#REVIEW: “REMINDERS OF HIM”

Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong

If you’ve ever seen a Colleen Hoover adaptation (Regretting You, It Ends With Us) or a Nichoals Sparks adaptation, you have a general idea what to expect. This is not to discredit the movies in any way, or the source material, but they’re typically focused on some form of heartbreak between a couple that ends tragically. It’s a genre that you need to enjoy truly to get some form of enjoyment out of any of them. If this is your thing, then Reminders of Him is going to hit you right in the feelings.

The Movie focuses on Kenna (Maika Monroe) as she is freshly-released from prison, on good behaviour. Trying to get back to ‘Paradise’ – the place her and her now deceased former love, Scotty (Rudy Pankow) used to dream about, wanting to visit, on the other side of town from where they lived. However, Paradise is hardly that – it’s a rundown motel, so presumably the ‘paradise’ they were referring to wasn’t the dingy motel where Kenna ends up living, with a kitten thrust upon her as she tries to find a job and get her life back on track. She wants to meet the daughter she never had the chance to meet, to hold, to be a part of her life. Scotty’s parents, Patrick and Grace (Bradley Whitford and Lauren Graham) however, do not want Kenna around, still blaming her for the death of Scotty (which is also what she went to prison for).

As she tries to navigate life, she goes to one of her’s and Scotty’s favourite spots, an old bookstore with phenomenal coffee, but since being incarcerated, the bookshop has closed and become a bar owned by Ledger (Tyriq Withers), Scotty’s best friend who Kenna never met. Upon realizing Ledger is *that* Ledger, Kenna tries to keep her distance, but something continues to draw them together – but as Ledger is heavily involved in the life of the daughter she never met, Diem (Zoe Kosovic), Kenna tries to prove that she is not the person everyone assumes she is, so she has a chance at being a mother to her daughter, and being involved in her life in some facet.

While the Movie relies on certain tropes to tugs heavily on heartstrings, it is the performances from the Cast here that immerse us into this world so effortlessly. Monroe who is front and center for the entire feature, continuously owns everything, focused on Kenna’s redemption story. Whether she ends up being in the wrong or not in Scotty’s death, she owns-up to the fact that it happened. She survived and just wants to be part of their daughter’s life. Her determination is admirable and her performance is engaging.  Withers who wants to always live in the gray and give Kenna the benefit of the doubt, is the middle man the Movie needs to balance the determination of both Monroe’s character. While melodramatic, the story feels balanced, thanks to this Ensemble’s performances, the Actors playing off one another so well.

Reminders of Him will leave you emotionally-drained and that is perfect if that’s what you’ve signed-up for.

Universal Pictures Canada release REMINDERS OF HIM in theatres on Friday, March 13, 2026,