The Best You Can (2025), the delightful romantic comedy reuniting real-life couple Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick on screen for the first time in over 20 years, has emerged as a cozy holiday streaming hit on Netflix, offering a sharp, touching exploration of change, loneliness, and unexpected bonds in midlife.
Directed and written by Michael J. Weithorn (The King of Queens), the film follows Cynthia Rand (Sedgwick), a buttoned-up New York urologist married to an older, brilliant professor (Judd Hirsch) showing signs of dementia, whose orderly world is upended when security guard Stan Olszewski (Bacon) foils an attempted break-in at her home. What starts as a quirky meet-cute — Stan needing to use her bathroom due to a medical issue — blossoms into a charged friendship via late-night texts, evolving into something deeper as both navigate personal crises.
Bacon plays Stan as a chronically underachieving but sharp everyman drifting through life, desperate to reconnect with his alienated daughter Sammi (Brittany O’Grady). Sedgwick’s Cynthia grapples with her husband’s decline and feelings of invisibility, finding solace in Stan’s unpretentious charm. Their chemistry — effortless and electric after decades of marriage — is the film’s greatest strength, turning a simple premise into a laugh-out-loud yet poignant look at finding connection in unexpected places.
Supporting players elevate the material: Hirsch brings gravitas and humor to the fading professor, O’Grady adds youthful edge as Stan’s aspiring singer daughter, while cameos from Ray Romano and others provide comic relief. The script balances screwball banter with tender moments, addressing aging, health scares, and reinvention without sentimentality.
Premiering at the 2025 Tribeca Festival before its Netflix Christmas Day drop, The Best You Can has charmed audiences seeking light but meaningful fare. Reviews highlight its “comfortingly sweet” ending and the leads’ natural ease, earning praise as a “smart relationship comedy” that feels relatable for boomers and beyond.
In an era of high-stakes blockbusters, this low-key gem reminds us that sometimes the best stories are the quiet ones — about ordinary people doing the best they can. With Bacon and Sedgwick’s undeniable magic, it’s a reunion worth celebrating.
