Author Colleen Hoover’s book-to-film adaptations remain chaotic. Her first adaptation was praised by me, then spiraled into a pop-culture circus with legal battles that still haven’t been resolved.
Her next book-to-film, “Regretting You,” was in and out of theaters so quickly that when I went to look up tickets, it was already streaming. I did try to watch it at home, but the storyline of sisters who are actually in love with each other’s baby daddies was weird. It just was.
Then came “Reminders of Him.” I read this book. Cried over this book. Ran to the theater to see it. The film followed the book closely, which is always a win. Kenna (Maika Monroe) is released from prison after being the driver in a car accident that leaves her boyfriend, Scotty (Rudy Pankow), dead. She’s pregnant at the time. Not a spoiler. You get this from the trailer.
“Reminders of Him” film
Kenna returns to town, and her daughter is now living with her late boyfriend’s parents, Patrick (Bradley Whitford) and Grace (Lauren Graham), who blame her for the accident. The film gets to the pain points quickly. She’s an ex-con trying to get a job. Trying to secure a place to live. After a day of slammed doors and pitiful looks, she decides to go to the bookstore that she and Scotty had loved. The bookstore is now a bar. Good news(?) is that it’s owned by Scotty’s hot best friend, Ledger (Tyriq Withers), who had never met Kenna.
Instant attraction turns to a guilty friendship as Ledger learns who she is — both who he thought he knew her to be and who she really is as a person. In comes the epic quote from Ledger to Scotty’s parents, “You’ve taken the worst moment of her life and made it into who she is.”
The film’s genres are dark romance, drama, and tragedy. It is not a cute, happy love story but a thought-provoking tale of what it means to be a mother. In both Kenna, who lost the first five years with her daughter, and in Grace, who lost the rest of her life with her son.
Within just the first fifteen minutes, there are flashbacks of police officers with flashing red and blue lights outside Patrick and Grace’s house, then the parents identifying their son’s body at the morgue, and finally, Kenna handcuffed to a hospital bed while she gives birth.
Audience reactions
The audience enjoyed some comedic relief from Lady Diana (Monika Myers), who stole every scene she was in by calling Ledger a jerk in the most adorable way. More of her in movies, please. There was also a collective gasp during the first kiss.
There were mixed audience reactions to Ledger, with one movie-goer saying that “he should just let it be,” as opposed to his continually throwing himself in the middle between Kenna and Scotty’s parents.
A notable difference, to me having read the book, is that the movie omitted the book’s epilogue. Probably a good call to omit it; I personally found it controversial.
All in all, go for the drama with some love, but don’t expect a light outing.
Movie times: Click here
Genre: Dark Romance, Tragedy, Drama
Director: Vanessa Caswill
Actors: Maika Monroe, Bradley Whitford, Tyriq Withers
Running Time: 1 hour, 54 minutes
Rating: Rated PG-13 for sexual content, strong language, drug content, some violent content, and brief partial nudity.
