With the month of February comes Valentine’s Day, and with Valentine’s Day comes the necessity of romantic-comedies. Which meant the timing of Isn’t It Romantic was perfect for the holiday.
The film was meant to be a comedic call-out of every rom-com trope, but turned out to be one of the cutest rom-coms in and of itself.
Every stereotypical rom-com idea was included from the beautification of the environment and the disrespectfully gay-sidekick, to the constant perfect hair and makeup. Though the film did a great job of pointing out rom-com normalities, it also showcased a great love story and became its own type of rom-com altogether.
Rebel Wilson portrayed the main character, Natalie, who is transported into a rom-com. Wilson is notorious for her comedic roles, but she truly shines in the film. Wilson’s attitude and her strong character choices made the movie great. The movie wouldn’t have been half as enjoyable without Wilson, and she was by far the perfect person to lead the film.
Wilson’s three costars, Liam Hemsworth (Blake), Adam Devine (Josh), and Priyanka Chopra (Isabella) were also electric. Hemsworth’s performance was beguiling, and it was a great change of pace to see him in a comedy — which he should definitely pursue more of. Devine brought such a charming and adorable innocence factor to his character that made the audience fall in love with him. Chopra gave a great performance in the film. Between fighting for the spotlight with Wilson and playing this innocent, stuck-up woman that you didn’t want to end up with Josh, her performance was truly impressive.
It’s important to note the gorgeous camera work in the film. The film implied New York City and everything in it had a sort of beauty filter on it, and the camera work certainly showcased that beauty. The shots were gorgeous and perfectly showcased the actors and the beautiful city.
By far the cutest scene in the film is the lively dance number led by Wilson to the tune of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston. In an epic karaoke showdown between Wilson and Chopra, Wilson gets to show off her Pitch Perfect singing skills and belt out the classic, with the help of some on point backup singers. The number was adorable and left audiences dancing along the entire time.
One of the tropes the movie played on was the gay sidekick, Donny (Brandon Scott Jones), who set gay rights back about 100 years. Though the man playing the gay best friend represented every stereotype about gay men, he also had a great speech toward the end of the movie that inspired Rebel Wilson to stay true to herself.
“You can search the entire universe, and never find a being more worthy of love than yourself,” Donny said.
All in all, the movie was super relatable to the reality of romance, but funny and cute enough to leave a smile on your face. It was a great movie to celebrate the holiday of love. By far the best part of the film was the overall message intended for the audience. Through her journey of self-confidence and loving herself, Wilson shows the audience that the most important thing about love is the ability to love yourself, especially before you can love someone else.
