NETFLIX ROM-COMS ARE THE TV EQUIVALENT OF FAST FOOD
Let me start off by saying there is absolutely nothing wrong with fast food. In moderation, of course. Sometimes there’s nothing better on a Friday night after a long week of work – yes, watching TV shows and movies is work!
– than ordering pizza or picking up chicken and chips on the way home, and not having to think about what to cook for dinner. The food is tasty and (at least briefly) satisfying, and it is a stress-free solution when you’re tired and just want to put your feet up.
Netflix romantic comedies tick all the same boxes. Sometimes you don’t want to watch anything too taxing – especially on a Friday night. Why try and maintain attention on Mindhunter or When They See Us when you can leave those excellent shows for another night when you aren’t nodding off? Instead, try something like Always Be My Maybe. The film about two childhood friends who reconnect as adults is just as enjoyable, but doesn’t require you to invest quite the same mental energy. It’s also going to leave you far less emotionally scarred than your average true-crime series.
Which brings me to my next point. Like fast food, Netflix rom-coms can be entirely satisfying. Watching a film where the worst
thing that will happen to someone is that their crush doesn’t feel the same way about them will put you in a much better mood than a dark series focusing on a flawed antihero will. If you want to start your weekend off in a positive frame of mind, say yes to makeovers, montages and marriages. Sure, also like fast food, the satisfaction may not last that long, but it will be fun while it does.
Another quality of fast food is that you know exactly what you are getting, especially if you’re eating from a franchise. Same, too, with Netflix rom-coms. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is pretty much a textbook teen romance film. When I sat down to watch The Perfect Date, I knew more or less exactly what to expect: Noah Centineo being charming, an unattainable love interest, the much better alternative right under his nose … I doubt the upcoming two sequels to To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before will reinvent the wheel, either.
Of course, in the same way that you can encounter a dodgy kebab, not all Netflix rom-coms are of the same quality. Take recent release Falling Inn Love, for example. I couldn’t get through more than 20 minutes of it. And I’m also not expecting too much from this week’s offering, Tall Girl (streams from Fri., Sep. 13), which has the laughable premise of a schoolgirl struggling to find love because she’s too statuesque.
But you know what? After a couple of Friday night wines, even the terrible Netflix rom-coms don’t seem that bad. And make for perfect drinking game fodder. •