set in one of those postcard corners of America of woodlands and small towns, the story centers on Kenna (Maika Monroe), who is returning home after serving seven years in prison. She was convicted for a DUI accident that resulted in the death of fiancé Scotty Landry (Rudy Pankow). While in prison Kenna gave birth to a daughter, Diem, now being raised by Scotty’s parents, Grace (Lauren Graham) and Patrick (Bradley Whitford). Scotty’s best friend, Ledger (Tyriq Withers), also helps out. He now runs a bar that used to be the bookstore where Scotty and Kenna hung out (despite having no traces of being actual book lovers). Kenna lands a small job at the bar since Ledger doesn’t know who she is. Sure enough, he finds out and tries to keep this development a secret from the parents. Yet, Kenna and Ledger click and before long they kiss. Kenna, understandably, wants to see her daughter, which will be very difficult once Grace and Patrick learn about what’s going on.

It used to be that in a movie like this, the relationship between Kenna and Ledger would lead to some explosive high stakes. Maybe Scotty would emerge from a coma, leaving Kenna stuck between choices. “Reminders of Him” works that way in that you find yourself rewriting it while sitting in the theater. Hoover likes to take relatable issues and spin her yarns in very simple forms. The most famous adaptation of her work is “It Ends with Us,” now overshadowed by the public legal war that followed between star Blake Lively and director and co-star Justin Baldoni. Headlines aside, the story explored abusive relationships with a very brisk, mundane approach where just one speech in the hospital banishes the abusive husband and all is well again. Let’s not get into the grating dialogue (and there is plenty of that here, too). 

This movie is even more sluggish. Director Vanessa Caswill and the screenplay by Hoover and Lauren Levine never attempt to add anything truly intriguing to the characters. Ledger looks and walks like a paperback hero, buying flowers for Grace and Kenna on Mother’s Day, and uttering quiet one-liners after sex like, “will you tell me what happened that night?” Why he’s suddenly attracted intensely to Kenna isn’t quite clear aside from her simply being there. They don’t actually do much aside from sit around her empty apartment, or visit the luxurious dream house Ledger can somehow afford to build out in the woods. Grace and Patrick are surprisingly chill parents, except for one moment where Patrick does punch Ledger for sleeping with his son’s supposed killer. When we do find out what happened the night of the accident, we are left wondering why exactly Kenna is to be shunned. It did help her personal growth thanks to a fellow, older inmate who offers sage life advice during a prison flashback.

Caswill’s directing feels curiously detached, as if she doesn’t really believe in the material. Hoover couldn’t throw in a good chase or at least a stormy night where confessions unspool? “Reminders of Him” sleepily walks towards a stunningly bland conclusion where, once again, it just takes one comment or, in this case, the appearance of a pigeon, to make everyone get along. When Kenna finally talks to her daughter, the dialogue is so hokey even the easiest heart to tug will remain unmoved. “Reminders of Him” plays it so safe that it almost feels like an actual relationship, when the point of these movies tends to be watching attractive people get into the kind of trouble most of us will never get close to. For once, whatever text a viewer will be sending during the movie will prove spicier.

“Reminders of Him” releases March 13 in theaters nationwide.