Warning: May Contain Spoilers!

A fresh take on romantic comedies, Isn’t It Romantic? hit theaters on February 13th, displaying a journey of finding love in New York City, poking fun at romantic stereotypes and clichés. Although the movie begins from the dispiriting perspective of Natalie, played by Rebel Wilson, on all things romance, the plotline picks up when she hits her head and finds herself starring in a romantic-comedy-like movie. Before Natalie is injured, she is introduced to Blake, played by Liam Hemsworth, a wealthy and easily irritable businessman who works with the architectural firm where Natalie is employed. Once Natalie is hit by a food truck while walking down the streets in New York City, she suddenly notices that all things gloomy in her life have been transformed to become bright and cheerful. She is originally annoyed by this, demonstrated by her constant attempts to use profane language which are repeatedly sounded out by car horns and other noises around her. Once she is reintroduced to Blake, who now takes notice of her as a love interest, Natalie decides that her being stuck in this rom-com may not prove to be all bad. The movie then turns to show all of the time that Natalie and Blake spend together, through a slew of fancy dates and adventures that the two take. While this is all happening, Natalie’s goofy best friend from her job at the architectural firm, Josh, played by Pitch Perfect’s Adam Devine, finds himself in a fast-moving romantic relationship with a character played by Priyanka Chopra. The two of them also embark on dates and adventures together, ending in their eventual engagement party after having only been together for a short while. Natalie and Blake attend this party as a couple, but Natalie eventually realizes that the true person that she wants to be with is Josh. While standing up in the midst of Josh’s wedding ceremony, a scene that could be found in any romantic movie, Natalie falls to a tangent ending by making the statement that she truly loves herself. I found this confusing, as a few scenes later the wedding was broken off and Josh and Natalie were found together sharing a kiss, with the two of them in a relationship together in the final movie scene.

Even though the movie aimed to poke fun at what can typically be found in a romantic comedy, I found that the movie quickly turned into exactly the cliché it aimed not to be. This may be a result of the lack of comedy from Rebel Wilson, something that I, being a fan of her comedic role in the Pitch Perfect series, was hoping to see in the film. The jokes were not at all as ironic as would make sense for the plotline of the movie, and the romance aspect of the film became hard to follow after the first few scenes. I was completely thrown off during Natalie’s big speech while at Josh’s wedding. It seemed out of place in a movie that was supposed to be following the story of a girl falling in love with her best friend, the sort of storyline that has already been used countless times. However, the “I love myself” scene did bring up the point of self-love, an important moral, although it has also been used as an ending message in many romance movies, making it cliche as well.

For a movie with an intention to poke fun at the flat overuse of themes found in many romantic comedy movies, I found this movie to be bland and confusing, and a disappointment for someone looking forward to seeing Rebel Wilson in her starring and producing debut.