It is safe to say that romantic comedies have dropped a little by the wayside over the last decade. Gone are the days of the 90’s and early 00’s romcoms. Films like 50 First Dates, Clueless, Bridget Jones’ Diary and heaps more, depending on your preference of course. Since those days romcoms have barely gained my attention. There have been some good hits recently like The Big Sick, Bridesmaids, (500) Days of Summer and Forgetting Sarah Marshall but also enough misses to fill the most extravagant bouquet of roses.
Isn’t It Romantic is Netflix’s answer to the question of where romcoms are now. It’s premise alone tells you that perhaps there have been too many and that the world simply has run out of ideas and this is the last one. Isn’t It Romantic follows the story of Natalie (Rebel Wilson) who gets knocked out and wakes up with her life being turned into a romantic comedy. The world is filled with bright colours, flowers and dancing. New York, where she lives isn’t dirty and dangerous any more and she has a handsome man (her prince?) named Blake (Liam Hemsworth) trying to court her.
The difference that Isn’t It Romantic has is that its a spoof on itself, a romantic comedy. It’s
Romantic comedies in the past made fun of the two main characters and their love but Isn’t It Romantic changes it up enough to retain your interest for the whole duration of the film. Are there awkward moments that won’t make you laugh? Yeah there are, are most of the jokes spoiled by the trailer? Yeah, quite a few are but there are enough additional jokes to fill the film’s ninety-minute runtime.
Isn’t It Romantic is difficult to place as it changes up the formula for romantic comedies. It also doesn’t stick the landing completely as jokes fall flat and simple but that happens in every romantic comedy. Sometimes the film will use it’s set and overall production design to make a joke out of the scenario that Natalie is in. When that is mixed together with her attempting to figure out her relationship, or what is going on in her head, that is when the film works the best.
Isn’t It Romantic won’t be making any best romcom lists but it is a quality date night film if you’re looking for a detox from the usual darker content that Netflix makes with its films and TV shows. Sometimes I critique films a lot sometimes, romantic comedies are films I’ve always enjoyed and usually never critique but Isn’t It Romantic made me feel like critiquing it so I’ll leave you with that.