Movie Review: Isn’t It Romantic

By Ryan Grow | February 19, 2019

Isn’t It Romantic is a fun and hilarious look inside a romantic comedy, poking fun at the genre’s cliches while also embracing its message of love.

Natalie (Rebel Wilson) is a New York architect who works hard to get noticed at her job but is more likely to deliver coffee and bagels than design the city’s next skyscraper. Things go from bad to weird when she gets knocked unconscious during a subway mugging and magically wakes up to find herself in an alternate universe. Always cynical about love, Natalie’s worst nightmare soon comes true when she suddenly discovers that she’s playing the leading lady in a real-life romantic comedy.

The romantic comedy is undergoing a bit of a revival. Thanks to a successful 2018 with big screen films like Crazy Rich Asians and noteworthy Netflix films like To All the Boys I’ve Loved and The Kissing Booth, rom-coms are coming back stronger than ever. And it only seems fitting that Isn’t It Romantic be released on Valentine’s Day weekend.

The story of Isn’t It Romantic analyzes the aspects of rom-coms while also providing a new spin on the genre’s format.  Even though the movie is about a woman who detests romantic comedies and feels the need to prove how they aren’t true to life, Isn’t It Romantic is still for lovers of the genre. The film is still a romantic comedy, but one that leans on the genre’s past and provides a modern message about love. Isn’t It Romantic explores the different types of love, not just romantic, but platonic and, most importantly, self-love. The film makes the bold move showing that romantic love isn’t the most important kind of love, and is actually secondary to what will ultimately make someone happy.

But, the film wouldn’t be as great if it wasn’t for the performance of the film’s lead, Rebel Wilson. Wilson brilliantly brings something new to the conventions of romantic comedies as the character who is thrown into a unrealistic world that she must explore and escape. As for Wilson’s co-stars, Adam DeVine, and Liam Hemsworth are exceptional male romantic leads. Hemsworth does a great job at playing the stiff businessman and overly romantic admirer, while DeVine brings his usual hilarious charm to someone more realistic. The rest of the supporting cast was fantastic as well, as they play characters who help complement our core characters.

What also adds to the film’s strength is that its quite clear that everyone involved has a love of rom-coms. The film is not meant to be a diss on romantic comedies, but a thoughtful evaluation of the genre to help teach young girls while also providing a meaningful and more realistic message about self-empowerment.

Overall, Isn’t It Romantic is perfect for rom-com lovers, especially ones who grew up with the classics. It was a bold move to release the film the day before Valentine’s Day, but it will be just as good for those who are single or groups of friends, and regular movie lovers will get a kick out of it as well.

Critic Review: 5/5 stars