Isn't it romantic? (5 Stars)

Netflix Thursday #8

Rebel Wilson plays Natalie, an Australian woman working as an architect in New York. She's good at her job, but when it comes to love she's cynical. In romantic comedies the girl always gets the handsome guy, but that's just fantasy. Natalie sees herself as a fat girl who'll never get a man.

Natalie is mugged in a subway station and is knocked unconscious. She wakes up to find herself in an alternate reality. To be more precise, she's now living in a romantic comedy. She's surrounded by handsome men who all find her attractive. She has a gay best friend who lives to serve her. Best of all, an attractive Australian billionaire is in love with her.

Everything in the world follows the rules of romantic comedies, including some amusing little details. Romantic music plays at appropriate moments. She hears voiceovers telling her what to do next. When she swears her words are beeped out, because romantic comedies are PG-13. One other amusing but less pleasant detail is that sex scenes are skipped over. What I mean is that when she has sex she immediately wakes up in the morning and doesn't remember anything that happened. Romantic love in a world without sex? Is that a place she wants to live?

Natalie also begins to question whether she's with the right man, just because he's a billionaire and is insanely handsome. Maybe she would be happier with an average man who's closer to her level. That's also an issue in romantic comedies. Romcoms tell stories of women who have to struggle to find the right man.

Natalie is already tired of the Romantiverse, as I like to call it, but she sees no way of returning to the real world. Maybe it's not right to call her old life the real world as if the Romantiverse were fake. It's just as real as the alternate universe in "Pleasantville". Her only chance of happiness is by obeying the rules of romantic comedies.

This is an underrated masterpiece. It might seem like a shallow film, but that's only because it's parodying the shallowness of romantic comedies. There are messages to be taken from the film. Watch it for yourself. It's a film that has something for everyone, whether you want to enjoy a comedy or concentrate on the film's serious aspects.

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