Trapped In a Fantasy (Isn’t It Romantic, 2019)

Rom Coms are an often maligned genre. Much like Horror, if a Rom Com is done well, people try and argue it is not really a Rom Com. This is a lot to do with the fact that Rom Coms have a pretty solid formula that has worked for a long time.

Isn’t It Romantic attempts to mock the formula by working from within. Natalie was thrilled by Romantic Comedies as a child, until her mother made it clear that she would never be desirable and needed to settle for pretty much anything she gets in life.

So when we find her as an adult, she is a meek woman, interested in her male best friend Josh (who clearly thinks the best of her and is constantly trying to get her to step outside her walls). She is walked over by her coworkers who do not take her ideas seriously. After a mugging goes way awry, Natalie wakes up in an amazing hospital emergency room greeted by an incredibly handsome doctor.

Natalie finds that New York is now smelling better, her apartment is gigantic and her dog is well groomed. Natalie tries to find her way out and decides the only choice she has is to play by the rules of a Rom Com.

The film indulges all the tropes with a wink, some too far better effect than others. The inability to actually get to have sex with handsome suitors is pretty amusing.

At the same time, early in the film, we get an extended sequence where Natalie explains why Romantic Comedies are toxic where we are told exactly what we will experience. The film also does nothing to really develop any of the characters outside Natalie. Josh gets the most development as a character, at least enough to get why she likes him. And while it is entirely predictable that they are going to end up together, it is at least understandable that the two always had feelings for each other.

Isn’t It Romantic does manage to subvert certain of its core criticisms of the genre and the cast is entertaining enough in spite of the lack of character development. It is not as genre busting as it sets out to be, but it has its moments.

June 10, 2019 0

Rom Cooking (Always Be My Maybe, 2019)

Always Be My Maybe is the story of Sasha and Marcus, lifelong friends whose lives are dealt a painful blow that causes them to lose contact for over a decade. Sasha grows up to be a world famous Chef, while Marcus lives with his father and has a band that has never left the block he lives on.

They are brought back together and struggle to get their friendship back on track. Of course, there are several impediments towards rekindling their romantic feelings.

And, honestly? Always Be My Maybe feels like it should be a real lackluster affair. It crosses every “t” and dots every “i” of the Rom Com formula. It never really holds any surprises….and yet?

Always Be My Maybe succeeds. A lot of this is due to the cast. Park and Wong have a real chemistry (no doubt from a longstanding friendship). They feel like they have been long time friends. And their supporting cast is great. James Saito is heartwarming and kind as the father to Park’s Marcus. Michelle Buteau is the assistant to Wong’s Sasha (and an old friend of Marcus’ as well) who is both warmly friendly and a bit of attitude, without tipping into Sassy Friend stereotypes.

And Keanu Reeves… well, he is great.

The film does have some pacing issues, but nothing that really overwhelmed the film for me.

Always Be My Maybe rises up to make a solid and enjoyable Rom Com.

June 9, 2019 0

Dilemmas 2 (A Christmas Prince: the Royal Wedding, 2018)

AMBER AND THE PRINCE ARE GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!

So, Amber has made a name for herself blogging about her relationship with the Prince and his family. But, surprise, surprise, none of this is sitting well with the Royals. Well, the Queen and the Prince are a bit distracted by unrest in the country. But the employees of the royal family are dead set on keeping the protocols as the wedding looms.

Amber’s New York bred father is in town and things are off to a rocky start (a new actor is in the role and there is a sort of funny gag where Emily tells Amber that he looks different without his goatee). As the country is in turmoil, the problems become bigger as Amber’s blog gets taken down by the royals and her plans to pick the royal Christmas tree is constantly getting interrupted.

The problem is, the austerity subplot kind of undermines Amber. She seem’s downright petty at times. People are losing their jobs and she is mad about her wedding dress. However, the film does try and fix this, as it does show Amber trying to get to the bottom of just why the country’s infrastructure program is performing so abysmally.

They try and do some surprises, both with returning characters and new ones…but I have to say, the biggest twist was pretty easy to anticipate.

I think if you loved the first one, you will enjoy this one. I found the first film perfectly light entertainment, but I do feel like this film hurts itself with its attempts at real world issues being forced into a fairytale format. I did not hate it, but I cannot recommend this one unless you were a die-hard fan of the first film.

December 12, 2018 0

Dilemmas (A Christmas Prince, 2017)

Amber is a journalist with big dreams to break a big story. She gets the assignment to go to a small country and cover its playboy prince, who seems far from ready to inherit the throne. She arrives, only to find that the story she was sent there for is pretty much canceled. But as she expects to return home, she is instead mistaken for the new tutor to the prince’s younger sister, Emily.

Amber plays along but as she gets to know the family, she finds herself torn between her ambition and their welfare. In the middle of this is a scheming cousin who seeks to take the throne for himself. As with all deception based stories, this all blows up with Amber looking to be the bad guy on the surface, especially after the schemers find paperwork she had uncovered regarding a secret with the prince.

The film sticks closely to a very romanticized portrayal of royalty. The Prince is a pure heart who loves children (in one scene he misses a big event, leaving Amber and Emily to find him having a snowball fight with kids at the orphanage). Emily starts out as a pretentious brat, but is quick to warm to Amber and the two develop a rebellious friendship. And the Queen seems cold at first, but we soon learn she is much kinder than she lets on.

On the other side, Amber is the kind of reporter you expect in this type of story. She really wants the story, but she is also kind and sweet, and the idea of destroying lives for even the biggest story eats at her. The film tries to mine its emotional content from the trope of “Career or Doing What Is Right”. And yet, it feels pretty pedestrian connected to the fact that her real problem is tied to romantic feelings for the prince. Don’t get me wrong, I think the whole “If I Do This Am I Sacrificing My Soul” is a totally valid trope. But it seems like whenever we see women facing a dilemma of “doing the right thing, even if it means giving up what you want most”, it always is tied to romance.

That said? I was amused in the film. I like Rose McIver (from watching four seasons of iZombie) and Alice Krige does a solid job as the Queen…she is able to sell the turn from stern to kind quite well. The film does nothing new for it’s genre…but I did enjoy it as a cute bit holiday entertainment.

December 11, 2018 0

Follow the Calendar (The Holiday Calendar, 2018)

Abbey Sutton is a photographer who has been scared to ever take the same risk as her best friend Josh, a famous globe trotting photographer. He comes back to town for Christmas and starts helping her at the local Santa Display as an assisting photographer. Meanwhile, her beloved Grandfather gives her a gift from her late Grandma… an old Advent Calendar that Grandma believed led her to the love of her life.

Each day, the calendar magically produces a little toy, and Abby starts to connect them the events of the day. This leads to her meeting Ty, a very eligible single father and a doctor. A romance begins…but is he really the guy for her?

You probably can put it all together based on that. I wanted to like this film when I saw the trailer featured Ron Cephas Jones as the grandfather…but he cannot save it, because the script pushes back. The film also kind of completely forgets about the calendar a lot. In spite of clearly being magical, the rest of the film is just standard mistaken knowledge rom com during Christmas stuff.

At one point, Abby asks Ty what he knows about her…his answer is basically that she is hot and talented. Understandably, his lack of deeper reasons frustrates her…but truthfully? They movie fails to give us much of anything more. There are no compelling characters. Ty is first the blandly decent guy, but turns into the blandly shallow guy. Josh is her best friend who she should probably really be in love with…her parents are apparently pushing for her to take the safety of a job with the law firm they own, but there is little conflict in the film.

It feels like the movie just wants you to take the queues from all the other movies like this that you have seen, and nobody seems invested in giving it a lot of heart, which is disappointing.

December 6, 2018 0

The Princess Trap (The Princess Switch, 2018)

Stacy is the owner of a small but popular bake shop. Stacy is a nice but constantly trying to control her future. Right before Christmas, her sous chef Kevin and his daughter Olivia that they entered her in a contest… and she won the opportunity for an all expense paid to a European country to participate in a bake-off. Initially, she refuses. But after running into an ex, she impulsively decides to go on the trip. Kevin and Olivia join her (as he is Stacy’s Sous Chef).

After arriving, her friends push to enjoy the trip, but not Stacy. She is focused on not making mistakes. Especially after a rival from her past appears on the scene. Stacy bumps into Lady Margaret, who is there as a judge and is due to marry the Prince in a few days.

They find they are practically identical twins (well, yeah, they are both played by Hudgens). Lady Margaret convinces Stacy to switch places so she can experience life as a commoner. Of course, after they switch, both women start to discover what they felt was missing in their lives…including Kevin and the Prince. While Stacy has never been more than friends with Kevin, Margaret is smitten almost instantly, and the same for occurs when Stacy meets the Prince. There are hijinks as the women try and keep their switch a secret.

The movie takes the Fairy Tale approach, where there is very little complexity…for example, at no time do the women have trouble keeping their accents in check. And everything works out perfectly in the end. There is a rather unnecessary addition of a kindly old man who magically shows up randomly whenever a character needs a “push”. Is he some sort of Christmas spirit? An angel? Santa? Who knows. Is he even magical? Or is he just a big time world traveler.

The cast is okay, but nobody rises above the material, instead, all fitting perfectly into the standard roles this kind of story calls for.

So, the film is…alright. I mean, if you love Hallmark style Christmas movies? This is actually pretty fun.

December 4, 2018 0

Holidaze

Well, here we are. Another year has almost passed. for December, a friend made a suggestion this year that maybe I should review a bunch of Hallmark Christmas movies. I hesitated, but decided to go forward. I am not sticking with just Hallmark films…instead, I am just going to dive into the (mostly) Christmas Rom Com TV movie world. Uh…wish me luck…

December 1, 2018 0

The Trouble With Boys (To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, 2018)

Lara Jean lives with her two sisters and dad. Lara Jean lives a rich fantasy life dreaming of the perfect romance. The love of her life is her close friend Josh…who is dating her older sister Margot. The night before going to college overseas, Margo breaks up with Josh. Now, Lara Jean has dealt with her biggest crushes by writing a love letter that she saved in a box. They are addressed, but never sent (of course). But then, one day, her crushes receive their letters…leaving Lara Jean in a freaked out state.

She wants to avoid Josh, and ends up in a situation where she and an older crush Peter, whom she is over and who recently was dumped by his girlfriend (and Lara’s Bully), create a fake public relationship. At first they are at odds, doing this for selfish reasons. But as is so often the case, their defenses start to drop around each other the longer the longer relationship goes on. It complicates her relationship to Josh and her family, coming between her and her family’s close connection…especially with Margot.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before breaks no real ground in the romantic comedy genre…and why the end surprised me I am not sure. I mean, maybe the misdirect at the open of the film caused me to leap to the wrong conclusion and this may be a strength of the film.

But in spite of a cliched plot, this is a pretty charming teen film. Lana Condor is both sympathetic and likable as Lara Jean. And really, the whole cast is pretty charming, which allowed me to be less annoyed by the cliches. Lara Jean’s motive for being closed off to people outside her family is understandable, and the family dynamic is effectively sweet. John Corbett plays her father, and there is a scene where he and Lara have a dinner in a cafe, and he apologizes for not talking about their mother more, that he has let them down with how he dealt with their loss when she died years earlier. And then he shares a story about a date in the same cafe, and telling Lara Jean that he see the same spirit in her. It is a tender moment between father and daughter that also gives her permission to open up to the world.

This is a sweet film and I genuinely enjoyed it.

September 11, 2018 0

Coasting to the End(Playing It Cool, 2014)

There is a lot about Playing Cool that makes me want to like it. The cast (both lead and supporting) is comprised almost entirely of actors I like a lot. The film has some nice ideas it is playing with. It has some clever visual moments.

But the pacing and the storytelling? That is where it falls flat. And it keeps it from being a movie I truly enjoyed.

That it is a cliched tale of a screenwriter (Chris Evans) who does not believe in love, but then meets that one amazing woman (Michelle Monaghan)…but she has a boyfriend (Ioan Gruffudd). He seeks the advice of his friends and family (well, his grandad, played by Phillip Baker Hall). These characters are fairly well designed. There is the gay best friend Scott (Topher Grace), obligatory art performer girl secretly in love with the lead (Aubrey Plaza), disillusioned married buddy (Luke Wilson) and Oddball Played by Martin Starr.

The film tries to attack these cliches, but rather ineffectively. And there are numerous attempts at big emotional beats. Yet, the film never really earns these. I did not get the draw between the leads, everything was a rough sketch.

What makes this painful is the film has terrific imagery. Whenever Evan’s screenwriter starts getting philosophical, the film gets interesting to watch. There is a terrific scene where the Screenwriter (Evan’s and Monaghan’s characters are simply credited as “Me” and “her”) starts mocking the notion of there being “someone for everyone”. He talks about how there are those people who are such social misfits, there is no way they could find someone…but he is surprised by how many of them do. The picture becomes more colorful and vibrant, except for Evans, who is now black and white. There is an animated sequence where Grandad tells the tale of how he pursued the woman he loved (an outlandish tale of swimming an ocean, riding wild horses and so on). Evans talks about how his heart has let him, and stands in the background chain smoking. And we see Evans off to the side, smoke billowing from every pore, like Humphrey Bogart. The movie is wonderfully expressive at times.

As a said, I like the cast. In a fun bit of casting, Anthony Mackie is Evan’s agent (kind of a business wing-man). The cast is well chosen for their roles…

But the movie takes so any shortcuts, it never earns the big emotional beats and revelations. “Me” realizing who he would spend the rest of his life on a boat with after reading his friend’s (Grace) favorite book? It feels empty…it should be this hopeful and uplifting moment, but the film skips so much it feels rushed…except it somehow manages to slow down to a crawl, especially when focused on Evans and Monaghan. The film is full of ideas, and some pretty lofty intentions. But it jumps past what it needs to invest in. There is no sense of a real life for these characters.

The writers have only two movies (both Chris Evans films) to their writing credit and this is Director Justin Reardon’s first full length feature. I see some genuine potential in all three, but this film is not a ideal final product.

The creative style and cast make me want to like this movie. The cliches and lack of depth make me disappointed that it does not live up to those things.

August 17, 2015 0