Author Coleen Hoover adapted her 2022 novel for the screenplay of this romantic drama along with Lauren Levine, and is also credited as a producer and co-writer. Safe to say Hoover is heavily invested in it, and with 20 million books sold worldwide and her being beloved on BookTok, she clearly has a lot of fans eagerly awaiting this latest Hollywood adaptation of her work and will love it no matter what. Which is probably just as well because anyone who isn’t a fan of her whimsical love stories with dark and contrived twists will probably struggle to overcome the plot holes and cliches.
Scream queen Maika Monroe, previously seen in 2014’s The Guest and It Follows, 2019’s Villains and 2024’s Longlegs, takes a break from quivering with fear to blubber her way through Reminders of Him. She plays an ex-convict called Kenna Rowan, who served seven years in prison for the car crash that killed her boyfriend Scotty Landry (Rudy Pankow).
In a move that most would baulk at, she immediately returns to the scene of the crime when she is released, moving back to the town where his parents and friends live.
Despite the fact that Scotty’s ride or die Ledger Ward (played by Tyriq Withers, another horror veteran last seen in 2025’s Him) was his childhood friend, Kenna never met him when they were together. This sets the scene for him to fall for her before realising her true identity and part in his best friend’s death.
Just to complicate things further, Kenna and Scotty have a five-year-old daughter, Diem (Zoe Kosovic), who is shot mainly in soft filtered focus so that we know she is special. Seemingly, it is not a crime to give your child a ridiculous name, or Kenna would have found herself straight back in prison.
She is being raised by his parents, Grace (Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham) and Patrick (The West Wing’s Bradley Whitford), who want her to have nothing to do with Kenna. Ledger is also extremely attached to the tot to the extent he has broken off relationships because of the amount of time he spends with her.
You can probably guess where all this is heading – and you’d be right. As with most movies of this ilk, it is pretty predictable and addled with cliches.
Despite this is, the film does have a lot of charm and warmth if you can get past the plot holes, contrived scenes and often overwrought dialogue.
This may have benefited from having a screenwriter who wasn’t so attached to the text, but fans of the book will undoubtedly love it.
For everyone else, it probably won’t incline you to read the tome. It is somewhat schmaltzy but has some sweet moments, even if it overstays its welcome somewhat, at around 20 minutes too long with its 1 hour 54 running time.
Reminders of Him is in UK cinemas now.
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