Image: Netflix
Rebel Wilson stumbles, flirts and sings her way through her own personal nightmare that is the romantic comedy genre. Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson, Isn’t It Romantic insists its not your quintessential rom-com, because hey, it’s self-aware of all the rules it intends to subvert.
There’s the casting of Rebel Wilson as Natalie. Her apartment is shabby, her pet is disobedient and she’s actually an accomplished architect, save for her low assertiveness that sees her relegated to many office admin duties. Any similarities to Pretty Woman are soon relinquished. Fellow Pitch Perfect almunae Adam Devine is Josh, the overlooked best friend who can’t convince Natalie of her worth while her pleasant but lazy female assistant Whitney (Betty Gilpin-Glow) unsuccessfully tries to convince Natalie to becoming more open to happy endings. “It’s because it’s not the end! ” Natalie retorts. “They stop it there because what happens next is like, really shit.” Strengthening her resolve, Natalie makes her way home on the dreary subway. After being mugged and suffering a concussion, Natalie awakens to find that her normal, medicore existence has completely changed.
New York is not grimy anymore, but filled with pastels and clean people who insist on complimenting her beauty and looking her in the eyes. Resident Australian heartthrob Liam Hemsworth is Blake, who Natalie quips is “CW Hot” is beguiled by her, and insists on following her around like some energetic puppy dog. His ocker accent and overt enthusiasm redeem him from his rich douchebag persona, but we sense that his charms are not entirely genuine. As refreshing as it was earlier to see two women co exist in a workplace without cutting down each other, it’s soon reverted back to the mortal enemies trope.
Topical Priyanka Chopra (who likely stepped out of her own wedding dress just before this was filmed) is smugly entertaining as the beauty who condescendingly falls for Josh. She’s blatantly better suited for Hemsworth’s Blake, yet the two socialites insist they are perfectly compatible with their lesser, more gauche counterparts.
Self-aware humour is the driving force behind the humour, and the second you catch yourself eye-rolling, it beats you to the joke. A young Natalie (akin to Danielle McDonald in Patti Cake$) fawns over Julia Roberts, but Jennifer Saunders is quick to manage her daughter’s expectations, quipping that “someone might marry you for a visa, but that’s about it.” More importantly than finding love, the central theme is about self-sabotage, and how under appreciation can cheat the protagonist of their own destiny. Cue the running to the chapel (in a very entertaining stop-start sequence as Natalie pants breathlessly), but her revelation that she must love herself first before committing to a paramour.
Before you cross this off as an anti-rom com (or a romp com), there is the staple happy ending, but it has enough jabs to keep you from groaning louder than the lead herself.
Verdict:7/10
Netflix Australia
About The Author
