Isn’t It Romantic? review: Romcom parody falls prey to its own charms

As sharp as the film’s sense of wit may be, this is hardly new territory

Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson; Starring: Rebel Wilson, Liam Hemsworth, Adam DeVine, Priyanka Chopra, Betty Gilpin. Cert 12, 89 mins

At what point did Hollywood decide that a woman with moderate to severe concussion was the ultimate plot catalyst? It’s concussion that makes Amy Schumer believe she’s become her ideal version of womanhood in I Feel Pretty, and concussion that allows Taraji P Henson to intrude on the thoughts of the male population in What Men Want. It’s a bop on the head, also, that drives the plot of Netflix’s Isn’t It Romantic?, leaving its protagonist Natalie (Rebel Wilson) to realise she’s woken up trapped inside a real-life romcom.

It appears the romantic comedy has turned introspective, as this trend of women dropped into alternate realities has begun to acknowledge the gap between lived experience and the candy-coloured fantasy Hollywood sold to us throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Those who devoured Pretty Woman and You’ve Got Mail through their teendoms have grown up and become disillusioned. This is how, in fact, Isn’t It Romantic? sets its scene, as a young Natalie stares dreamily up at Julia Roberts’s million-watt smile on her TV screen, only for her mother to shoot down the notion that a girl like her could ever live out a romcom fantasy. If she did, they’d have to “sprinkle prozac on the popcorn” to get audiences through to the end credits.

Flash forward 25 years, and Natalie has allowed her mother’s harsh words to settle deep into her psyche. Despite the fact she’s landed her dream job as an architect, she’s begrudgingly allowed herself to become the “coffee b****” of the office, too nervous to pitch her ideas because she knows she’ll inevitably be cut off. And romcoms? She despises them now, berating them as mere “lies set to terrible pop songs”.

An attempted mugging on a subway platform ends in a collision between Natalie’s head and a steel beam, and she wakes up in a hospital room decked out in so much white linen and fresh flowers that it could only have come from the recesses of Nora Ephron’s imagination. New York suddenly smells like lavender and men look her in the eyes. The realisation of what’s happened is a nightmare come alive, despite the fact the previously dismissive, but “CW hot” American billionaire Blake (Liam Hemsworth) is now a chivalric, chipper Australian who’s desperately infatuated with her. “This is the Matrix for lonely women,” she cries out.

Isn’t It Romantic? has a good time parodying the most dastardly of romcom conventions. There’s the gay best friend who’s already at her side before she even needs him, like a helpful poltergeist, and has no apparent job or social life of his own. A karaoke night naturally dissolves into a full-blown musical number, with the bar’s entire patronage on hand to help in the performance of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”.

Natalie’s sweet-natured workmate Whitney (Betty Gilpin) instantly transforms into her catty, sharp-suited rival – as is pointed out, no two women in a romcom can work together without being pitched against each other. There’s even the horrifying realisation that Natalie’s new world is strictly PG-13, meaning any attempt at sex immediately cuts to the bedroom’s curtains, billowing in the wind on the morning after.

As sharp as Isn’t It Romantic?’s sense of wit may be, this is hardly new territory. Romcoms have been parodied countless times before and with a more daring sense of originality (think 2014’s They Came Together, starring Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd) and the film’s trio of writers – Erin Cardillo, Dana Fox and Katie Silberman – are clearly still too fond of the genre to really stick the knife in. In fact, it’s a film that manages to play up to convention as much as it tries to deconstruct it, since its story of Natalie finding self-acceptance, and falling back in love with herself, still merrily trots out all the expected tropes of the genre.

Thankfully, however, Wilson knows how to sell her character’s journey. While she’s been so often typecast as the “shameless, outrageous friend”, here Wilson is given the opportunity to soften her comedic image slightly and play the relatable everywoman. It’s a part she excels at, allowing us to get swept up in the movie’s more romantic swells. Hemsworth, meanwhile, adds comedic chops to his list of talents, much like his brother Chris did in 2016’s Ghostbusters. Isn’t it Romantic? is a fun time, even if it doesn’t quite know what it wants to say. Maybe the message of self-love means also accepting our love of dopey romcoms?

Isn’t It Romantic? is out now on Netflix