"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Friday, April 12, 2019

Isn’t It Romantic? (2019, PG-13)

Seeing the trailers, my thoughts on this film went back and forth a little, but I was intrigued enough that, when a friend asked me if I wanted to go, I agreed.  While I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a slam dunk, it definitely exceeded my expectations, and I had a good time watching it.

Natalie will happily enumerate the many reasons she hates romantic comedies:  the unrealistic beauty standards, the way “getting a man” subsumes all of a female protagonist’s other life goals and magically solves all her problems, the token gay bestie with no life of his own, the cheesy shoehorned-in music scenes – on and on ad nauseum.  However, Natalie wakes up after a nasty bump on the head to find herself trapped in the world of a rom-com.  Working from the theory that she has to play out the scenario in order to escape it – i.e., get someone to fall in love with her – she braces herself for the inevitable schmaltziness but finds that this world isn’t altogether what she expects.

As indicated by the trailers, the film of course covers all the big tropes, such as ludicrous romantic gestures (I laughed so hard when Liam Hemsworth’s character Blake wrote the digits of his phone number onto individual rose petals and scattered them into Natalie’s hat,) Natalie suddenly having an enormous NYC apartment and a fabulous wardrobe, and a dramatic rush to stop a wedding.  It hits some more minor points too, like Natalie becoming “adorably clumsy” and her female friend at the office turning into a bitchy rival, and I liked the detail that Blake is American in the real world but has an Australian accent in the rom-com.  If it were me, I also would’ve played more with the idea that guys in rom-coms and their “sweet” gestures to “win the girl” are in actuality stalker-ish and creepy.

Because a large part of the point is commenting on tropes, it’s by design rather by-the-numbers.  Especially in the rom-com world, most of the characters are types rather than people, and most of the plot beats are incredibly familiar.  Still, its ultimate trajectory takes it in some interesting directions, and what Natalie really learns about love is a pivot from where the story initially seems to be heading.

Rebel Wilson is well-cast as Natalie.  She’s an actress that can be hit-or-miss for me, but I really enjoy her here.  She portrays Natalie’s exasperation with and sheer “are you kidding me?” reactions to the rom-com world well, and I like how she plays Natalie’s vulnerabilities.  Adam Devine is reliably-affable as Natalie’s best friend Josh, Liam Hemsworth is a lot of cheesy fun as the hunky Blake, and Priyanka Chopra is featured as well as an impossibly-perfect “other woman.”  I also like Brandon Scott Jones as gay bestie Donny – the film definitely comments on that trope by laying the stereotypes on thick, but it does provide a few real moments that bring the character out of trope territory.

Warnings

Light sexual content, brief violence, language, and drinking.

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