‘A Family Affair’ Review: There’s Nothing Funny About Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman’s Funny Business

Joey King costars in a Netflix romantic comedy where everything is rich but the humor

Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron in A Family Affair Netflix
Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron in "A Family Affair" (Credit: Netflix)

There is a long-standing tradition in films about people who make films, where the fake films are designed to look as fake as possible. Phony flicks like “Metalstorm,” the sci-fi cowboy action spectacular in “The Fall Guy,” and the cheesy “Jack Slater” movies in the Arnold Schwarzenegger meta-comedy “Last Action Hero” have the power to make the real movie we’re watching look a little better by comparison. Or at least more plausible.

So when it’s revealed in the new Netflix rom-com that movie star Chris Cole (Zac Efron) — who has just started dating the mother of his personal assistant (Joey King) — once acted in a film called “Beneath the Sea,” about invisible zombies that turn your brains into kelp, it’s a bad sign that it sounds much more entertaining that the movie right in front of us.

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