Joey King, Nicole Kidman, and Zac Efron play the three leads in “A Family Affair”, a somewhat romantic comedy from director Richard LaGravenese. Written by Carrie Solomon, this light and frothy Netflix Original follows some well-traveled rom-com routes while squeezing everything it can out of its star power. The results are a film that starts promising but loses itself in a haze of soapy silliness that gets harder to endure the more it lathers.

King plays Zara, a 24-year-old personal assistant to a petulant, high-maintenance Hollywood movie star named Chris Cole (Efron). Known for his lucrative superhero movie franchise “Icarus Rush”, Chris is a worldwide star. But no one sees (and endures) his spoiled side quite like Zara does. After humiliating her with another childish tirade, Zara finally reaches her breaking point and quits. She immediately seeks encouragement from her mother Brooke (Kidman) who worries about her daughter’s lack of direction.

As for Brooke, she’s a seasoned novelist who’s writing her first book since the death of her husband Charlie eleven years earlier. She sat aside her dreams to focus on raising Zara who was having her own set of struggles while coping with her father’s death. Now Brooke is finding it hard to pick back up doing what she once loved so much. And then she meets Chris for the first time and the movie takes a sharp downward turn.

It only takes a couple shots of tequila and about two minutes of screen time together before Brooke and Chris are in bed (and trust me, I’m not exaggerating). Zara walks in on them and the movie’s central conflict takes form. Zara doesn’t want them together, but they secretly start seeing each other. What could possibly go wrong? Well, as it turns out, a lot. And not just for the characters, but for we the audience also.

There are a number of problems that ultimately sink the movie. High on the list is that nothing about Chris and Brooke’s relationship feels organic. From their quick lusty hop into the sack to Chris’ sudden character transformation from insufferable man-child to adorable gentleman. It doesn’t help that their romantic angle follows the all too familiar blueprint. Tell me if you’ve seen this before: An unexpected romance springs up. Our two lovebirds are on top of the world until something happens and all seems lost. But love (as it always does) prevails in the end.

Making matters worse is the utter lack of romantic chemistry between Kidman and Efron. No matter how hard they try, there isn’t the slightest spark between them, making buying their characters as a couple nearly impossible. The woeful script doesn’t do them any favors, filling their mouths with corny dialogue and setting their story on the most predictable trajectory imaginable. Not even the always enjoyable Kathy Bates can keep this sadly unremarkable romantic comedy from flatlining. “A Family Affair” premieres this Friday on Netflix.

VERDICT – 2 STARS