Isn’t It Romantic is a classic romantic comedy disguising itself as a movie about a woman who despises romantic comedies and then gets stuck in one. It’s original, uplifting and surprisingly funny.
Rebel Wilson stars as Natalie, a single woman who considers herself to be invisible and is blind to the immediately obvious fact that her best friend, Josh, is in love with her. This is very pleasing for Pitch Perfect fans as Josh is played by Adam DeVine who plays Rebel Wilson’s love interest, Bumper, in the all-singing, all-dancing chick flick.
Natalie is an architect but in the office she has taken on the role as office bitch. She takes orders from her equals and allows her assistant to watch movies all day. Liam Henderson plays a gorgeous jerk called Blake who snatches Natalie’s coffee from her hand and then orders her to make him one with less sugar. It’s no wonder that she despises romantic comedies which glorify a life that her mother once told her is not “for girls like you and me.”
When Natalie hits her head and wakes up in a world where she is the star of a romantic comedy, she eventually learns that her mother was wrong to tell her this when she was a child. The hospital she wakes up in is filled with hot doctors and she is loaned an outfit from lost and found which just so happens to be the iconic outfit Julia Roberts wore in Pretty Women. At first, she is skeptical and freaked out by the overly perfect world but she eventually embraces it and plays along with the storyline.
What is wonderful about Isn’t It Romantic is that it relentlessly mocks rom-com cliches in a lighthearted yet tasteful way, which is more creative and more brilliant than rom-com parodies Not Another Teen Movie and Date Movie. The satire is not at the expense of those who love romance, it is at the expense of the writers who think it is acceptable to write in a gay character whose entire existence revolves around giving the protagonist advice on her love life.
Overall, Netflix’s latest original feature is hilarious and adorable. Like the movie itself, watchers can kid themselves into thinking they don’t like romantic comedies while completely indulging in the perfect, uplifting rom-com.
4/5
