As I have said many times, romantic comedies are the one
genre of movie that I believe should be completely predictable and stick to
their prearranged layout: couple has meet-cute, they’re happy, some sort of
drama ensues, they split, then one of them has a large overly enthusiastic
demonstration of passion that causes the other to return, and they live happily
ever after. Now, I’ve always wanted one
of them to end with a woman being happy and single, but that’s just not part of
the trope.
Isn’t It Romantic revolves around Natalie, an architect
working in New York City. She’s living in a crappy apartment and struggling
with presenting her ideas to the new client at her firm while dealing with her
best friend who seems to be into her, an assistant who is addicted to rom-coms
(which she hates), and her neighbor across the hall who gets booty calls all
the time. After spending a full day
explaining to her assistant how crappy rom-coms are, and listing all the
stereotypical aspects of the movies, she gets mugged, hits her head, and wakes
up in a hospital in a fantasy rom-com version of her life.
She’s in a much bigger and better apartment, and the
neighbor is now her beyond-gay-stereotype best friend who is always down to
help out and do a makeover. The
neighborhood is now lovely and brightly colored with no trash anywhere, and at
the office, she and her assistant are now rivals – because in any rom-com, if
there is more than one woman working in an office, they are mortal
enemies. She is suddenly the most
desirable creature around, and the new client falls for her, determined to
sweep her off her feet. At first, she
attempts to fight against it, but realizing she is trapped, she decides to go
with it to get to the end of the story and get home. Two musical numbers, a surprise wedding, and
plenty of drama later, she gets a happy ending by realizing she is all she
needs.
I was not expecting anything from this movie, so I was
pleasantly surprised! It’s fun, it’s
fast, it’s silly, and very entertaining.
The cast seems to really enjoy everything they are doing. Director Todd Strauss-Schulson does a good
job of layering in plenty of tropes, but honestly I think they could have gone
even further with them. I almost wonder
what it would have been had it been directed by Adam Shankman – which would
have probably meant a few more musical numbers.
The cast was fantastic:
- Rebel Wilson stars as Natalie, and is best in roles like this – hapless, but also completely in control. She is bound and determined to master this sudden nonsense, and her delivery and performance is hilarious.
- Adam Devin plays Josh, her best friend, and the chemistry between he and Rebel is reason enough to see this. Also, another reason I wanted them to have several more musical numbers. They are fantastic together. I definitely needed outtakes and bloopers over the end credits, as I am sure they improv with one another a great deal.
- Liam Hemsworth plays Blake, the new client. He is the perfectly silly version of the ‘perfect guy’ from all the rom-coms.
- Priyanka Chopra plays Isabella, and put her years of Bollywood experience to great effect as the ‘perfect woman’ who suddenly shows up to woo Josh, making Natalie suddenly realize she is jealous and may have feelings for Josh.
- Betty Gilpin plays Whitney, Natalie’s assistant and friend.
- Brandon Scott Jones plays the neighbor Donny, who really steals all the scenes he is in.
- Jennifer Saunders has a brilliant cameo as Natalie’s mom, convincing her that rom-coms are trash, and life never works out that way.
Overall, the movie is charming, fun, silly, and plenty
entertaining. I expected nothing, and
was delighted by the result.
7 out of 10 – definitely worth a rental on a rainy
afternoon.
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