Reese Witherspoon, who has recently focused her attention on melodramas like HBO’s adaptation of the Liane Moriarty novel Big Little Lies and Hulu’s adaptation of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, is returning to the romantic comedy format.
According to Variety, Witherspoon will star in two Netflix rom-coms produced by her Hello Sunshine company. Your Place or Mine is a film about “two long-distance best friends who change each other’s lives when one decides to pursue a lifelong dream and the other volunteers to keep an eye on the friend’s teenage son.” She’s also signed on for an adaptation of Sarah Haywood’s bestseller The Cactus, which “focuses on a woman’s unexpected pregnancy at 45 years old, causing her to rethink the structured life she has created for herself.”
Witherspoon told Deadline both films “blend everything we love about traditional rom-coms with strong, smart and determined female leads.”
This is a marriage that will work. Netflix has stepped up its rom-com production in the past few years, following the success of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Set It Up. And Reese Witherspoon is obviously familiar with the wholesome format. (See: Sweet Home Alabama, Just Like Heaven, Home Again). I can’t wait to swoon over characters whose confusing relationships take place outside of high school halls.