Someone Like You (2024) Parent Guide

Hopelessly in love with London Quinn (Sarah Fisher), Dawson Gage (Jake Allyn) has resigned himself to life in the friendzone. He’s established a career as an architect, built a lake house, and made himself part of London’s family. Just when it looks like London might be able to see him as something more, tragedy strikes and his hopes die with her.

Reeling from shock, London’s grieving parents, Louise and Larry (Lynn Collins and Scott Reeves), tell Dawson something they never told London: she was conceived through in vitro fertilization and there was an extra embryo. Unable to use it due to Louise’s medical problems, the Quinns donated the embryo. It’s possible that London has a biological sibling.

The news galvanizes Dawson into action. Convincing himself that London would have wanted her sibling to know her, he disregards all issues of privacy and confidentiality and launches a surprisingly effective search.

Andi Allen (also Sarah Fisher with darker hair) is loving her life, having just become engaged and started her dream job as a zookeeper. Completely unaware of the circumstances around her conception, Andi is shattered when Dawson erupts into her life. Furious with her parents for what she sees as a lifetime of deceit, she storms out of the house, determined to find her genetic family and rediscover her sense of self.

None of these details qualify as spoilers – you can find most of them in the trailer. This is a mistake on the part of the film’s distributor, since if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve pretty much seen the film. This is a two-hour long movie in which very little happens, none of which will surprise any viewer over the age of twelve.

Not only is the movie predictable, but the central romance between Dawson and Andi struggles with a lack of chemistry, and some unintentional creepiness. (The whole going from one sister to another plotline gives me the heebie-jeebies but your mileage may differ.) Into that emotional void comes the freighted issue of embryo donation. Louise is both heartsick that she didn’t have the chance to give birth to Andi and grateful that another woman was able to give her life. Andi grapples with who her “real parents” are. And Andi’s lifelong family fear losing their daughter to her genetic relatives. Given the limp romance, it’s a good thing there’s plenty to chew on with this complex issue – the emotional/ethical dimensions of embryo donation provide the only plot tension.

Thankfully, this “Christian-light” movie is also devoid of negative content. There’s an off-screen death and a bit of kissing but that’s it. You can watch this movie with anyone – your mother-in-law, your pastor, your 13-year-old – provided they don’t object to occasional moments of preachiness. On the bright side, there are frequent scenes of people earnestly trying to live their religion and behave with kindness, compassion, generosity, and selflessness. That’s a lot to like, even if I can’t love the film.