I love rom-coms, I inject that shit right into my veins and the thing is: I kinda like this movie. it had some charm, something that many rom-coms these days are lacking. it's a shame that they've could done something way better by subverting the deception trope and played more into them challenging and uplifting each other's opinions and views on relationships, instead of brushing past that within a few minutes and then they gone with that terrible climax that was weak af.
oh god, the tone is so excruciatingly at odds with itself. when I saw that Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin were teeming up again after the end of Grace and Frankie, I was excited to watch what else they were gonna do together. but I don't know which one is worse, this one or 80 for Brady.
as a kid, I thought the plot twist was cool.
rewatching, it didn't fit well at all, it's just bad. if they wanted to change the ending with a surprising twist they could've set up way better than this. it made no sense why Will would have so many things in common with Arthur and ending up not being him. making a plot twist just for the sake of it feels really cheap and unearned. if they hadn't changed the original ending the Meg Cabot's book had or decided to rewrite the whole thing to serve the ending they wanted, it would've been a solid watch, and not the mess it turned out.
love me some second chance at love romance
I'm glad I watched it, but these dragged out slow burn period movies are really not for me. I'll just take my leave and rewatch A Room With a View instead.
it's a show-stopping spectacle with lots of style, but it sure does lack in substance.
after over an hour, I needed something more to keep me engaged, I checked out half way through.
the Pierrette and Pierrot number close to the end was absolutely gorgeous, tho.
it spoke to my cynical and optimistic side. if this two awful, condescending narcissists can find each other, then there's hope.
the fact that not one single character besides the two of them has a line it's hilarious, everybody else is literally just extras in their lives, that's how self-centred they are.
Also, some scenes genuinely made me laugh. it works for me.
the musical numbers really felt completely out of place in this murder mystery, in my opinion. every time a song came on, I got surprised and annoyed because I kept forgetting it was supposed to be a musical as well. it just seemed at odds with each other and bothered the hell out of me.
the moment I would get invested, they stopped the natural pacing of the suspense to start singing. there are good musical numbers, but most of them feels unnecessary and aren't well incorporated within the story.
I felt that if it wasn't for the musical bits, I would've probably had loved the movie instead of finishing it confused and disappointed.
this movie was a great surprise, and as a Shakespeare nerd, I love it!
From all of the Kate's flop era, and there were truly some awful ones, this movie was my favourite! and by comparison it was easier for me to buy into the story after all the other incredibly bad movies she made at that time. there was something so sweet and charming, that I don't know...
it doesn't really deserve a 7, more of a 5 or 6, but I can't help it to have low-key liked this movie.
