The film has fun poking at cinematic clichés, but it too often plays it safe rather than risk alienating fans of the romantic comedy genre
Satirizing a genre as you’re fully embracing it isn’t the easiest feat and is perhaps impossible. It’s true that every good satire is also in some way a love letter to its source material, but love it a little too much, and the Valentine’s card becomes onion-thin with the prim bite of a paper cut. Todd Strauss-Schulson’s rom-com sendup “Isn’t It Romantic” is one of those satires that wants to have its Valentine’s chocolates and eat them too.
This story, about a woman who hits her head and is thrown into a rom-com world of cliché and improbability, may abide by the rules of the genre too closely to function as a critique, and it’s a shame, because it’s almost there. Writers Erin Cardillo, Dana Fox (“How to Be Single”) and Katie Silberman (“Set It Up”) hold back from really making a statement, opting instead to adhere to a tried-and-true format.
After Amy Schumer’s woman-hits-her-head-and-believes-she’s-beautiful “self-empowerment” narrative in “I Feel Pretty,” there really couldn’t have been a better time for a parodical version of the story. There’s also the fact that rom-coms have been in high demand as of late, which makes a cautionary reminder of the genre’s shortcomings very pertinent. Here, Australian comic actor Rebel Wilson plays Natalie, a New York architect whose main job is getting coffee, designing parking garages, and generally getting grief from her boss and colleagues. “Architect” is absolutely the kind of job a character in a rom-com would have, and it would be the dummy version that doesn’t take into account that most architects are just doing the grunt work of building. Natalie’s the slightly more realistic version, albeit apparently living in a time where architects are still hand-drafting construction plans.
Watch Video: Rebel Wilson’s ‘Isn’t It Romantic’ Trailer Spoofs Every Rom-Com Cliche – But Still Has Shirtless Liam Hemsworth
When Natalie’s best friend and assistant Whitney (Betty Gilpin, “GLOW”) tries to get Natalie to recognize the value of romantic comedies, Natalie’s ready with a long list of gripes — the protagonist is always adorably tripping on things, there’s always a slow-motion scene of someone running to break up a wedding — and these will (obviously) act as the blueprint for Natalie’s journey through rom-com world when she eventually hits her head.
