Reminders of Him (2026)
For those who've spent the last few years in their Panic Rooms or homemade bomb shelters (or who've blocked out the perpetual bleat of pop culture) let us speak of author Colleen Hoover.
(Or as she's known by her legions of loyal readers...CoHo.)
CoHo's relentless output of overheated romantic melodramas (and her sales numbers) finally caught Hollywood's attention......much in the same way it devoted itself to adapting the heartfelt, slow burn redemptive romances of Nicholas Sparks. ("A Walk to Remember", "The Notebook").
And the CoHo movie machine revved up its engines, starting with 2024's domestic abuse hand-wringer "It Ends With Us" (a big hit for sure, but now notorious for the eternal toxic legal warfare between its star Blake Lively and co-star/director Justin Baldoni) In our 08/19/24 review, we noted how Lively and Baldoni delivered the drama well enough, even as the film suffered from overlength and painfully slow pacing.
Second one up was 2025's 'Regretting You', reviewed by us 11/13/25, a tangled middling soapy mess shot like a TV movie.....the kind of movie you could easily forget 10 minutes after you saw it. And the cast did little or nothing for it.
So now let us plunge into the latest CoHo Movie Show.......
Unlike Nicholas Sparks, who'd start his tearjerkers at a slow boil and gradually work his way up to those open-your-tear-ducts moments, CoHo hurls you directly into the tragedy, pain and fractured family dynamics of 'Reminders of Him'.
Recently released from a seven year prison stint for Vehicular Homicide, Kenna (horror movie scream queen Maika Monroe) heads back to her little Wyoming town put the pieces of her shattered life back together.
When out for a fun drive with her beloved fiance Scotty Landry(Rudy Pankow of "Outer Banks") she swerved to avoid hitting a large rock, crashing the car. Rudy's dead and nobody believes her story of staggering down the highway trying to flag down help.
Apparently saddled with the worst public defender in the Wyoming justice department, Kenna pleads guilty to.....vehicular homicide?? Really? Like she deliberately tried to kill him? With what proof? What motive? Anybody in Wyoming (or CoHo for that matter) ever hear of the phrase, 'manslaughter'?? Nobody wanted to look it up?
But we digress.....but there's more. While in prison, Kenna gives birth to her and Scotty's baby girl, who is promptly wrenched away from her and given over to the custody. Scotty parents Grace and Patrick (Lauren Graham, Bradley Whitford).
(This all sounds like CoHo's legal research came mostly out of Charles Dickens novels.....)
Kenna's aching to see her little daughter Diem now a toddler, but the Landrys, who fervently believe the 'homicide' part of Kenna's conviction, treat her like the devil incarnate come to snatch away their beloved granddaughter. They file a restraining order against Kenna and they're aided in blocking Kenna's access to Diem by their young handsome neighbor Ledger (Tyriq Withers), who's become a loving uncle figure to the little girl.
Ah, but guess who falls in love? Anybody want to guess Kenna and Ledger? Anybody? Anybody? Don't all raise your hands at once.....
So sorry, but anyone hoping for a good old fashioned guilty pleasure ugly cry won't get it from this movie. Outside of her comfort zone of horror, Maika Monroe appears lost, distracted and barely committed to the role. Lauren Graham does manage to work in a few emotional close-ups, but the rest of the cast just punches the clock (the exception of Down Syndrome actress Monika Myers as Monroe's feisty apartment complex neighbor)
If it's tears you hope to shed, the film won't come anywhere near that moment you want until its very final minutes.....that is, if you're still interested by that time.
Strictly for CoHo die-hards...and even they probably won't appreciate all the stuff left out of the book. A waste of time for everyone else. 2 stars (**).
(And maybe CoHo should read more John Grisham novels or watch more 'Law and Order' episodes for her legal background........)
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