Mainstream movie romances have set requirements.
Predictability. Comfort. No character’s edge can be too unforgiving, even if it seems like it on the surface.
“Reminders of Him” follows that format to a T. The film, based on Colleen Hoover’s bestseller and co-written by the novelist, understands the assignment perfectly.
The wild card? Star Maika Monroe’s face, an instrument capable of endless shades of pain, discomfort and, eventually, joy. Her performance turns even mediocre scenes into consequential turns.
And her on-screen partner, played by Tyriq Withers, holds her own while anchoring the film’s masculine component. (He even uses nail polish after a youngster playfully paints his fingernails)
Kenna (Monroe) moves back to her late lover’s hometown of Paradise, Wyoming. She’s fresh out of jail after a seven-year sentence.
Why?
She was driving her beau Scotty (Rudy Pankow) home when their car crashed, injuring her and killing him. And she had drugs in her system and left the scene of the crime while he was still alive.
Now, she wants to rebuild her life and, far more importantly, see the daughter she gave birth to in prison for the first time.
Good luck. Scotty’s parents (Lauren Graham, Bradley Whitford) adopted young Diem (Zoe Kosivic) and want nothing to do with Kenna. They haven’t even told the five-year-old about her, beyond a silly lie about her needing a bigger car to visit.
Fate brings Kenna into a bar run by Ledger (Withers), a former Denver Broncos player. Ledger was Scotty’s best friend, but he never got to meet Kenna due to his busy NFL schedule.
When the two meet early in the film, sparks fly (and then some). Ledger’s ties to Scotty run deep. He took on a sizable role in young Diem’s life, serving as a father figure of sorts while Mom served her prison sentence.
See where this is going? We all do, and that’s understandable. We need to watch the story pieces fall into place and feel some emotional pull in the process.
That’s more or less what happens.
Monroe is best known for turns in strong horror entries like “It Follows” and “Longlegs.” Here, she’s doing the opposite of what Claire Danes might attempt, at least if you’ve seen the latter in Netflix’s new series “The Beast in Me.”
Monroe makes the quiet creative choice in every scene, expressing pain in small gestures and facial movements. Sure, she’s movie-star beautiful, but the pain etched in her performance is profound.
Director Vanessa Caswill keeps the mood civil, albeit heartbreaking, with only two jarring exceptions. One is a bizarre, post-coital exchange that could have been black humor on steroids, but it stops the movie cold. The film’s third act reveals are unnecessarily tidy, but the cast handles the rough spots as well as could be expected.
Still, Caswill’s light touch is mirrored by the leads, who understand the story’s heft and refuse to double down on sticky sentiment.
Other gentle touches are more than welcome, like a crisp supporting turn from Monika Myers as a fellow motel dweller. A running gag about a “freakin’ pigeon” is cute at first but overstays its welcome.
It’s hard to escape a formulaic romance without a dash of cringe.
That “Reminders of Him” steers mostly clear of those speed bumps, and delivers the heart-tugging moments so well, it means the film missed its Valentine’s Day release date by a month.
HiT or Miss: “Reminders of Him” makes a few tonal mistakes but otherwise delivers the kind of romantic pairing that’s tailor made for the big screen.