Isn't It Romantic (2019)

ISN’T IT ROMANTIC (2019)

By Ralph Santini - **

The opening of the most recent mainstream romantic comedy “Isn’t It Romantic” contains Roy Orbison’s classic romantic ballad “Pretty Woman” then we cut to a young girl watching the film itself inspired the 60’s classic that starred Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, somewhere in Australia. Her drunken mother (Jennifer Saunders) advises her that romantic comedies are not like real life and that happy endings are not worth her kid’s time. 25 years later she has ended up as a parking architect (Rebel Wilson, the star of this film) and after living those years she does agree with her mother that the cinematic genre isn’t basically worth it. Frankly I don’t blame Rebel Wilson’s character in this film, because in my opinion a huge percentage of romantic comedies (particularly since 1990) have gained a reputation of being formulaic and ridiculously clichéd. How possible is it for me can it be to make a good romantic comedy, I’m not sure, but this film contains a wonderful tribute to the nowadays tired genre and an effective performance by the Australian born funny woman, Wilson.

The story’s conflict however begins when Wilson is actually struck in accident after being mugged by an aggressive thief and later finds out that she is in a parallel universe where everything seems like a PG-13 rom-com and she gets involved with some characters she already knows from the more realistic universe, like Liam Hemsworth’s character is an Australian rather than an American, and she is in the rich side of New York rather than the poor side of New York, a gay neighbor of hers is a good pal rather than an indifferent neighbor, Adam Devine is falls in love with a yoga instructor (the charming Pranka Chopra), an old friend (the sexy Betty Gilpin) is an old nemesis rather than an old friend, and worst of all she can’t say bad words do to the fact that the world is PG-13.

Anyway, what I really like about the movie is how funny Rebel Wilson is here and how she always gets crazy the more she seems stuck in a romantic comedy. What really makes me indifferent, however is how the movie gets much more predictable ever since the universe Wilson’s heroine grew up with has changed and that in my opinion spoils this film. To those of you who live in the USA, Canada or Puerto Rico (where I continue to reside) my advice is to wait until it comes to streaming. To those of you live elsewhere feel free to see it until you might get tired, who knows, as long you be the judge of this film.  

About A Boy (2002)

ABOUT A BOY (2002)

By Ralph Santini - ***½

The Weitz’s brothers third film, the romantic comedy-drama, “About A Boy” is quite possibly one the better lighthearted movies of this century.  It contains pleasant screenwriting by the directors themselves, and co-developed with Peter Hedges, as well as remarkable performances by Hugh Grant and then 12-year old Nicholas Hoult, both of them especially. I’ve never seen better chemistry like this and I think they really deserve it. They are also surrounded by a terrific supporting cast, including Toni Collette as Hoult’s suicidal but caring mother who sometimes get concerned with her son’s friendship with Grant. 

The story concerns both a lazy man in his late thirties, Will Freeman (Grant) who has nothing to do ever in his life except watch too-much tv, listen to too many records, watch videocassettes/dvds ,etc and a more ambitious 12-year old boy, Marcus Brewer (Hoult) who eventually meets up with Grant after meeting up with, Suzie (Victoria Smurfit), a friend of Marcus’ mother (Collette), whom Will met at a club concerning single parents just to meet women and Grant initially likes at the beginning. Suddenly, Marcus apparently kills a Duck by mistake not knowing that a loaf of bread being already stale and they decide to carefully take him home after being questioned by the zoo security unit whom Grant successfully lies to them as being already dead for longer so as not to scare the rest of the children in the zoo. 

When they later arrive at the house Marcus lives with Fiona, his mother, they find out that she is attempting suicide and later they take her to the hospital in order to save her life. And then a miracle happens when Fiona does survive her suicidal attempt and Marcus decides to befriend Will because he has a special interest in him. But Will doesn’t seem sure at the beginning, until he decides to help Marcus in teaching him how to battle constant bullying at the school he attends. But things however get worse when Marcus is mugged by the bullies, resulting in stolen new pair of shoes and after this Fiona gets suspicious of Marcus’ friendship with Will and it’s not pretty between them. Time passes and Will eventually meets a single mother named Rachel (the cute, sexy Rachel Weisz) while Marcus has a huge crush with a teenage Goth Girl (the very hot Natalia Tena) and eventually it’ll be up to our heroes’ friendship to see whether love conquers all or not. 

This is a good example of the irony within age because the movie shows a sharp difference of maturity between both Will and Marcus. While Will is just in late thirties and all the time being lazy, Marcus seemingly wants to become more and more grown up than ever before. Will can sometimes get very cantankerous when can’t get his way, while Marcus can handle most of the danger concerning his future. But that’s exactly why this light hearted film holds up so well because unlike the traditional rom-coms from around this period, it takes the story very seriously about the chemistry of a immature man and a ready-to-grow-up boy. 

The actress who plays Marcus’ mom, Fiona, Toni Collette, gives a terrific supporting performance as a truly concerned mother who always wants the best for her son. Fiona is a character who knows what is and what is wrong, but at the beginning she is presented as a rather tortured woman who is fed up with life itself but after her recovery becomes more and more concerned about the troubles her son might face. She is even concerned about Marcus listening to hip-hop music, which had it’s strong peak at the time this movie was filmed, after all that happened to every parent who gets concerned with their future and influence on the music. 

“About A Boy” demonstrates that sometimes it not impossible to make a good romantic comedy because it tells a truly realistic story that helps people how to adjust themselves to the life that’s not about a certain individual, but everyone’s. It also contains some of the most memorable motion picture chemistries ever told in the history of new millennium filmmaking. It’s that pleasant.