Isn’t It Romantic, or: Gratuitous Karaoke Moment

Last week’s film, which also has a title in the form of a question, was a romantic movie that failed to stir any love in our hearts. This week, our film promises to follow romantic conventions too, even as it picks them apart. Will that be enough to win over our cynical leading ladies (bloggers)? Two guesses.

The Film:

Isn’t It Romantic

The Premise:

Ambitious career lady Natalie avoids romantic entanglements until she’s trapped in a romantic comedy and must find love to escape.

The Ramble:

While growing up with an extremely jaded mother who was quick to shoot down her dreams of finding love, it didn’t take long for Natalie to become wholly disillusioned with the entire concept.

A successful, career-driven architect, Natalie has talent but lacks confidence. Everyone at the office takes advantage of her, easily persuading her to do their jobs and minor errands. Luckily, Natalie has two supporters at work: her assistant and bff Whitney (a hopeless romantic who spends most of her days watching rom-coms) and work buddy Josh (who believes in Natalie and very obviously likes her as more than a friend).

Things take a dramatic turn when, attempting to recover her purse from a mugger, Natalie is knocked unconscious. When she wakes up in a beautiful hospital with gorgeous doctors who find her confusion charming, it doesn’t take long for her to realize she’s somehow been transported to a romantic comedy. Even worse, this is a PG-13 rom-com: no sex, no swearing, and definitely no nudity.

When trying to escape her personal nightmare, Natalie is hit by billionaire Blake’s stretch limo. Whereas Blake is an obnoxious client who sends Natalie on errands to bring him coffee in reality, in this version of the world, Blake is well-mannered and clearly interested in Natalie. Realizing she may have to play by rom-com rules to escape, Natalie believes she’ll need Blake to fall in love with her and agrees to a date filled with all of the rom-com tropes.

With the help of her gay best friend Donny, who manages to appear when most convenient, Natalie will definitely have the support and over-investment in her love life we’d expect from a rom-com.

Meanwhile, at work, Natalie finds Whitney has become her archnemesis, who is determined to sabotage her before the big presentation, whatever that may be. Fortunately, Josh is still around to help Natalie navigate her strange new world. This won’t last long as, when Josh saves model Isabella from choking, he is wrapped up in a whirlwind romance. After only a few days as a couple, Isabella and Josh host a fancy party at a beach house in the Hamptons–a party that is, in fact, a surprise wedding!

What happens when it turns out Blake isn’t such a nice guy after all and Natalie becomes determined to stop the wedding? Might karaoke play a rather important role in all of this?

The Rating:

3.5/5 Pink Panther Heads

Not going to lie, this film earned a lot of points with me for its soundtrack, and even with its clichés, I love the Whitney Houston karaoke number. At the same time, the (gratuitous) karaoke scene also brought to mind Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s recent rom-com parody episode. CEG overall has an awareness that this film does not, undermining stereotypes successfully in a way that IIR doesn’t, exploring the emotional depth of its characters, and creating moments that offer genuine surprise and nuance.

IIR tries half-heartedly to do this with its opening scene in which Natalie’s resistance to romance is explained by her relationship with her horrible mother, who tells her love is a fairy tale that she doesn’t deserve (implicitly because she’s fat). There are a lot of problems here, but the one that leaps out to me is the implication from this scene that you have to be psychologically damaged to reject the possibility of (extremely heteronormative) romance in your life.

Let’s go back to the lack of self-awareness of this film. It makes me cringe that Natalie comments on the whiteness of rom-coms, yet our only character of color is Priyanka Chopra’s Isabella (who identifies as a yoga ambassador, which would require its own post to unpack). Adding one person of color to your film, workplace, etc. is NOT diversity.

Natalie is wryly funny at times, but it’s aggravating how many times she falls in ways that rely on the hilarious(?) optics of a fat body thudding to the ground. Don’t get me started on her “friendzoning” (barf barf barf) her bff Adam DeVine, whose face has always seemed very punchable to me. He’s just so mediocre that his success makes me angry.

There are also a lot of issues with the film’s attempts to take apart the gay best friend stereotype. While Donny is played by a gay actor (I Googled it), it feels more as if the audience is laughing at him than with him. There are some funny observations about this rom-com staple, like the fact that Donny is unemployed yet somehow financially secure, and dedicates all of his time to improving our heroine’s love life. This film is good at exaggerating, but it doesn’t do particularly well at anything else.

That being said, I did get some genuine laughs from this. Rebel Wilson is quite charming here, though I wish she were a bit more sharply funny and subversive too.

Would my blog wife join in a karaoke duet with this one or leave it to wither away in fantasy rom-com land? Find out in her review here!

Holy Camp, or: I-E-I Will Always Love You

This week gives us a much-needed break from full-frontal scenes depicting the male (and female) anatomy, which is a feat unto itself.  Add Whitney Houston musical numbers, strong female friendships, and lesbian themes, and we’ve got…well, a film premise constructed from our dreams, essentially.

The Film:

Holy Camp! (La llamada)

The Premise:

Teen bffs at a religious summer camp must contend with secret parties, the crushing of their dreams, visits from an unexpectedly glittery God, and attractive nuns.

The Ramble:

Maria and Susana are besties for life reluctantly spending the summer at a religious camp for teens.  While initially planning to sneak out and party every night, Maria has lost interest in their schemes.  As it turns out, she has been meeting someone else at night–God.  And he seems to be a huge fan of Whitney Houston.

This is your vision of God too, right?

After refusing to participate in a weekend canoe trip, Maria and Susana are effectively under house arrest with novice nun Milagros.  Though she tries to be stern, Milagros is too kind to be angry and bonds with Susana over their love of music.  Hmmmmmm…I wonder if perhaps Milagros has a secret past as the lead singer of a band…

Milagros isn’t the only one keeping a secret.  Susana, upset about the newfound distance between the two friends, accuses Maria of leaving her hanging.  Maria, on the other hand, thinks it’s time to grow up and forget about their dream to become a world-famous girl band.

Bestie love.

Meanwhile, Sister Bernarda is convinced she has the perfect solution for reining the girls in:  music.  Though Milagros appreciates the thought, she finds Sr. Bernarda’s taste in music…a bit dated.  This leads to perhaps the finest nun-centric musical number since The Sound of Music.

No caption needed.

Still on the outs with her bff, Maria, confides in Sr. Bernarda that God speaks to her through the songs of Whitney Houston.  Sr. Bernarda is less than understanding initially, but does eventually believe and support Maria.  With the help of the Sister, Maria learns to pray so she can understand God’s message but keeps her newfound faith a secret.

Susana is also keeping her feelings a secret.  When she sees Milagros dress up and sing into a hairbrush, reminiscing about her days as a singer, Susana develops a bit of a crush.  But does Milagros have a clue?

Right on, Mary.

Though now armed with the power of prayer, Maria feels farther than ever from God when he laughs at her efforts and walks away.  She becomes despondent after this until Susana finally visits her and the two make up.  Susana confesses to Milagros that she’s in love with her, leaving the novice stunned.

How will the two best friends heal their relationship with the ones they love?  And might it perhaps involve a choreographed glitter-suffused dance number?

The Rating:

5/5 Pink Panther Heads

Without hesitation.

I feel bad now about some of the other films I haven’t given a full 5 stars that probably deserved it.  This one definitely deserves it as it’s so fucking joyous and refreshing in so many ways.  All 4 of our leading characters are women, one of whom is rather aged.  Though she’s a bit out of touch, she is a respected and compassionate while remaining remarkably free of judgment.  The ladies of this film support each other so much, and I support that support.

The way love is explored is powerful:  spiritual love, the love between friends, and romantic love.  Both Maria and Susana express their love for each other by being true to themselves and honest with each other.  I also like the message about religion even as a completely non-religious person.  The way the faithful choose to worship is their decision–music is just as valid as prayer.

If this is what church had been like when I was growing up, you can be pretty damn sure my ass would’ve been in the pews about 3,000x more.

Was Christa singing the gospel of this film or did she convert to another immediately?  Read her review here to find out!

Anatomy of a Blog Post

For this Blogging 101 post, I’m trying 2 new things:  1.  New format.  2.  Abnormally low word count.

This is essentially the Behind the Music version of my blog (with slightly less drama, drug use, etc.).  In photos, these are the essential elements of my typical blog posts:

The essential tools. Notepad, pen, Kindle. (Don’t worry: Pontypool is coming up on the blog.)

Occasionally Joey helps while I blog.

I’m almost constantly wearing slippers. (This is the part where I hope none of you, readers, are weirdos with a foot fetish.)

This is the face I’m usually making as I watch films. It’s the face of serious analysis.

Sometimes I draw angry cats as I take scrupulous notes.

I CANNOT do this without tea.

Lately I can’t blog without Whitney.  She gets my rage.

Coming up in honor of Halloween:  Movies featuring the Brutal, Ludicrous, Or Otherwise Deranged.  Yeah…October is BLOOD month.  It will be a change of pace from the sober and reflective posts that typify this blog.