The story is simple but effective. It won't win awards but it will give you a little smile in the end.
Released In
2019
Language
English, with Australian accent of course!
Where to watch
Netflix, like every other movie these days. Is cinema dying soon?
Cast-Character
Rebel Wilson - Natalie
Liam Hemsworth - Blake
Adam DeVine - Josh
Priyanka Chopra - Isabella
Betty Gilpin - Whitney
Brandon Scott Jones - Donny
Jennifer Saunders - Natalie's mother
Summary
A cynical (in love) timid woman who, after getting hit on the head, wakes up in a world where everything around her plays out like the genre of the movie she hates the most; a romantic comedy film.
More details
Wikipedia. Spoilers alert.
REVIEW
I'd thought I give this a try, since I had literally nothing to watch and my Netflix reminder recommended this film. Hot release you see. I knew the story, expected the ending but I didn't expect to be quite charmed by it all.
Natalie is a competent Architect with dreams but suffering from low self esteem. When she was young, she believed in the romance in movies. Of course, Pretty Woman is an unrealistic romantic dream. Her mother certainly chased away any romantic notions in here when she cruelly reminded her daughter men will marry her for visa. As a grown woman, her life was going nowhere. She is in a career where she was never listened to, her colleagues all but 2 treated her as some "ah sei" in the office. Private life, she had no love, her dog refused to listen to any of her command and her neighbour was a jerk. As for herself, her hair is a wreck, she is dreary person living in dirty dreary New York where she is constantly bullied. One time, when an attempted purse snatcher tried to snatch her bag , she knocked her head hard and woke up with her face and make up ready, her hair beautifully blown and facing a handsome young doctor in a huge first class looking hospital room. Everyone was mesmerised by her, she returned to her apartment which became as she said, stretched and certainly upscale, her dog actually listened to her every command and in her office, she was the star architect which had people applauding even when she really didn't give any idea. She caught the attention of a super rich and handsome client who kept saying "beguiling" to her and she was always perfectly dressed. She knew of course she was in her own rom com. The downside was her assistant ho was her best friend in real lie was now her mortal enemy at work. For someone who was a cynical person under everyone's radar, she was now in everyone's radar and she couldn't take it. She surmised her only way out is to live out the romcom movie setting meaning make someone fall in love with her. She thought it was Blake and there was a funny sequence where they kissed, she obviously didn't want to leave the romcom world yet and yet everytime they reached the "main point", scene was cut to the next morning and he was coming out of the shower. Again and again and again. It was rather funny. And then there were scenes where she kept saying the F word and they were all conveniently beeped out by a honk or alarm or something. So being in a romcom was bad, it was a PG 13 rated romcom which made it worse. And then there was the prerequisite gay best friend who had nothing to do but to be by the side of our heroine and that gay best friend happened to be her jerk neighbour in real life.
Frankly the cliches highlighted by this movie in the romcom mode were all hilarious and so true. Then there was Isabella, who introduced herself as a swimsuit model, yoga instructor/ambassador, role model. That part had be laughing hard.
Whilst the film pointed towards the many cliche in romcoms, and in itself was full of cliche in its real life mode, it did have a good message. Natalie thought she had to make Blake fall for her, and then realised she had to do a "My Best Friend's Wedding" and make Josh fall for her except in the end to leave the romcom world, she had to really fall in love with herself. It was all about self esteem and her journey of discovery that she worthy of her own love. It is quite an empowering message although not elaborated a lot, more like convenient plot point. I do like how in the romcom world, Natalie was never that enchanted by it at all and was constantly trying to find a way to escape to reality and then when she did leave that world, she appreciated her real world a lot more. She was never sucked into a lie so to speak, and preferred the truth except when she woke up, she became a more confident woman willing to fight for her job, respect, etc. In a word, she found her voice. And of course, love in one of the loveliest semi confession of love in the end.
The story is simple but effective. It won't win awards but it will give you a little smile in the end.
I do love how in the romcom world the screen suddenly became wide screen? Everything seem so colourful, so grand, so chirpy. I do think perhaps the colour scheme also changed when Natalie came back to real life. It felt different. I also love the many references of popular romcom films, where Natalie dressed like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.She actually looked gorgeous.
As for the performances, the cast had chemistry.
I never really felt much for Liam Hemsworth, the one who was in Hunger Games movies, the one married Miley and of course the brother of the one who played a god (and looked like one). It felt quite strange to hear him speak with Australian accent eventhough he is Australian. But I thought he was effective as the overly romantic but ultimately a douche bag Blake in the romcom world and a jerk but a professional client in real life. And he is so tall.
Seeing Adam DeVine almost made me think this was Pitch Perfect movie. In Pitch Perfect he was sort of a jerk at first but in this movie, he is the nice cheerful encouraging friendzoned guy. Not much for him to do actually, not much growth as a character but he had chemistry with Rebel Wilson.
Betty Gilpin as Whitney was effective as the best friend in real life and the mortal enemy in romcom. I was shocked to see her made up so differently in romcom, she almost reminded me of how Emily Blunt looked in The Devil Wears Prada. Perhaps it was intentional. It was like 2 very different characters. Again not much growth, but effective.
The least of growth or even a resemblance of a character is Priyanka Chopra's Isabella but she wasn't in this movie as some major character. She was the special appearance meant to be funny and she was funny! I actually thought she was interesting as Isabella, like some cliche character she was meant to be.
Brandon Scott Jones was really amazing. His persona in real life vs romcom life was so different, it was like Betty Gilpin's performance. He to me gave the best performance. I won't say more, you have to see him to believe it. Like Natalie said, Donny in romcom was like a huge step back for gay depiction in movies, but he was funny and in one scene very poignant as he was describing how his heart was broken. For me the best performance in the movie.
Rebel Wilson is an interesting one to watch for me. She's not a fantastic actress, or a fantastic singer, or a fantastic dancer, and she had to do all 3 in here. She's not exceedingly funny too nor is she some amazing dramatic actress. Her acting is like how you see her talking in real life. But I find her very very interesting to watch in interviews, more than in movies. However Natalie is a character that suits her well. But I do have to say, eventhough Natalie is meant to have the most growth in character since the entire movie is a basis for her character to realise an obvious proposition, however I do find her performance more fluffy than deep. There were moments of course but ultimately I felt for others I would have called this a below average performance, but for Rebel Wilson, who I never expected much as an actress, find this performance to be effective in her own way. But I do love her fashion, how she showed me whatever the size, you can still look magnificent.
IN SHORT
The cast has chemistry, the premise is funny, I like the story, expect some great performance from those you never expected but frankly fans of Rebel Wilson won't be disappointed even if she isn't the best actress in here. You will still be entertained and so for that alone, this movie is effective.
RATING
B+
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