Not watching this movie earlier is one of my big regrets for 2022, but for the first film I watched in 2023, it’s set a high bar for fun and squeezing in as many romance tropes as possible. It was like Oprah: a trope for you, and a trope for you, and a trope for you…
- only 1 bed
- enemies to lovers
- omni-competent romantic suspense hero–who is not the actual hero
- forced proximity
- co-workers (of sorts)
- a road trip, albeit through the jungle with leeches
- and more…
It also tackles the writing life and the romance genre with humor but never condescension. From the homage to the Fabio covers of the 1980s complete with wind machines and Loretta (Sandra Bullock) ducking her agent Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) while drinking Chardonnay in the bathtub to the witty banter, it’s just a fun movie. And the sequined jumpsuit. And the Romancing the Stone vibes. And Daniel Radcliffe as the villain. And the social media assistant–although I really identified with some of Loretta’s expressions because I still use a flip phone and also didn’t understand what Allison (Patti Harrison) was saying. Then there was omni-competent Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt). The sheer fun and over-the-top rescue…I laughed so much.
More seriously, though, it was delightful to watch the relationship between our romance novelist Loretta and her cover model Alan (Tatum Channing) develop. I loved that it’s Alan who defies Loretta’s assumptions about him and provides the best line about not being ashamed of something that brings people pleasure and basically tells Loretta ‘how dare you insult your readers by calling what you write “schlock”‘. I also enjoyed Loretta’s arc from grief to risking her heart again, and as a former academic, of course she had to take the manuscript fragment and find out where the clues led.
Anyway. I’ll be watching this again, and I recommend it.
And remember the excellent advice for writing romance: “Can’t come out of the gate with the Throb.”–Loretta Chase, The Lost City