Imagine you were living in a romantic comedy, and partway through you figured it out.
What is Isn’t It Romantic about?
Isn’t It Romatic is several things: a Rebel Wilson vehicle, yes, and a romantic comedy in the twisted, post-ironic way we now insist on. And it’s a continuation of the tradition of exploring what it would actually be like to live in our beloved fictions that also gave us Watchmen, Lost in Austen and I guess Don Quixote if you want to get pretentious about it, plus several unkillable memes.
Because dumb macho swagger Stockholm syndrome, in short.
Romantic comedies are getaways from reality for a lot of us. You’re not supposed to try to figure them out — you watch them to not think. But if you watch them and do think, many are kind of appalling. In Four Weddings and a Funeral, for instance, someone marries Hugh Grant.
It’s no wonder that Natalie — Wilson’s character — goes home as soon as possible and starts banging her head against the wall. So would you. Eventually, though, she has to figure out how to operate in a soapy, slushy PG-13 world where New York smells nice and she can’t even swear.
Who stars in Isn’t It Romantic?
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls025720609/videoplayer/vi979745305
Lead character Natalie is played by Rebel Wilson. Her love interest is played by Liam Hemsworth, who you’re more likely to remember from The Hunger Games. Other characters include Adam Devine as Josh, Natalie’s work friend, Priyanka Chopra as a yoga ambassador, and Betty Gilpin as Natalie’s close friend and assistant.
What kinds of reviews is Isn’t It Romantic getting?
Mixed, with 69% on Rotten Tomatoes (54% audience score). While some reviewers praise its rule-breaking approach, and many enthuse over Rebel Wilson’s performance and casting, others point out that isn’t It Romantic is in some ways less than the sum of its parts; ‘so busy working to remind you of everything it’s trying not to be,’ says Mashable’s Angie Han, ‘that it never quite gets around to figuring out what it actually is.’
In other words, this is a movie that’s going to land a whole lot harder if you haven’t been watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Where can I watch Isn’t It Romantic?
It’s a Warner Bros movie, released at the beginning of February this year — and out internationally on Netflix on February 28. You should be able to stream it direct from Netflix anywhere in the world if you have a Netflix subscription (or a friend who will share their password…)
Do I need to be in the USA to watch Isn’t It Romantic?
No. You should be able to watch the movie from anywhere in the world — it’s available in the US, Australia, the UK, Europe and Asia and Africa. If you have Netflix, you have Isn’t It Romantic.
But doesn’t Netflix give different TV to different places?
Sure does. But it doesn’t want to. The proof’s in the pudding: Netflix Originals are usually available everywhere all at once. If Netflix wanted to geoblock why would they give us GLOW all at the same time?
No, Netflix geoblocks because third-party rights holders insist on it.
But it looks like those days might be over. If you want to watch legacy TV it’s still going to be an issue, but Warner Brothers were negotiating with Netflix without the power they once had to set the terms of the discussion. This time, they got a scant fortnight between the theatrical release and global streaming availability; how long before that telescopes down to nothing?
