‘Reminders of Him’ Review: Maika Monroe Leads Colleen Hoover’s Latest Tearjerker

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Mar 11

Written By Jonathan P. Moustakas

A glossy, melodramatic romance built on grief and redemption that often strains credibility, even as its earnest performances try to hold the story together.

The cinematic universe of Colleen Hoover continues to expand, and with each new adaptation the formula becomes increasingly familiar. Attractive people confront devastating emotional circumstances, love blossoms amid tragedy, and audiences are invited to cry — a lot. With Reminders of Him, Hoover’s bestselling novel makes the leap to the big screen in a glossy romantic drama that clearly knows its audience and pursues it relentlessly.

Like previous Hoover adaptations, the film operates with the emotional intensity of a tearjerker engineered to squeeze every last ounce of feeling from its viewers. The result is a movie that alternates between genuinely heartfelt moments and scenes so contrived they risk pushing the story into unintentional comedy. It is the sort of melodrama that tries so insistently to move you that resistance becomes almost impossible, even when you find yourself rolling your eyes at the mechanics.

At the center of the story is Kenna Rowan, played by Maika Monroe. Monroe, often associated with horror roles, takes on a dramatically different register here, portraying a woman released from prison after serving time for a tragic accident that killed her boyfriend. Kenna returns to her Wyoming hometown of Laramie determined to rebuild her life and, more importantly, to meet the daughter she gave birth to while incarcerated.

That child, Diem, has been raised by the deceased boyfriend’s parents, Grace and Patrick, played by Lauren Graham and Bradley Whitford. Both characters blame Kenna for their son’s death and have no intention of allowing her back into the child’s life. Their grief fuels much of the film’s emotional tension, and the actors bring a grounded sincerity to roles that could easily have drifted into caricature.

Kenna’s search for redemption intersects with a new romantic possibility when she meets Ledger, a bar owner portrayed by Tyriq Withers. Ledger is compassionate, attentive and predictably handsome — the kind of character whose purpose is clear from the moment he appears. The complication, of course, is that he was the best friend of Kenna’s late boyfriend and remains closely connected to the family raising her daughter.

From that setup emerges a narrative built almost entirely on coincidence and emotional manipulation. Ledger hires Kenna to work at his bar while hiding their growing relationship from the grieving parents across the street. The secrecy leads to awkward encounters, near-discoveries and melodramatic close calls that feel engineered less for realism than for maximum emotional pressure.

Director Vanessa Caswill leans into the sentimental tone rather than resisting it. Scenes unfold with the polished aesthetic of prestige romance: scenic landscapes, warm lighting and swelling music cues designed to underline every emotional beat. A prominently featured use of the Yellow functions almost like a thematic mission statement for the movie — unabashedly earnest, emotionally direct and unapologetically sentimental.

At times the film’s storytelling becomes almost comically heavy-handed. Kenna writes letters in journals addressed to her deceased boyfriend, voiceover narration introduces the film only to disappear for long stretches, and the narrative is peppered with symbolic touches that feel less like organic details than attempts to manufacture tears. A rescued kitten, a dilapidated apartment building ironically named Paradise, and repeated scenes of longing glances all contribute to the sense that the film is pushing hard for emotional catharsis.

Yet the performances help keep the story from collapsing under the weight of its own sentimentality. Monroe delivers a vulnerable and committed performance that makes Kenna easy to root for even when the script stretches credibility. Withers brings warmth and charisma to Ledger, successfully conveying the internal conflict of a man caught between loyalty to the past and the possibility of a new future.

Graham and Whitford provide the film’s emotional anchor as grieving parents whose resentment masks a complicated mixture of sorrow and love. Graham, in particular, brings subtlety to the role, gradually revealing the depth of a mother’s pain as the story moves toward its inevitable emotional confrontation.

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The supporting cast includes country singer Lainey Wilson as Kenna’s supportive coworker, as well as young actor Zoe Kosovic as the impossibly adorable Diem. Their presence reinforces the film’s central theme of healing through connection, even when the narrative occasionally veers into sentimentality.

What ultimately defines Reminders of Him is its determination to make audiences feel something — anything — whether through grief, hope or sheer emotional exhaustion. The film may not achieve the dramatic depth it seems to aim for, and its reliance on coincidence and melodrama often strains credibility. But the earnestness of the performances and the sincerity of its themes ensure that viewers willing to surrender to its emotional pull may still find themselves wiping away a tear or two by the final act.

In other words, Reminders of Him is exactly the kind of movie you might mock while watching — right up until the moment it unexpectedly makes you cry.