‘Isn’t It Romantic’ Is a Tour-de-Farce of Your Favorite Rom-Com Clichés

Improbable meet-cutes, pointless flash mobs, and spontaneous, somehow perfectly choreographed karaoke scenes are some of the enshrined elements of romantic comedies that have long deserved an affectionate parody. Director Todd Strauss-Schulson invites skeptics of pyrotechnical romance into the perspective of Natalie (Rebel Wilson), who is an uncompromising cynic when it comes to sappy love stories, as becomes clear when she launches into a tirade against romantic comedies: “All those movies are lies set to terrible pop songs.” Of the adorably clumsy female protagonist (think Bridget in “Bridget Jones’s Diary”), Natalie says, “In real life, people would think you have muscular dystrophy.” One day, Natalie suffers a concussion and awakes to find that she is living the charmed life of a romantic comedy heroine. She puzzles at her new, beautified surroundings, saying, “This isn’t an emergency room. This is a Williams Sonoma.”

It seems that in setting out to upend tropes, Strauss-Schulson has minted his own ironic brand of rom-com (after all, as much as Natalie despises them, her story sure resembles one), one based on a careful calculus, rather than fairy-dust alchemy. After watching 80 romantic comedies as part of his research, he became attuned to the slightest of visual rom-com tropes. Even the half-moon windows in Natalie’s pristine Tiffany box of an apartment harken back to romantic symbolism, as arches in tarots are fittingly associated with new beginnings. As if casting a comedy skit, Strauss-Schulson reprises clichés (the unwitting curmudgeon who finds love, the best friend whose only apparent hobby is meddling in the protagonist’s personal life) in mocking others, as his main characters tend to be two-dimensional (perhaps self-consciously so — such ambiguity might attest to his genius rather than his negligence). However, he manages to thumb his nose at so many hokey rituals, logistical flaws, and unaccountable details of romantic comedies through consistently hilarious, snappy dialogue that his thoroughness and economy make up for what his characters lack in complexity.

Strauss-Schulson inventively sheds light on the manipulative optics of romance on the big screen, on the cosmically auspicious worlds in which lovelorn (but not for long!) female protagonists reside, where sunlight is brighter and where there is no traffic. In a sobering moment, Natalie marvels at how differently people treat her in her fantastical new world, “Guys look at me in the eyes.” Blake (Liam Hemsworth), Natalie’s love interest, partakes in peacock-like showmanship — for their first date, he whisks her off to a private dinner on a yacht and they kiss in the middle of a suspiciously deserted New York street. But besides Natalie, whom Wilson bestows with a perfectly wry deadpan, the characters who exist to set her love life in motion, like Whitney (Betty Gilpin), Natalie’s sentimental and supportive secretary, aren’t developed beyond choice comedic moments that make for convenient zingers and that affirm their own clichéd roles. At times, Strauss-Schulson seems to adopt the tropes he would otherwise parody, had he not decided to create his own romantic comedy that is confined by the strictures of the genre. Blake, a vapid cardboard cutout of a hot man who woos Natalie with his flinty gazes and limited vocabulary, serves as the perfect foil for Josh (Adam Devine), the nice guy who almost finishes last (think Matt in “13 Going on 30”). The unsavory aspects of Blake’s personality only grate on her when it’s the time for her to act on her newly-realized love for Josh, who has become entranced by Isabella (Priyanka Chopra), a swimsuit model and yoga ambassador — although it’s always patently clear that even in this dreamscape, Natalie isn’t fooled by Blake’s acrobatics.

It’s difficult to keep up with all the delightful nuances of romantic gamesmanship Strauss-Schulson parodies, especially when they’re subtle. In Natalie’s life of drudgery, her promising work is overlooked and Blake, a client at her architectural firm, hands her an unsolicited coffee order. In Natalie’s new romantic dreamscape, Strauss-Schulson ups Blake’s mystique by giving him an Australian accent. When Blake approaches her, he writes his phone number on flower petals and drops them into her hat, which pairs with an Amal Clooney-esque outfit — because of course, every rom-com heroine must own an exquisite wardrobe she can’t afford. Natalie’s matted dog is perfectly groomed, Instagrammable, and obedient, for once. Her tetchy neighbor Donny (Brandon Scott Jones) has been reborn as her gay best friend, the kind that exists to dote on the rom-com heroine’s every concern. He sing-songs, “I’m going to drop you off at the office on my way to no plans whatsoever.” A makeover montage song comes on in her closet before she stops it in its tracks. When Blake gets into bed with her, Natalie can’t actually enjoy the night with him, as per most PG-13 romantic comedies, which cut to the next day. She quickly realizes why she wouldn’t want her life to be a movie, despite the fact that everything in her new world is palatable, down to the peripheral characters. Before she can throw herself in front of a train to awake from this special hell, Natalie is saved by a hunky Officer Hansom.

Initially, Natalie is convinced that she only needs someone to fall in love with her in order to awake from her living nightmare. But “Isn’t It Romantic” is particularly refreshing because Natalie doesn’t wait for the worm to turn, for some fantastical intervention that will set her life aright. She must see herself differently, just as Amy Schumer’s character in “I Feel Pretty,” a critically panned but enjoyable film, does when she recognizes the transformative power of self-love. It’s comforting to see Strauss-Schulson acknowledge the enduring charm of the rom-com as a genre, despite his jesting. He comes full circle with a schmaltzy but heartwarming notion of his own: Magic is in discovering something that is already there, underneath a prosaic reality. Best friends realizing inopportunely that they’re in love with each other isn’t necessarily the most original premise (think “Friends with Benefits” and “My Best Friend’s Wedding”). As Natalie plows through a meet-cute in progress in Washington Square Park, Josh tells her, “You’re blind to love. You don’t even see it.” To a trained eye, love is all around.

—Staff writer Claire N. Park can be reached at claire.park@thecrimson.com.