Since acquiring MoviePass (and then AMC A-List once MoviePass became worthless) I’ve watched more movies than ever, almost. The exception is when I first started working at Paramount and there was a screening every week. Paramount doesn’t show trailers before its screenings, however, so I’ve definitely been watching more trailers than ever. A vast number, as AMC has over 20 minutes worth before every film!
Isn’t It Romantic is a film I would have heard little about otherwise but I’ve seen the trailer many times at AMC Theaters and even watching it once made me determined to see the film. Although I can be quite a romantic sap the “romcoms” certainly have their clichés and this film appeared to skewer them brilliantly.
I’m not a big Rebel Wilson fan so it’s unlikely I would have watched the film if not for the awesome trailer. I really liked her in this role though. In a previous post I ripped into Hollywood’s habit of having unattractive male leads win over gorgeous female leads by being “sweet” and “funny” supposedly. Here the female lead is a woman and not conventionally attractive but the film also doesn’t go the My Big Fat Greek Wedding route and make the main character even less attractive by changing her hairstyle and giving her glasses and then expect us to believe the good looking guy goes breathless at the sight of her because she got a perm and contact lenses (DUMB!!!!!)
Other than My Big Fat Greek Wedding I’ve realized comedies about lovelorn unconventional leading ladies tend to not insult your intelligence the way ones with those sorts of men in lead roles do though.
In Spy (spoiler for Spy): Melissa McCarthy’s character won over Jude Law’s but it was by demonstrating the guile and bravery needed to save his life, not just because she was sweet and funny according to the screenwriter.
Even more importantly, I really dug Bill Hader as Amy Schumer’s love interest in Trainwreck. While John Cena’s character is physically in a different league than Amy Schumer’s, it makes sense that she wouldn’t be attracted to the male bimbo. Of course it if were the same story with the genders of the characters reversed, the one the main character was meant to be with would be just as attractive as the airhead yet we’d be expected to think the main character needed to look past her appearance. Bill Hader, however, is much worse looking than John Cena and I’d argue he’s no more conventionally attractive than Amy Schumer. However, his character is a doctor and has many other virtues. I totally believed he’d be the one to overcome her reservations about romance and I loved watching their relationship develop.
Isn’t It Romantic follows a similar path to Trainwreck in that the heavyset blonde heroine gets to date a strapping handsome fellow but realizes a much less attractive man is right for her because of who he is. Even if the romantic comedy Natalie finds herself stuck in after hitting her head were the actual movie instead of a fake movie-within-the-movie, it would be better than most romantic comedies. A twist at the end that could we could all learn from helps!
However, Isn’t It Romantic’s whole hook comes from Natalie’s being trapped in a romantic comedy against her will-and it being PG-13 to boot 😉 An early scene with her ranting about romcom clichés to her best friend Whitney is hilarious but what’s much better is her actually living that life-the teenybop soundtrack, the gay male best friend, the alpha female rival, etc. More subtly, I loved things like the couple getting to spend time alone in an improbable way and the scene cutting to us learning random quirks about the love interest.
Liam Hemsworth is great as the one-dimensional rich gorgeous guy (although in the trailers I thought it was Thor; I never realized how alike the brothers look) and in fact the entire cast shines from top to bottom. However, the film’s real star is the screenplay. Erin Cardillo deserves credit for her wonderful idea, as do rewriters Dana Fox and Katie Silberman for their execution.
Up next: the horror equivalent!
Final Verdict: Awesome idea that does not disappoint!
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