“Reminders of Him” Reminded Me Why I Love Cinema

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SATIRE

After the overflowing sound of praise for Justin Baldoni’s “It Ends With Us” 2024 and Josh Boone’s “Regretting You” 2025, I should have known I would yet again be blown away by another Colleen Hoover book turning into a movie. 

Like the world renowned “Don’t Worry Darling” actor Harry Styles once said, "My favorite thing about the movie is, like, it feels like a movie. It feels like a real, like, you know, go-to-the-theater-film movie."

“Reminders of Him” feels like the quintessential movie you would go to the theater to see, but it also differs from the quote from Styles. What I liked about the Colleen Hoover movie was that it felt like a one hour and 55 minute trailer.  You know the giddy feeling you get when you decide to read a 100,000 word fanfiction all in one night, so you skip all the paragraphs with descriptions and only read the dialogue? I got the same feeling when watching this movie.

The scenes in the trailer were exactly the same as in the actual film. The editing didn’t change. “The Night We Met” by Lord Huron was still blasting in the background of the real scene and wasn’t just a choice for the trailer. It all felt familiar, like when you listen to a new song Spotify recommended, and you suddenly hear the 15 second clip of the song that went viral on TikTok.

The film follows the story of a woman named Kenna, played by Maika Monroe, who is behind the wheel when she gets in a car accident with her boyfriend Scotty. Scotty dies because of Kenna’s alleged negligence. Kenna pleads guilty and later finds out she was pregnant with Scotty’s child. She gives birth while serving her sentence in prison, and the child is immediately taken from her to live with Scotty’s parents.

We, as the viewers, receive this information through Kenna’s flashbacks. One scene is a memory from the day of the accident which also happened to be Scotty’s birthday. Kenna and Scotty had dinner with his parents before going off by themselves.

I liked how the scene with the parents really replicates what it is like to think back to a memory. The jump cuts every three seconds and the random zoomed-in shots did a great job conveying how memories can be unclear or spotty. There’s no need to linger on a shot for too long and give room to connect with the characters. Who needs that? The characters themselves are closed off. We don’t need to relate to them.

The main premise of the movie is what happens after Kenna is released from prison and she wants to have a relationship with her daughter, while everyone in the family or close to them hates her. Then, the plot goes in a direction no one would ever expect. Scotty’s best friend, Ledger, played by Tyriq Withers, falls in love with Kenna.

The chemistry between Withers and Monroe was sizzling. It was really charming how it felt like I was watching a high school play when I watched the two actors showcase their characters falling in love. The love Ledger has for Kenna is clear as day with the way Withers dons a negative facial expression of skepticism while watching Monroe’s character from afar. 

And the tension they had? Off the charts. There would be brief pauses before an action occurred, where you could see Monroe maneuvering herself to look like Withers pins her against a wall in her apartment. That moment made me blush.

Another thing I can compliment the movie for is not making Lauren Graham work too hard. She played Scotty’s mother and for most of the movie, she just has a concerned expression and runs away with the child if Kenna is nearby. The director of the movie must have seen Lauren Graham and said, “Oh, hey. That’s the woman who played Lorelai Gilmore. Let’s give her a break and not have her act for once. She’s done enough.” How considerate.

There’s no doubt the actors in this film gave it their all in their performances. You could tell they really wanted to take part in this film.

In fact, in a recent press interview with The Trauma Romantic, Withers, who was previously in the horror movie “Him,” said that he accepted the role in the Colleen Hoover movie because it reminded him of “Him.” 

“You know, because both characters are football players. And I played college football. So in a way, ‘Reminders of Him’ and ‘Him’ also remind me of me,” Withers said.

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Overall, I had a great time watching the movie. The acting was top-tier. The plot was realistic and very original. The editing kept you immersed in the movie with all the random cuts. My only suggestion would have been to shoot the movie vertically so I could watch all the parts on TikTok.