The daughter of noted filmmaker Nancy Meyers, Hallie Meyers-Shyer creates her directorial debut with 2017’s Home Again. As she turns 40, Alice Kinney (Reese Witherspoon) finds herself in a period of upheaval.

Recently separated from her husband Austen (Michael Sheen), Alice moves to Los Angeles with her kids Isabel (Lola Flanery) and Rosie (Eden Grace Redfield). Alice also attempts to launch her own interior design business.

While she copes with all this change, Alice meets Harry (Pico Alexander), George (Joe Rudnitsky) and Teddy (Nat Wolff), three young men who hope to make movies. This begins an improbable situation in which the guys move into Alice’s roomy house and all involved deal with various life challenges.

With Home Again, we see the filmmaking apple fell awfully close to the tree. If Meyers-Shyer wanted to make a name for herself independent from her mother, she chose exactly the wrong project.

That’s because Meyers-Shyer does literally nothing to differentiate Home Again from her mother’s work. Indeed, the film follows the Nancy Meyers template to the letter.

That means lots of privileged people who deal with their problems in their lives. Look, I won’t be so cynical to claim that the wealthy don’t suffer from anxieties and stresses like the rest of us, but they can seem less sympathetic.

That turns into the case with Home Again, as it becomes tough to feel too sorry for Alice. Despite Witherspoon’s usual “girl next door” charm, Alice comes across as such a pampered princess that it feels difficult to embrace her or invest in her journey.

It doesn’t help that Meyers-Shyer treats all the characters in the same trite sitcom manner her mother embraces. Not a single role feels real – from the slightly quirky but charming filmmakers to Alice’s precocious daughters to… well, everyone, the participants never seem remotely human or realistic. They all live in “Meyers World”, so they present movie characters without a smidgen of real humanity.

Home Again can also feel like a vanity project for Witherspoon. Sure, she looks great, but the notion that handsome 20-somethings would flip for her seems like a stretch. It all feels oriented as a boost for Witherspoon’s ego.

Maybe Meyers-Shyer will eventually escape her mother’s shadow, but Home Again shows no signs of such potential. The film comes across as a carbon copy of her mom’s work and creates a completely forgettable stab at romantic comedy.

Home Again appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1,85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a satisfactory presentation.

Overall sharpness seemed solid. A couple of wide shots looked a smidgen soft, but those were the exception to the rule, as the majority of the flick was accurate and detailed.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I noticed no edge haloes. Source flaws were absent, as the movie looked consistently clean.

Like most films of this sort, Home Again gave us an amber-tinted palette. Some teal appeared as well, but the golden feel dominated. Within those parameters, the hues were positive.

Blacks seemed deep and dark, while shadows showed good smoothness and clarity. I felt happy with the transfer.

As for the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Home Again, it lacked a ton of ambition. The soundfield focused on music and ambience, though it opened up on occasion, mainly in terms of bar or restaurant atmosphere. Nothing especially memorable occurred, though.

Audio quality was fine. Speech seemed natural and concise, without edginess or other issues. Music offered good clarity and range, and effects worked well enough. They didn’t have much to do, but they appeared reasonably accurate. All of this ended up as a perfectly satisfactory soundtrack for this sort of movie.

In terms of extras, we get an audio commentary from writer/director Hallie Meyers-Shyer and producer Nancy Meyers. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story and characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, production design, influences and music.

We get a perfectly adequate commentary here. Meyers-Shyer and Meyers cover the appropriate aspects of the production and do so in a reasonably efficient manner.

However, the track never becomes better than average, as it lacks a lot of depth. We learn the basics and that’s about it.

The disc opens with ads for I Do… Until I Don’t, Brad’s Status and Mothers’s Day. No trailer for Home appears here.

A second disc provides a DVD copy of Home Again. It also includes the audio commentary.

Nancy Meyers made her career with trite romantic comedies about privileged people, and her daughter Hallie decided to emulate her mom. Home Again presents a bland, cliché experience with nothing to charm or entertain. The Blu-ray offers very good picture along with adequate supplements and a decent audio commentary. Even with some talented actors involved, Home Again flops.