The 2019 hit “Isn’t It Romantic” crosses all spectra of romantic comedies. Rebel Wilson and Adam DeVine give you a feeling of nostalgia with all the standard cliches most have seen for since the dawning of romantic comedies.
Todd Strauss-Schulson put his best foot forward on this film, it gives you all the things you associate with a romantic comedy. The basic stereotyped characters such as the competitive women in the workplace, shallow men who live in their perfect little bubble, and the flamboyant gay best friend are all used to make points about clichéd characterizations in other movies.
Wilson’s character Natalie is a New York architect that is convinced that happy endings don’t exist and romantic comedies are all a lie, which causes her to have little to no love in her life. Day-to-day living is what Natalie is accustomed to and trying to make a name for herself at the architect firm.
DeVine’s character Josh is a project manager for the same architectural company. He is a fun loving free-spirit who just wants Natalie to give him a chance, but of course, Natalie friend-zoned him. Josh is like the “Little Engine That Could” he never gives up.
“I know what’s going to happen because of these cliches, you can see it coming,” moviegoer Crystal Singh says. “I can’t help, but wonder which cliché it’s going to be.”
Being a cliché film you know everything is going to have a happy ending, but not before all the trials and tribulations that lead up to a massive chase and some sort of grand gesture.
That’s precisely what happens to Natalie when she tries to evade a mugger and runs smack dead into a subway pillar and knocks herself unconscious. And you guessed it, into a parallel universe where the grass is always greener.
Waking up in the hospital in a fancy room with a handsome doctor ironically named Dr. Hansom, played by Tom Ellis, Natalie finds everything is bright, beautiful, happy and PG-13 movie at it’s finest.
Natalie realized something is insanely wrong and must figure out how to rectify the situation so she can go back to her normal boring life. To break this curse, Natalie thinks she has to make someone fall in love with her, but it’s not that simple.
Not only does Natalie have to figure out how to get to her normal life back she realizes that everything that glitters isn’t gold. Even when things seem like they couldn’t get any better.
This is especially true when gorgeous Isabella played by Priyanka Chopra falls for Josh after he saves her from choking and she has love at first sight moment, how ironic. This is when Natalie has a revelation that she has to make her handsome boss/client Blake played by Liam Hemsworth fall in love with her.
Blake goes from being a mean boss with an American accent who doesn’t take Natalie or take her work seriously and thinks she is a coffee girl at the firm to prince charming who seems like everything is peachy and perfect.
Kind of like the evil Prince Han in “Frozen,” Blake’s obnoxious, yet it’s not until he tries to steal Natalie’s idea that she sees the light and realizes that Josh is who she is in love with, but Josh is newly engaged to Isabella.
To get Josh to fall in love with her, she does everything she originally was against like singing karaoke in front of a crowd at Josh’s engagement party with a rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Want To Dance With Somebody.” The group responds because everybody already knows the choreography.
That wasn’t enough to sway Josh to fall in love with her; the next best thing to do is stop the wedding, which she did, only to realize that she has to love herself. With this new outlook on life, she drives off, right into a pole.
Waking up in the world where she has her regular old life back Natalie starts taking charge of her life with new insight and realization that she is perfect the way she is.
Full of laughter and F-bombs “Isn’t It Romantic” is sure to be a blockbuster hit and it is a must watch but at home. Definitely a Netflix and chill type of movie.