{"id":17803,"date":"2019-02-12T22:04:49","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T06:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=17803"},"modified":"2019-02-12T22:04:49","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T06:04:49","slug":"isnt-it-romantic-pokes-fun-at-genre-cliches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=17803","title":{"rendered":"‘T IT ROMANTIC Pokes Fun at Genre Clich\u00e9s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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theaters. Isn’t It Romantic<\/em> tries to provide a few\nnew wrinkles to the formula with a lead character who hates the movie genre and\nall the falsehoods it projects. Of course, the film can’t help but end up\nrepeating some of the elements it attempts to make fun of. Still, thanks to an\nentertaining lead and the film’s breezy charm, there’s enough amusing material\nhere to earn it a recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After being told as a child that Hollywood\nromantic comedies are a complete lie, an adult Natalie (Rebel Wilson) works as\nan architect at a Manhattan firm.\nClosing herself off from others, she struggles to get noticed for her talent\nand rebukes the attention of co-worker Josh (Adam Devine). Of course, Natalie also\ncomplains to her rom-com addicted assistant Whitney (Betty Gilpin) how much she\nhates the genre and its ridiculous story elements. After taking a knock to the\nhead, the protagonist awakens in an idyllic New York\nas seen in these films and desperately searches for a way out. In the process,\nshe must deal with the advances of billionaire businessman Blake (Liam Hemsworth).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This may be the first leading role for Wilson\nand she makes the most of it. There are some great (and for this reviewer,\nrelatable) lines early on as Natalie dissects all of the genre clich\u00e9s and is\nforced to deal with some terrible treatment by others. She also sells the\nphysical comedy, in particular during an extended mugging which leaves the\ncharacter engaged in a very long and awkward attempt to keep hold of her purse\nwhile the attacker grapples with her, trying to escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all serves as a very funny contrast to the cleaned up,\nPG-13 rom-com world, which is shot in a bright and vibrant manner. Naturally,\nin this fantasy world everyone lives in large spotless apartments, where seemingly\nimpossible coincidences occur, and no one ever swears. The character’s initial reactions\nand desperation to get out of this happy but unsettling place are extremely\nentertaining. And there’s also plenty of chemistry between cast members, who\nplay well off of each other, selling a couple of lines that may not have worked\notherwise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, there are some minor flaws present. While the\nscreenplay amusingly deconstructs some aspects of the genre, it ultimately\ncan’t help but adhere to other elements. By the final third, the story is\nforced into addressing the various relationships and romances, and these bits\naren’t as sharp or funny. And admittedly, since viewers are assuming all of\nthis is happening within the main character’s unconscious state, there isn’t as\nmuch drama and tension onscreen as there might be otherwise. The film’s message\nand moral are nice, but are stated fairly explicitly and as such, the\nrevelation isn’t much of a surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Still, the movie’s concept is solid, it moves at a quick\nclip and the lead actress and other cast members have first-rate comic timing. That\nmeans that there’s plenty here to enjoy, and even some amusing bits for those\nwho aren’t enamored with romantic comedies. Isn’t It Romantic<\/em> may not be\na classic, but one could certainly do much worse than visit with this light,\nbreezy and fun effort. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

theaters. Isn’t It Romantic tries to provide a few new wrinkles to the formula with a lead character who hates the movie genre and all the falsehoods it projects. Of course, the film can’t help but end up repeating some of the elements it attempts to make fun of. Still, thanks to an entertaining lead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,723,2640,4660,9986,9987,9988,9989,12328,15743,16764,17302,17321],"class_list":["post-17803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-adam-devine","tag-betty-gilpin","tag-comedy","tag-isnt-it-romantic","tag-isnt-it-romantic-film-review","tag-isnt-it-romantic-movie-review","tag-isnt-it-romantic-review","tag-liam-hemsworth","tag-parody","tag-rebel-wilson","tag-rom-com","tag-romantic-comedy"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}