Alice’s (Reese Witherspoon) life is in a bit of a rut, and she wants to make a fresh start. Five months earlier, Alice separated from music producer husband Austen (Michael Sheen), and has now moved from New York City back to Los Angeles, into the home that formerly belonged to her father, Oscar-winning filmmaker John Kinney. While taking care of her two daughters, Alice is also trying to launch a new career as an interior decorator. However, her first client, Zoey (Lake Bell), treats her more like a lowly assistant rather than a design professional. Meanwhile, across town, a trio of 20-something filmmakers—director Harry (Pico Alexander), writer George (Jon Rudnitsky) and actor Teddy (Nat Wolff)—have also just moved to L.A., in hopes of taking their award-winning short film to the next level. However, they have just been evicted from their motel, and are quickly discovering that in order to succeed they may need to make some compromises when it comes to their art.

One evening, Alice is out having a 40th birthday dinner with her girlfriends when they cross paths with the young men at the bar. Harry is immediately smitten with Alice, and he starts hitting on her. Alice is surprised to be getting attention from this much younger man—she wasn’t really looking to rejoin the dating pool just yet, but appreciates the attention. The guys join the women for a fun night of drinking and dancing, and end up back at Alice’s house. The next morning, Alice snaps back into mom mode, cleaning up the house and trying to get everyone to leave before her daughters get home. The guys, being film fanatics, are excited when they discover who Alice’s father was—they are huge fans of his films. So when Alice’s mother Lillian (Candice Bergen) stops by to drop off the children, the guys are starstruck. Lillian was the leading lady in all of John Kinney’s films in the 1970s. The start showering the former starlet with compliments and questions. Lillian is enjoying all of the gushing and and attention, and spends the day with the guys, offering up the guest house for them to stay in while they try to get their movie made.

The guys quickly become a part of the family, assisting Alice with the children, and helping her get her career back on track. Henry is eager to re-kindle a relationship with Alice after their failed one-night-stand, but she wonders if he’s still too young, inexperienced, and not responsible enough. Meanwhile, Greg also seems to have a crush on Alice. And things get even more complicated when Alice’s ex arrives with his bags, hoping to patch things up with their relationship.

Home Again is a delightful, heartwarming comedy-drama. The film is more character-based than plot-based, exploring how this makeshift family comes together and supports one another as they all are trying to move on to the next phase of their lives. There is no hate in any of these characters—even between the separated couple—they all genuinely care about one another and want to help one another become better people. Just days earlier, Alice didn’t even know any of the guys, but now they have become an integral part of her life and the lives of her girls, changing them for the better. They fill a missing void she wasn’t even aware was there. Alice must now decide what it is she wants in life. Does she go the risky, unknown path with her hot, young new suitor, or does she take the easy route and just go back to what was known and comfortable? Or, perhaps there’s a third option? They guys also have a really interesting, supportive relationship with one another. This is a group of longtime friends who really care about one another—they all have this shared dream, and none of them want to do anything that would hurt the others.

While there is this dramatic story and love triangle at the core of the film, Home Again is also filled with a lot of laughs, derived from witty dialogue, situational humor, and also some physical comedy. The scenes with Candace Bergen had me laughing out loud—it’s been decades since Murphy Brown, but she hasn’t lost her comedic timing! It was also great to see Reese Witherspoon back in a comedic role—whether it was in the way she delivers her lines, or in her facial expressions, her formance constantly brought a smile to my face, and the scenes between Lake Bell and Reese Witherspoon are particularly funny. The male actors are also quite talented. Pico Alexander is charming as Harry, and you can easily see why Alice is drawn to him. There is this really fun, awkward scene between Alice and Henry the morning after their failed one-night-stand. Jon Rudnitsky, who is probably best known for is work on SNL, shows that he can do more than just comedy as George, the most serious of the three guys. George provides an almost fatherly, supportive role to Alice’s older daughter, mentoring her in her desire to become a writer. And Nat Wolf, probably the most experienced actor of the three men, is also quite entertaining as Teddy.

The film’s Blu-ray presentation is pretty solid. The picture is clean and detailed, without a lot of grain, except in some of the flashback scenes during the opening of the film, but that is likely intentional). The colors are bright and vivid, and the picture is quite beautiful overall. There is a notable increase in clarity when comparing the DVD and Blu-ray discs. The film is more dialogue-driven, so there aren’t a whole lot of notable moments in the audio track, but the dialogue is clear and the film’s score and soundtrack souns excellent. The only bonus feature included is a feature commentary by mother/daughter team, producer Nancy Meyers and writer/director Hallie Meyers-Shyer. This can be found on both the DVD and the Blu-ray. The two discs come packed in a standard Blu-ray keep case along with a slipcover. The case also contains a code redeemable for an HD digital copy of the film.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:37:15)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish DTS Digital Surround 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

DVD:

• 480p / Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
• Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
• Closed-Captioned

Digital HD (for redemption deadline, see NBCUcodes.com):

• Digital Copy
  The included Digital copy redeems in HD. It makes use of a new redemption site, which redirects to Movies Anywhere, which ports the digital copy to linked services like iTunes, Google Play and Vudu. Unfortunately, redeeming directly in iTunes in not an option, which means that this digital copy won’t qualify for a free 4K upgrade in iTunes should it become available in the future. We suggest redeeming directly in Vudu, which would unlock the film in both Movies Anywhere and UltraViolet.

Extras:

• Feature Commentary with writer/director Hallie Meyers-Shyer and producer Nancy Meyers (1:37:15)
  The mother-daughter team provides a fun, entertaining commentary throughout the film. They talk about casting the film, and provide a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes stories about the cast and production.

Final Thoughts:

Home Again is a delightful romantic comedy/drama with a solid ensemble cast. Reese Witherspoon and Candace Bergen are hilarious and are joined by a trio of talented young men. There are plenty of laughs as the film explores the unique family-like relationship between all of these multi-faceted characters. Universal’s Blu-ray presentation is pretty solid, but the only bonus feature is an audio commentary by the writer/director and producer. The release comes recommended based on the quality of the film and performances.