By: Courtney Thatcher
Valentine’s Day received a romantic comedy it wasn’t ready for when “Isn’t It Romantic” hit the big screen. Iconic duo Rebel Wilson and Adam DeVine are joined by Liam Hemsworth and Brandon Scott Jones in a comedy directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson that takes place in New York City.
According to Metacritic, “architect Natalie [Wilson] works hard to get noticed at her job but is more likely to be asked to deliver coffee and bagels than to design the city’s next skyscraper.”
On top of going unnoticed at work, Natalie is skeptical when it comes to finding love. She is oblivious of Josh (DeVine) and his love as well as others and their love for her. As if her luck couldn’t get any worse, Natalie encounters a mugger who knocks her unconscious. She awakes only to find that she is now living her worst nightmare. Natalie is now the leading lady of her own romantic comedy. She goes through a PG-13 censored journey of self-discovery, self-love and acceptance to try and get back to her old life.
Ratings for “Isn’t It Romantic” were relatively high in numbers. Rotten Tomatoes gave the feature film a rating of 69 percent from 148 reviews on their ‘Tomatometer,’ but it received an ‘Audience Score’ of 50 percent from 2,001 users. IMDb gave a similar score of 6 out of 10 stars from 33,956 votes. Both followed by Metacritic’s ‘Metascore’ of 60 out of 100 and a ‘User Score’ of 5.7 out of 10.
Reviews were praising with remarks from movie critics like Katie Walsh from the Los Angeles Times. “Isn’t It Romantic walks the line between subversive and sendup. It gleefully makes fun of the well-known tropes of romantic comedies, while also satisfying our desire to delight in said tropes,” said Walsh.
Ever-present Peter Travers, from Rolling Stone, had less than positive feedback for the film. “Thanks to the comic tornado at its center, Isn’t It Romantic is still your best bet for a Valentine’s date at the movies. You could do worse,” said Travers
“Isn’t It Romantic” started off as any Rebel Wilson comedy would; plenty of jokes, humor and sarcasm mixed into a feisty taste of reality. The further the movie progressed the better things seemed to get with the humor. Things such as censored expletives, bypassed sex scenes, and cheesy flirting tied the rom-com hatred Wilson was meant to portray in the film into a cliché manner. The reality behind the comedy was what made the film fantastic. Seeing what we all want out of life and getting reality thrown at us that it doesn’t always work like that, sends an unwanted healthy message to the audience. The self-confidence/self-love message wrapped into the happy ending was another bonus to the movie, letting women (as well as men) know that the only love that should truly matter is your own.
The humor and realistic message were not enough to salvage the poor ending that left much to be desired. The whole film is a journey of Wilson’s character trying to get back to reality, having unexpected and most unwelcomed obstacles end up in her way, but the end was a letdown to all of the expectations that were built up throughout the film. The end dance scene seemed to be a way of making up for the lack of originality and contentment that the audience should have felt but didn’t. The most unsatisfying thing wasn’t the romance or the powerful self-love message, but the down-played scene of her taking control of her work situation and doing the things she loves. The whole point of the movie was self-confidence and that message seemed to be muddled at the end for the more typical ending of romance.
Overall, “Isn’t It Romantic” had the comedy that was expected, an empowering message and a some-what satisfying conclusion making the film a success. I enjoyed the film through the small disappointments and would recommend it for a date night or girls’ night.
Sources:
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/isnt_it_romantic_2019
