Isn't It Romantic (2019)

“Isn’t It Romantic” stars Rebel Wilson, Liam Hemsworth, Adam DeVine, and Priyanka Chopra.  Released on February 14, 2019, the film is about an architect who winds up in an alternate universe that is filled with romantic comedy cliches.

The film is directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson, who also directed “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” and “The Final Girls”.  Romantic comedies are filled with love and light-hearted humor that’ll send everyone’s hearts soaring up to the sky like fireworks on the fourth of July.  Although they can be quite obnoxious for those who either know exactly what they’re expecting or are not fans of the genre.  But what if they are able to experience the genre for themselves instead of watching it on the screen?  Enter the latest satirical comedy that puts every single rom-com cliche into one package.  Now clearly this film and the people who love the genre are a match made in heaven, but will people who don’t love it feel the same way?

As I mentioned before, the film pokes fun of the tropes that we’ve seen in dozens and dozens of romantic comedy films while also representing a story that also has the tropes that it satirizes.  It’s sort of similar to “Last Action Hero”, another satire comedy that parodies a certain genre, but instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger fighting through every single action cliche known to man, we have “Pitch Perfect” star Rebel Wilson finding love and avoiding every single romantic comedy cliche known to man.  Satire comedies are pretty much hit-or-miss scenarios when it comes to the execution.  Putting too much on one plate can lead to stupidity and repetition, but having little to no humor at all can result in a dull and unappealing experience.  From my personal perspective, Strauss-Schulson was able to position the comedic aspect somewhere down the middle.  The humor wasn’t entirely perfect in terms of its consistency, but as a person who hasn’t watched a lot of romantic comedies, I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the moments that I thought were cliched.  The story, however, wasn’t something for me to write home about.  It’s just a typical run-of-the-mill romantic comedy that makes fun of itself.  Nothing more, nothing less.  While the direction they went for is necessary to satirize the rom-com tropes, the people who despise the genre to begin with will be busy nitpicking the predictable plot points rather than laugh at them.  Luckily, for them, it didn’t overstay its welcome due to its running time.  For me, personally, it’s the type of film that actually made me smile the entire time despite knowing what’s going to happen next.  Most of that is due to the cast’s irresistible charm.  Rebel Wilson was enjoyable to watch because of how her character, Natalie, resembled the audience who may or may not like romantic comedies themselves.  Liam Hemsworth and Adam DeVine were also talented in their roles as Blake and Josh, respectively.  What I also liked about the story was that even though it’s cliched as heck, it did provide a helpful message that everyone should know about when they’re looking for love, and the way they execute it was somewhat satisfying.

Overall, “Isn’t It Romantic” does provide an enjoyable satire of the romantic comedy genre, but it wasn’t able to get some love out of the people who aren’t into the mushy stuff.  It’s more predictable than funny at times, but I walked out of the film with a smile on my face, and that’s all that matters.  I would gladly recommend it to those who want a simple romantic comedy that makes fun of itself.

C+