Isn’t it romantic?

Sure is.

But is it funny? Er, not so much.

And therein lies the problem with ISN’T IT ROMANTIC (2019), the new rom com starring Rebel Wilson as an architect disillusioned with love, who after a bonk on the head wakes up and finds herself living inside the world of a romantic comedy. While the gimmick here is that Wilson’s character has to deal with the very world she’s spent her life making fun of, the problem is the film is funnier when it takes place in the real world because it’s more fun watching Wilson taking potshots at reality than soaking up life in a romantic fantasy.

While architect Natalie (Rebel Wilson) is down on love, she actually has a pretty happy life. She’s got a good job, a best friend at work, Whitney (Betty Gilpin), as well as a best guy friend at work Josh (Adam Devine) who tries but fails to catch her attention. So, while she slams both true love and romantic comedy movies, her life is a good one. She doesn’t really need a romantic fantasy to save her, which definitely gets in the way of the film’s major plot point.

After the clonk on the head, she awakes and finds herself living in a movie world, specifically the rom com. The handsome hunk she met briefly at a meeting, who was a complete jerk, Blake (Liam Hemsworth), now falls madly in love with Natalie. At this point, the film goes through all the rom com clichés with Natalie commenting on them throughout, since she knows these films inside and out. And it’s in this fantasy world that she finally sees the light about Josh and realizes that perhaps it’s with him that her future lies.

ISN’T IT ROMANTIC is an amiable enough movie but it’s simply not all that funny. Again, the funniest bits are when Natalie is in the real world, at the beginning and end of the film. The main part of the film, where the story employs its gimmick of Natalie living inside a movie, is playful and light, but the laughs simply aren’t there.

There’s plenty of romance to be sure, but it’s the kind that’s superficial without resonance.

Rebel Wilson is a fun actress to watch, going all the way back to her role in BRIDESMAIDS (2011), and she’s certainly enjoyable here, even if the material isn’t all that sharp.

Liam Hemsworth chews up the scenery as handsome hunk Blake, and it’s clear that he’s having a good time throughout. Betty Gilpin is very good as Natalie’s best friend Whitney, but her best scenes also occur when the film takes place in the real world. In the fantasy sequence, Whitney becomes Natalie’s rival, a trope of the rom com, but sadly, it’s a trope that isn’t funny here.

Adam Devine is enjoyable to watch as Josh, the likable co-worker who has eyes for Natalie. Interestingly, his character remains the same in both the real and fantasy worlds.

Priyanka Chopra impresses as Isabella, a beautiful model who Josh saves from choking and then marries during the rom com scenes. Like Hemsworth, it’s clear that Chopra is having fun throughout.

Probably my favorite performance in the movie belongs to Brandon Scott Jones who plays Donny, Natalie’s irritable neighbor who in the rom com sequence becomes the stereotypical flamboyantly gay best friend. It’s the liveliest performance in the film.

Screenwriters Erin Cardillo, Dana Fox, and Katie Silberman’s main premise of Natalie entering the world of a rom com movie is okay, but it would have worked better had Natalie needed it more. Sure, her friends tell her she needs love, but she seems perfectly content without it. And the jokes just aren’t all that funny.

Some of the jokes do work however, like the running gag of Natalie not being able to swear since she’s living inside the world of a PG-13 romantic comedy. Likewise, the sequence where she’s trying to have sex with Blake, but the film keeps cutting away since again it’s rated PG-13 is good for some laughs. But there aren’t a whole lot of these moments.

Director Todd Strauss-Schulson keeps things bright, happy, and romantic, but since this is supposed to be a rom com that pokes fun at the genre it’s disappointing that the humor isn’t all that sharp. The liveliest sequence in the movie is the closing dance number, a bit late in the game.

ISN’T IT ROMANTIC is a likable enough movie, but it falls way short of being the kind of send-up to the genre which it purports itself to be. Which means, at the end of the day, ISN’T IT ROMANTIC really isn’t anything more than just another cliche-ridden rom com, even if it surrounds those clichés with lots of knowing winks and nods.

—END—

Books by Michael Arruda:

New in 2019! DARK CORNERS, Michael Arruda’s second short story collection, contains ten tales of horror, six reprints and four stories original to this collection.

Waiting for you in Dark Corners are tales of vampires, monsters, werewolves, demonic circus animals, and eternal darkness. Be prepared to be both frightened and entertained. You never know what you will find lurking in dark corners.

Ebook: $3.99. Available at http://www.crossroadspress.com and at Amazon.com.  Print on demand version available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1949914437.

TIME FRAME,  science fiction novel by Michael Arruda.  

How far would you go to save your family? Would you change the course of time? That’s the decision facing Adam Cabral in this mind-bending science fiction adventure by Michael Arruda.

Ebook version:  $2.99. Available at http://www.crossroadpress.com. Print version:  $18.00. Includes postage! Email your order request to mjarruda33@gmail.com. Also available at Amazon.com.

IN THE SPOOKLIGHT, movie review collection by Michael Arruda.

Michael Arruda reviews horror movies throughout history, from the silent classics of the 1920s, Universal horror from the 1930s-40s, Hammer Films of the 1950s-70s, all the way through the instant classics of today. If you like to read about horror movies, this is the book for you!

 Ebook version:  $4.99.  Available at http://www.crossroadpress.com.  Print version:  $18.00.  Includes postage. Email your order request to mjarruda33@gmail.com. Also available at Amazon.com.

FOR THE LOVE OF HORROR, first short story collection by Michael Arruda.  

 

Michael Arruda’s first short story collection, featuring a wraparound story which links all the tales together, asks the question: can you have a relationship when your partner is surrounded by the supernatural? If you thought normal relationships were difficult, wait to you read about what the folks in these stories have to deal with. For the love of horror!

 Ebook version:  $4.99.  Available at http://www.crossroadpress.com. Print version:  $18.00.  Includes postage. Email your order request to mjarruda33@gmail.com. Also available at Amazon.com.