Movie Breakdown: Isn’t It Romantic

Pre-Screening Stance:

Todd Strauss-Schulson (The Final Girls, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas) is an OK director, Rebel Wilson is an OK actress, and thus Isn’t It Romantic looks OK at best.  Honestly, this is the kind of movie I tend to skip, but I’m going to check it out because it’s only 88 minutes long.  Maybe I’ll end up pleasantly surprised.

Post-Screening Ramble:

As expected, Isn’t It Romantic is a mediocre affair.  It’s centered around Natalie (Rebel Wilson), a young woman who is disenchanted with her personal life and her job as a parking garage architect.  After bonking her head while getting mugged, she wakes up in a romantic comedy-themed world where she has a ridiculously big apartment, an over the top gay best friend, a super important job, a rich hunk (Liam Hemsworth) who finds her beguiling, and a homely pal (Adam Devine) who she may or may not actually be in love with.  I actually dig the setup here, as it really places Isn’t It Romantic in a position to be an all-out parody, but the film doesn’t lean towards fully mocking rom-coms.  This is fine, I guess, but it also doesn’t 100% embrace the genre either.  So, what you get is a movie that stumbles along, drifting between the two sides and never really making much sense.

Isn’t It Romantic has a few funny moments and a couple of heartfelt bits, but it’s an overall uneven, occasionally tedious effort that you shouldn’t bother seeing at the theater.  Just wait until it hits a streaming service near you.

One Last Thought:

When is someone going to let Liam Hemsworth be in a good movie?  Outside of the first two Hunger Games entries, he’s really been in a lot of terrible things (with Independence Day: Resurgence being the prime low light).  Surely Chris has a good script or two he can toss his brother’s way.