Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman reunite for A Family Affair trailer
The two actors previously shared the screen in Lee Daniels' 2012 film, The Paperboy
2024 may be the year of the yearn on television, but in the world of straight-to-streaming movies, it’s specifically the year of legendary actresses yearning for younger entertainment industry hotties against the urging of their daughters. That may sound a little too on-the-nose to be true, but in the grand tradition of No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits, it’s the exact plot of two separate movies both releasing this year.
The first was The Idea Of You, which featured Anne Hathaway lusting over a Harry Styles knockoff played by Nicholas Galitzine. Now we also have Nicole Kidman chasing after a Zac Efron-esque teen heartthrob played by none other than Zac Efron himself in A Family Affair. That’s right, folks: the Efron-issance is truly upon us. Thank goodness.
A Family Affair follows a young assistant named Zara (Joey King), who discovers in the worst but also most obvious possible way that her narcissistic movie star boss, Chris (Efron), is having an affair with her single mother, Brooke (Kidman). Unlike Galitzine’s pop star with a heart of gold in The Idea Of You, Efron’s character seems like a genuine asshole. At one point, he asks a knocked-out Zara to name the movie he won a Teen Choice Award for to check that she’s okay. It’s pretty basic stuff, but after so many years without seeing him in a major role, and the following gut punch of his work in The Iron Claw, it’s so nice to see Efron having some good dumb fun again in things like this and Ricky Stanicky.
Kidman’s character’s motivations are somewhat less clear, apart from the typical “she’s your mom, but she might also be a woman” line, delivered with appropriate quote book panache by Kathy Bates as Brooke’s mom. (Fun easter egg: at one point, Zara chides Chris and Brooke that they’re “not Jack and Rose,” a reference of course to The Titanic, which Bates also starred in.)
Even though her character could probably do better, Kidman and Efron do have chemistry. They previously shared the screen in 2012's The Paperboy, during which Kidman’s character famously peed on Efron’s to cure him of a jellyfish sting. That kind of connection doesn’t just disappear, no matter how many years pass by.
A Family Affair premieres on Netflix June 28.