Isn’t It Romantic

Isn’t It Romantic casts Rebel Wilson as Natalie, a put-upon architect who finds herself magically transported to an archetypal romcom world after receiving a bonk on the head during a mugging – with the movie detailing Natalie’s ongoing efforts at acclimatizing herself to her new and completely idealized existence. (The character does, after all, find herself living in an impossibly spacious apartment, saddled with a stereotypical gay best friend, and forced to choose between two suitors.) There’s ultimately little doubt that Isn’t It Romantic fares best during its set-in-the-real-world sequences, as the movie’s romantic-comedy landscape, though amusing and agreeable, suffers from a been-there-done-that sort of feel that dampens its ultimate effectiveness (ie there have been many, many parodies of such movies and Isn’t It Romantic rarely treads new, unexpected ground). The movie’s mostly affable atmosphere, then, is due mostly to Todd Strauss-Schulson’s bright, fast-paced approach to the material and also to the uniformly charming performances, with, in terms of the latter, Wilson’s typically entertaining performance matched by a strong periphery cast that includes Adam Devine, Liam Hemsworth, and Betty Gilpin. The end result is a decent yet forgettable satire that, at the very least, boasts a refreshingly brisk 88 minute running time, which ensures that the picture is, if nothing else, a throwback to a time when most movies ran significantly less than two hours.

**1/2 out of ****

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