‘A FAMILY AFFAIR’ IS HAPPY AND HILARIOUS NETFLIX COMEDY

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Featuring stars spanning various years of popularity, which will appeal to generations of viewers, A Family Affair is entertaining and the script, surprisingly, hilarious.

A Family Affair (2024) Netflix Film Review

Working her butt off and hoping to be further along in her career than she is now, Zara Ford (Joey King) is tired of working for Hollywood’s hottest star. When she first started to work for him, he promised her a chance to produce yet she’s still bringing him the kiss-off gifts for his (now) ex-girlfriend and his whey powders. Chris Cole (Zac Efron) is having a crisis. He’s got another upcoming superhero film, and the script is awful. But he was paid a lot of money as he tells Zara, and so he has to do this.

Zara’s life goes from disastrous to terrible when she decides to quit her job (Chris just doesn’t get it) and somehow walking into her work is her mother Brooke (Nicole Kidman) who also causes complications.

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From a relatively new writer and a director who hasn’t directed for a bit, A Family Affair is, surprisingly, funny. Like anything in the genre or any film, it’s imperfect and has flaws, but mostly, it’s a good time. I think the cultural jokes are (mostly) funny and very fitting for our current culture. The script, which I think is fun, also plays with some realities of the actor’s lives, which is a meta trivia thing that only those who take an interest in pop culture news will probably catch.

The actors are all good. Joey King is always fun in what I see her in (it’s funny to be of an age where I saw her in Ramona and Beezus to now this adult character), and while I haven’t seen all of her roles, Nicole Kidman is always fine. It’s also going to be fun for viewers who grew up in the Disney era to see Zac Efron in an adult role. I like everyone and think the film plays up romanticism well and, even, at times with some heart.

Something that maybe won’t charm every potential viewer, I did like A Family Affair. It uses one of the currently popular tropes (based on recent films) that will either annoy or charm people. I think it tries to look a little deeper into the characters to create a genre film that we don’t often get. Some of the filming produces some really beautiful scenes, too. I’m not sure what the general audience reaction (from someone I follow on Instagram, there was loathing) will be, but I think this one is more entertaining than not.

You can stream A Family Affair exclusively on Netflix

Photos: Netflix / Roth/Kirschenbaum Films

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Content: we see a couple having sex (she’s nude on top with her hair mostly covering her), and someone finds them in this, shall we say, compromising position. She holds her ripped clothing up to cover her after this. Implications suggest they have sex again later (the scene cuts before they do anything beyond kiss). There’s some profanity including an f-word, bitch, sh*t. The film is PG-13.