A romantic film: Priyanka Chopra finally justifies her presence in Hollywood | Hollywood

It's not romantic, that's what Priyanka Chopra has to do best during her brief stay in Hollywood, and she's barely there. That is the mediocrity of the projects in which she participated – and this includes the little seen A child like Jake – that a glorified cameo here is better than all her network performance in Baywatch.

She is in, like, two-and-a-half scenes, generously speaking. But luckily she spends the rest of the movie on a billboard that is often in the background of larger scenes. Thus, even when she does not speak and the spotlight is, so to speak, on the lead role of the film (Rebel Wilson), her presence often weighs heavily – like an airbrush reminder of the genre of film that 39; Is not It Romantic makes satire. [19659005] Look here at the trailer of this is not romantic

This is exactly the kind of movie that's out there. she should have continued when she moved for the first time in the West, instead of letting herself go very far went looking for the idea of ​​becoming a TV star or some kind of exotic import – a little like Sofia Vergara. It presents the undeniable cynicism of modern romantic comedies that we all learned to accept. Yet he has no qualms about adopting some of the more obsolete aspects of the genre.

This gives her an excuse to crack her unbalanced smile, to speak with that culturally ambiguous accent that she likes to wear, and to also be part of a singing and dancing number (rather well done).

But unlike some similar Bollywood (or even Hollywood) films from which he is inspired, Is not It Romantic gives the agency of his female character. And even if it takes the character of Natalie – it's the character of Rebel Wilson – the whole film to draw valuable achievements, the 88-minute film barely lets you contemplate its flaws.

Like Natalie, we were conditioned by clbadic romantic comedies (and movies in general) to have some inaccessible expectations of life. After watching The Dark Knight, I was convinced that my life would be incomplete without at least 35 Batman figurines

but unless you are completely stupid, you know better than to expect to live as a character. Julia Roberts or Drew Barrymore. . It is a valuable lesson that Natalie's mother teaches her when she is a child. But several years later, she is hit in the head, which makes her sink into the kind of saccharine fantasy she ended up despising in adulthood, with a gay best friend, a mortal enemy to fight and a angry heart to pursue.

This is the second Netflix project in less than months that locks its protagonist into an imaginary world against their will. But while Russian Doll has other ideas in mind, Is not It Romantic is especially concerned about the portrayal of women in films like this one. He pbades Bechdel's test and succeeds brilliantly, while maintaining his non-confrontational facade and his morality as PG 13.

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Director Todd Strauss-Schulson knows something about genre tropes – he had already squeezed teen horror movies with his latest film, Final Girls. Her approach here is to turn the parts of "reality" as a dramatic comedy and fantastic segments like a Karan Johar film with a larger budget. Portable cameras are discarded for aerial and visual shots that seem to have been slapped with an Instagram filter. Starbucks cups magically appear in the hands of the characters and intercity trips that would normally be interrupted by traffic jams every two minutes are erased in favor of superb driving montages that last (precisely) 18 seconds.

Rebel Wilson is particularly charming. in the lead role. She has just what is needed of vulnerability and coolness, and her unkempt optimism fits perfectly with the tone of the film. Not once – and I consider it a minor victory – has Natalie's weight ever been mentioned or made fun of in any way?

Is not it romantic, it's not the kind of movie you'd like to present to your parents, but it's a perfectly acceptable adventure – the kind of movie that hurts you in a busy street, offers timid excuses, asks you for coffee and quickly disappears from your life the next day.

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The author tweets @RohanNaahar

First publication:
February 28, 2019 1:16 pm IST