Rebecca Leger
Staff Reporter
February 21, 2019
Isn’t it Romantic falls outside the lines of what a typical romantic comedy is about, which adds to its absolute brilliance. It’s funny, witty, and full of emotion. At certain parts, it makes you want to laugh, and at others, cry. It sends you on a rollercoaster of emotions and tackles issues that many in this world deal with while keeping a lighthearted tone.
The movie began with a woman named Natalie, an architect who isn’t treated very well by her colleagues at work and who struggles to present her ideas to her boss. She was also very insecure and didn’t believe she would ever find love due to her perceived lack of beauty. At this point, the film did a good job of making Natalie a relatable character. Many of us struggle with our self-image or are not taken seriously by others.
As the plot continued, she hit her head while being mugged by a man at a subway station and then woke up in a stereotypical romantic comedy-type world. The story then followed her as she tried to navigate this new world. It’s essentially, a romantic comedy in a romantic comedy. Through this new world, however, Natalie’s experiences mocked the traditional, stereotypical plot of romantic comedies.
There were many things about this movie that I absolutely loved. The acting was truly amazing. Rebel Wilson, who plays Natalie, really knows how to make an audience laugh. Not only was she really funny, but she also gets serious in certain scenes and shows emotions when she needed to. Liam Hemsworth did a really good job at portraying the rich, incredibly handsome, character in every rom-com, like the prince charming in a typical Disney movie, while still doing it in a mocking way- which adds to the humor. There were also other really good actors and actresses such as Priyanka Chopra and Adam Devine.
The cinematography and the score were also really good. There were some amazing pictures, and scenes made you feel like you were there. In scenes where Natalie was in the romantic comedy world, there were some beautiful images taken of bridges and ponds in New York that added to the superficial feeling. The score also fit in well with the plot. It included cliché romance songs like “Oh, Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison and “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston, along with songs of empowerment like “Express Yourself” by Madonna.
What I didn’t really like about the movie was the pacing. The entire movie overall was about an hour and a half long, but there were some scenes that dragged on for too long. For example, there was one scene that repeated itself over and over, and although the repetition was used in a comedic way, it did seem to go on continuously. There were other scenes that happened way too quickly that I wish had developed more.
One last aspect of the movie that I thought was done well was that it had a good element of surprise, with plot twists and characterizations of some characters that defy stereotypes. There were moments when the audience was taken completely by surprise and were left with a sense of awe. This also contributed to the overall lessons- of self-love and how the imperfections of reality make it beautiful- that the movie was trying to get across to the audience.
Overall, Isn’t it Romantic was a movie. It defied the rules of what a romantic comedy is but in a good way. I’m not very fond of romance movies in general, but I would definitely make an exception for this one. I would greatly recommend this movie to anyone who loves movies.
atholtonnews.com 