Film Review: Isn't It Romantic

Sexuality/Nudity Mature
Violence Acceptable
Vulgarity Mature
Anti-Catholic Philosophy Mature

I am a sucker for a good romantic comedy.  I'm one of those people that can get invested in the "meet cute," in the "will they/won't they" of it all until the final declaration of love.  When it is done right, these types of movies can give no small amount of joy.  But that's just me.  There are those who hate the entire sub-genre of romantic comedy with all of its silly tropes.

The new Rebel Wilson vehicle Isn't It Romantic plays like a parody of the genre, but the mockery comes from a place of love.

The movie is about Wilson's Natalie, an up-and-coming architect in a New York film.  She cannot stand rom-coms because of all of the stereotypes and cliche's found throughout.  But most of all, she hates that it gives unrealistic expectations about romantic love.  She vents to her assistant Whitney (Betty Gilpin) and her friend Josh (Adam Devine) all of her frustrations about work and love.  Then on the way home, Natalie is mugged and she ends up knocking herself out.  When she awakes, she finds herself inside of a Rom Com movie.  As Natalie puts it, "it's like they put a beauty filter on New York."  Her apartment is unrealistically large, her workplace is bright and open, musical numbers break out constantly, and the like.  Also in this world, the hunky Blake (Liam Hemsworth) falls madly for Natalie and tries to sweep her off her feet.  Throughout the movie, Natalie moves from trying to escape to embracing the genre and then finally to breaking through.

Like most films in the genre, the tone is light and inconsequential.  Director Todd Straus-Schulson makes such a colorful contrast between our world and the rom-com world.  Here the artificality of the world only enhances the spell rather than acting as a distraction.  Writers Erin Cardillo, Dana Fox, and Katie Siberman know their rom com tropes and play them out to maximum effect.  If you hate the genre you can enjoy the parody of it.  But if you love the genre, you can still follow the rom-com story structure that we find in Natalie's journey.  It helps that the movie gives Natalie some fairly good zingers.  My favorite was when she looked around her rom-com world and said, "This is like the Matrix for women."

Wilson is funny as Natalie.  She carries the film and makes her flawed but likeable.  She has good comedic timing and does the physical comedy bits well.  Her chemistry with Devine, something they have developed over three movies together, gives the film its central through-line.  Devine comes off as likeably doofy, but dotting on Wilson's character.  Gilpin does a nice double turn as Whitney.  In our world she is mousy and love-lorn.  In the rom-com, she is a cold queen bee.  Gilpin is able to land her jokes with skill by playing up the emotional reaction on her face.  I laughed out loud as her character was trying to describe how rom-coms lift her spirits.  Her expressions were so goofy, yet understandable.  Hemsworth is there only to be eye-candy, but he shows a good deal of charm.  Priyanka Chopra plays Natalie's romantic rival, and she plays the part with as much energy as this intentionally one-dimensional character can be played.  Brandon Scott Jones does a fairly funny turn as Natalie's gay best friend who embodies every Hollywood stereotype that can be imagined.

The movie doesn't get into too much moral depth.  Natalie tries to sleep with Blake but because she is in a "PG-13" world, she never gets the chance.  We never get the characters learning about the immorality of illicit sex.  But we explore the familiar trope of finding true love not in physical beauty but in deep care and friendship.

Isn't It Romantic is a diverting time at the theater whether you romantic comedies are something you love or something you hate.

image by Yasir72.multan