Review: Isn't It Romantic
Rebel Wilson may not look like the typical Hollywood rom-com lead, but she certainly more than possesses the biting effervescence that have made America's Sweethearts out of the likes of Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan and Cameron Diaz. Casting her as the girl who gets the happy ending is already a progressive move, given that she would be, and has been, usually relegated to playing the best friend or sidekick of the lead, and the sweetly satirical Isn't It Romantic proves a mostly worthy showcase for her talents.
Wilson plays Natalie, an Aussie girl who once believed in the fairy tale that films like Pretty Woman espoused before her mother (Jennifer Saunders) disabused her of her fantasies, bluntly telling her that, in real life, girls like them don't get to have the happily ever after. Cut to 25 years later: Natalie is living in a tiny Queens apartment, constantly being treated like an assistant instead of one of the architects at the Manhattan firm in which she works, completely oblivious to the fact that her best friend and office mate Josh (Adam DeVine) is in love with her. Generally cynical about love and life in general, she suddenly awakens to find herself in the very rom-com world she purports to despise after getting knocked out during a subway mugging.
Suddenly she's in a world that appears decorated by Williams Sonoma, populated with shiny, happy people, streets are cleaner and littered with flower shops, bakeries, and bridal wear stores, and everything seems to be soundtracked to Vanessa Carlton or Michelle Branch. Her cramped and dingy apartment is now fancy and spacious and well above her pay grade; even her dog is fluffier. What's more, her firm's pompous playboy client, Blake (Liam Hemsworth), who barely registered her presence, now finds her to be endlessly beguiling and is wooing her with champagne and strawberries in his limousine and dinners aboard his yacht.
Yet the film is not merely about the atypical casting of Wilson; it's a meta-commentary on the silliness of the genre's tropes such as relatively ordinary Joes like Josh being pursued by Priyanka Chopra's swimsuit model/yoga ambassador; the gay best friend (Brandon Scott Jones) who ticks every stereotype imaginable and who seems to have no life of his own; and the way in which women are always being pitted against one another or undermining each other instead of being a sisterhood. Isn't It Romantic doesn't always do much with its targets once they're hit, but the fact that they're even taking aim is commendable enough.
Kudos to the production team for the detailing to be found in the rom-com world; that level of investment in the world-building goes a long way in the film's undeniable charm. The filmmakers maintain a breeziness to the proceedings that help to paper some muddled moments in the premise. Isn't It Romantic may turn predictable in its final stretch, but it remains a joy to watch.
Isn't It Romantic
Directed by: Todd Strauss-Schulson
Written by: Erin Cardillo, Dana Fox, Katie Silberman
Starring: Rebel Wilson, Liam Hemsworth, Adam Devine, Priyanka Chopra, Betty Gilpin, Brandon Scott Jones, Jennifer Saunders
