Reese Witherspoon’s new rom-com “Your Place or Mine”, co-starring Ashton Kutcher, is on Netflix just in time for Valentine’s Day. Witherspoon, who won an Oscar in 2006 for “Walk the Line”, has been a TV staple lately with “The Morning Show”, “Big Little Lies” and “Little Fires Everywhere”, plus production work on “Where the Crawdads Sing”, “Making the Cut” and more through Hello Sunshine.
One of my favorite Witherspoon films is her first, 1991’s “The Man in the Moon”. What a knockout of a movie. Watched 1998’s “Pleasantville” for the first time about a year ago, which I liked for the most part. I enjoyed watching 2001’s “The Trumpet of the Swan” when I was young (she was one of the lead voices in this hidden gem animated feature). That same year she starred in fun “Legally Blonde”. I binged that and its solid ’03 sequel “Red, White & Blonde” two summers ago. Still waiting for news on No. 3!
When I started-out my film critic career, I remember seeing trailers for “Penelope” for a long time, wondering if and when it would ever be released. Witherspoon was great as lead voice Susan Murphy in DreamWorks’ entertaining 2009 “Monsters vs. Aliens” and “Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space” special.
Witherspoon was in the Best Supporting Actress conversation for her work in 2013’s “Mud” but really got back in the awards circle for her demanding performance in 2014’s “Wild”. (If not for Julianne Moore, who finally took him the Oscar for “Still Alice” on her fifth nomination, I think Witherspoon would’ve won gold again.)
In 2014 she also co-starred in “Inherent Vice” and produced “Gone Girl”, starring fellow Best Actress Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike. And Witherspoon headlined “The Good Lie”, which was promoted heavily until about a few weeks to go until its release, when WB held back on giving it a substantial, nationwide theatrical run.
2015’s “Hot Pursuit” was kind of a hot mess. 2018’s “A Wrinkle in Time” made much more money. Unfortunately 2019’s “Lucy in the Sky” (which Witherspoon produced) bombed, even though Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm gave legitimately good performances.
Positives for Witherspoon lately, besides her TV and producing contributions: voicing Rosita in “Sing” and “Sing 2” and 2017’s “Home Again”, which I’ve appreciated more in the five years since I saw it.
And I’ve recently been binging “Friends”. She was terrific in first collab with “Morning Show” pal Jennifer Aniston as Rachel’s sister Jill.