ISN’T IT ROMANTIC
AVAILABLE NOW Netflix
Isn’t It Romantic wants to have its pink-frosted cake and to eat it, too. A meta romcom that deconstructs and satirises the genre while also adhering to its tropes, it – despite a welcome last-minute narrative swerve – is ultimately just as predictable as any of the films it riffs on. But when it’s executed with this much affection, it’s hard to dislike such a brisk (88 minutes) and beguiling confection.
Following NY architect Natalie (Rebel Wilson), who loathes romcoms so much she has an encyclopaedic knowledge of them, it has the most fun when plopping her inside the source of her frustration after a knock to the head.
In romcom world, Natalie’s always fully made up, has a huge apartment and attracts men she was previously invisible to – witness hot billionaire Blake (Liam Hemsworth). Her sex-pest neighbour is now her gay BFF, her work friend is a competitive bitch, and the colleague she’d put in the friend zone
incites surprise jealousy when he gets engaged to a beautiful ‘yoga ambassador’ (Priyanka Chopra). With karaoke scenes and kissing in the rain, it’s “The Matrix for lonely women”.
Amusing as that may be, it never properly skewers the most pernicious romcom motifs or dares to be truly feminist in intention. But if you’re looking for a couple of smart jokes wrapped up in musical numbers, softfocus and another topless Hemsworth proving his comedy credentials, then this offers distraction. Jane Crowther