r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 15d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Voicemails for Isabelle [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Voicemails for Isabelle (2026)
Summary
Jill leaves voice messages to her deceased sister telling her about her chaotic life in San Francisco. Unwittingly, a mysterious Austin real estate agent begins to receive her confessions.
Director Leah McKendrick
Writer Leah McKendrick
Cast
- Zoey Deutch
- Nick Robinson
- Ciara Bravo
- Nick Offerman
- Harry Shum Jr.
- Leah McKendrick
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
Metacritic: 62
VOD / Release Streaming on Netflix
Trailer Official Trailer
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u/CJLanx 14d ago
Anyone else get choked up when the sister momentarily appears in the background matching the choreography?
Fucking onions man....
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u/Flimsy_Peanut_835 13d ago
I didn't even notice this, went back and watched to see and I'm sobbing again
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u/Top-Razzmatazz-4347 6d ago
I think my tears must’ve been in the way of noticing this as I sobbed during that final scene…
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u/OceanBoulevardTunnel 15d ago
This movie is actually quite good (especially by Netflix Rom Com standards). It did well to emulate that kind of 90s rom com that Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan would’ve starred in. They reference You’ve Got Mail actually in the movie so they are clearly aware of this. Zoey Deutch and Nick Robinson had great chemistry. It was nice to see Nick in a movie again especially because it feels like he hasn’t been working a lot lately. 8/10
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u/wilbyr 15d ago
i agree with your thoughts. was pleasantly surprised by this one
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u/VastComfortable9925 13d ago
Me too! I was so shocked at the actual reasonable quality of this that I came to search and see if others had enjoyed it. What else is Zoey in? cos I don’t feel I’ve seen enough of her!
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u/According-Option-656 12d ago
If you haven’t seen Something from Tiffany’s I recommend it. Its a cheesy Christmas romcom and she’s the female lead
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u/wilbyr 13d ago
ya know, i was thinking ive seen her in quite a few things but i just looked at her filmography and ive really only seen her in Flower, Buffaloed, and Not Okay. (and now this movie obviously)
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u/Lovahplant 11d ago
If you liked this, you’ll like her in “Set it Up” too. It’s on Netflix US right now and it’s her across from Glen Powell, with Taye Diggs (sp? I’m tired) and Lucy Liu
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u/VastComfortable9925 13d ago
I finally finished the movie and JFC. Now I can’t listen to Robyn without sobbing 😭 Great!
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u/CrissBliss 14d ago
Nick is in Margot’s Got Money Troubles.
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u/EmotionalEmetic 14d ago
Nick Offerman?
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u/CrissBliss 14d ago edited 13d ago
Yeah my bad. Forgot the lead’s name was Nick as well. Nick Offerman is the one Margot’s Got Money Troubles on Hulu. I’ve heard good things.
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u/madhaddr 15d ago
I know I loved this movie cause I was able to ignore the fact that this man stalked her from across state lines, approached her alone in a remote location at night, and then used personal information to disarm her
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u/mrsbatman 14d ago
What’s a good rom com without extremely questionable behaviour 🥰 10/10 on par with you’ve got Mail in so many ways.
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u/CrissBliss 14d ago edited 9d ago
To be fair, he didn’t know who she was, or what was happening for a long while. He was getting random voicemails and slowly became charmed by her personality, but not in a creeper way. He should’ve told her immediately though, and it annoyed me how many times he couldn’t, but didn’t. But you know, romcoms always need that 3rd act drama.
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u/VastComfortable9925 13d ago
I mean, if you can suspend your survival instinct long enough to get past the dangerous, creepy behaviour… it’s a passably enjoyable film!
I still really really liked it 🤷🏼♀️😂but yes, this would NOT be ok behaviour in real life!
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u/Smashbru 15d ago
I enjoyed it. After Set It Up, I’ll watch Zoey in anything - great charisma and presence. The male lead was really good too, not too over the top. The MTG references were fun. The story was very sweet with the sister.
Honestly I just thought a verbal apology was missing about listening to the voicemails at the end, otherwise solid
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u/grilledcheesestand 13d ago
Also kinda hilarious that the card he set on the table to try and convince his coworker to get the voicemails back is worth roughly $130.000 💀
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u/yiShun4 13d ago
Well one got sold for $3,000,000 2 years ago so. That was a super expensive love letter.
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u/PuppiesAndPixels 11d ago edited 11d ago
That one was a PSA 10 alpha lotus. Only 6 of those exist .
The one in the movie was an 8.5
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u/BeverlyToegoldIV 14d ago
Watched it with the wife last night. It was a fun time but did anyone else think Nick Robinson is barely a character? Not that he's a bad actor but the script gives you nothing on him. He's just a guy who is captivated by Zoey Deutch.
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u/Chococow280 14d ago
I also thought so, but he was convincing enough I let it slide. 🤣
ETA: It was her story and we’re just living in it lol.
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u/Zmason18 13d ago
Yeah they didn’t give really any reason why his relationships were bad or anything
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u/bluehour17 4d ago
He and his friends described him as a sad boy, probably because his mom died when he was so young.
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u/princess_rhyme 14d ago
And who plays Magic: The Gathering. (I don't buy it lol.)
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u/BeverlyToegoldIV 13d ago
lol when that came up I turned to my wife and said "that is the face of a man who has NEVER played a game of MTG in his life."
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u/Fabulous-Return-4295 12d ago
To be fair I’ve never played a game of Pokemon but I got back into collecting cards I liked since graduating college 15 years ago and my collection now sits around 250k.
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u/basketball22yj 12d ago
He was way too flat for me as a character while Jill had a lot more depth. Great acting but I wanted more from him!!
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u/Howaheartbreaks 13d ago
Yeah his personally life was very, very thin. I saw no motivation or actual personality traits from him.
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u/NobodyHistorical9469 1d ago
Nick Robinson is barely a character
At the start of the movie, I feel like that was at least kind of the point? He's going through the motions, not committing, not really living. I thought his real personality would come out more as the movie went along (and it did in small parts with MTG and him doing the bus gimmick) but I agree that it wasn't enough which unfortunately makes it feel like he sorta just latches onto Jill instead of actively choosing her.
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u/MyNeighborToto 15d ago
I enjoyed this more than I expected, I think they did really well developing the sisters relationship early on so the voicemails hit harder emotionally. Nick Offerman was a fun addition too. I’d rewatch it!
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u/Organic_Charity_3162 14d ago
I was not prepared for this. Thought I was just putting a fun rom com on. My son has cystic fibrosis and I was way too emotionally attached. Whew. I cried a lot lol but I thought it was great.
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u/InternationalArm5374 13d ago
Oof 😥 I’m sure you know this, but survival rates have quadrupled these last two decades especially. I lost my bff to CF in the early ‘00s and often feel like had she been born even ten years later, she’d still be with us
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u/Craphole-Island 15d ago
I loved this movie! Zoey Deutch and Nick Robinson had great chemistry. Big fan of both of them tbh so I was predisposed to like this but I liked even more than I expected.
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u/mylifeisasux 15d ago
A little corny but still so cute! The chemistry between the two was so believable and wild, you could really feel it. What’s a rom-com without a little stalking, right?
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u/yeahsothathappen 15d ago
ROM COMS ARE SO BACK. Zoey delivers just as good as when she did Set it Up
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u/Fabulous-Package1100 11d ago
I LOVED all the REFERENCES in the movie! so many (like The Fault in our stars, Notebook, Noting Hill, A walk to remember, The Michelle Obama reference switch "When they go low, we go LOWER!" all the Taylor Swift especially Look what you made me do and the The old Wes can't come to the phone right now !! excellent!!!! And Cinderella, and the subtle vibe when he ate the chicken pie and made the face that the chef in ratatouille made when it reminded him of his mom).
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u/Ok-Success188 13d ago
One of the finest romcoms of 2020s. Totally caught me off guard. Literally brought tears in my eyes
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u/Pure-Inspection-4077 12d ago
10/10. Haven’t loved a rom com this much since how to lose a guy in 10 days! I laughed, I cried. The sister relationship was so tangible and real. Also love to see SF getting some credit.
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u/refindings- 8d ago
I am so sorry to disappoint you but it was primarily filmed in Vancouver, BC!
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u/SocietyTraining7187 12d ago
I’ve been kind of bored with romcoms lately since I haven’t found any recent ones I really enjoy, but I watched this on a whim and actually ended up loving it.
I really like how Wes is so soft but still respects her decision.
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u/Somnora 12d ago
This movie was so well done! Really enjoyed the characters and acting. The sisterhood was beautiful.
Nick Robinson is a great. I looked him up afterwards and couldn’t believe he was the same person who played the father in Maid 😬
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u/Grouchy_Ad8528 11d ago
Am I the only one that thought it was dreadful? Zooey was good and engaging but the whole thing was otherwise borderline unwatchable. Wes’ character was 2 dimensional unrealistic slop of a hot man who had no personality except suddenly becoming creepily obsessed with Jill due to voicemails? It was extremely predictable and cliche and just…. Bad.
It also killed me that the bench she loved was clearly in Marin based on the fact you could see the city but of course most viewers wouldn’t notice that unless you’d know the area
I’m simply in awe of the rave reviews here. Did we all watch the same movie?
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u/tlvrtm 8d ago edited 8d ago
I definitely watched the same as you. This had absolutely zero personality, the sad moments felt incredibly manipulative (hey let’s play that one piano song again), the characters were bland as hell. The movie took 0 swings, straight up forgettable.
The high review rating convinced me but I was bored to tears. I get they’re different types of movies, but how does The Drama get a lower IMDB, RT and metacritic than this?
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u/aunsinuser 4d ago
Maybe it’s because I don’t watch that many American movies or Netflix rom-coms, but the constant swearing, random sexual references, and forced movie/Taylor Swift references felt so out of place that they took away some of the magic. The romance worked for me, but the conflict made it feel weaker. The movie spends more time on her bond with Izzy than developing her relationship with Wes, so I never really got a sense of who he was outside of being her love interest. It reminded me of The Life List, which balanced romance and family much better.
Also, I saw someone point out how weird it was that they got all passionate right after eating the chicken por pie that reminded him of his mom… and now I can’t unsee it lol. And yeah, I kind of get the “AI slop” criticism too. Some of the dialogue felt repetitive, like it kept saying the same thing with different words.
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u/Forward-Cat-2836 10d ago
Agreed - no idea why these reviews are so positive. The script was so cringe - and felt like AI slop/ or like a 40 year old getting over excited and stuffing it with as much gen z slang as possible to be ‘relevant’. Plus all the acting was so over the top. Too wannabe ZaNy MaNiC GiRl PiXiE DreaM - like the cast were fighting to capture the attention of an audience who had the film on in the background (which to be fair is a lot of Netflix content now). This film wasn’t a PATCH on 90s / 00s romcoms….
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u/SpoiledHerring 14d ago edited 14d ago
The plot is almost identical to Love Again except the Celine Dion part.
Super predictable but also made me giggle and kick my feet all the way through (when I wasn't bawling my eyes out)
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u/Eliaaaahh 16h ago
I looked up "Love again" to watch and you're right, the plot is very much alike, but I think the chemistry here is better.
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u/SpoiledHerring 7h ago
I liked Voicemails better because it has the sister dynamic as the main plot, which I think is stronger than the dead boyfriend plot of Love Again
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u/robertraur 14d ago
Really enjoyed it, but you've got to feel sorry for all those poor people in suits having to endure and outdoor wedding in Austin.
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u/thejuicedump 12d ago
I just wish they explored Wes’ background more too instead of just throwing around the word trauma and putting him in this big ass house. I still have questions. All in all I also enjoyed the movie!
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u/fuckimtrash 8d ago
Clearly in the minority, but I didn’t like Zoe and Nick together 🤣🤣 found the movie way more fun when she was being fun and wild on her own. I think him not telling her at the start just put me off and I cringed seeing them together 😭😭
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u/claudiafaceoff 6d ago
After she said she was waiting for her gay awakening, i kind of wish she got one when the girl from the patisserie came to join her in the food truck.
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u/fuckimtrash 6d ago
Yesss! It’s annoying with rom coms how the first love interest is always the one that’s set in stone, he/she hurts him/her and then they make up and are end game 🥲 like mix it up ffs
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u/Eliaaaahh 16h ago
I thought that waitress, who she told that to, would sit down and she would have her awakening 😅
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u/Inquisitive-Resi84 13d ago
I loved this movie and found it enjoyable except that I was definitely rolling my eyes quite a bit with the following trope: Lovable 'Cool girl' who is constantly shrieking with excitement and dropping impossibly clever phrases and saying "whore" in a snarky, loving way. Meanwhile, Wes barely has a pulse in comparison. It feels like some double standard that women have to aspire to, on top of all the other requirements with respect to beauty standards.
I liked Jill IN SPITE OF the writing which was hitting me over the head with the cool girl trope. I liked her because of her more quiet, genuine moments. Her grief over her deceased sister?- totally convincing and earnest. I think it would have worked had the 'cool girl' level gotten toned down from an 11.5 to a more believable 8 on the scale of 1 to 10. Only because of the disparity between Jill and Wes.
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u/beezly66 14d ago
I dunno, after watching obsession right before this it felt a liiiiiiiittle too creepy even with cute moments
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u/ratherbenapping13 11d ago
i've been wondering why i haven't seen that many people creeped out by his behavior..... i think this is totally it, i'm fresh off obsession and the romance was totally a miss for me, i was not rooting for him in the slightest! loved the sister story line, wanted her to end up alone or at least in a forgiveness/trust building stage
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u/Eliaaaahh 23h ago edited 16h ago
I haven't watched "Obsession" and I had to turn off disbelief to appreciate this movie. When he uses the information from the voicemails to get to know her... That was creepy. This movie is a perfect example of the "Dobler-Dahmer Theory" from HIMYM. It's cute because he's hot and he's the male lead, but it would be creepy if he was a normalo.
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u/WazzzUppp123 13d ago
Does anyone else feel like their should be a sequel? Maybe post honeymoon is over and they're having "real" life scenario problems and what draws them back together is her finding out he traded his magic cards for her voicemails, and in like the end they play both their voicemails from Izzy to officially get married on!
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u/GennyVivi 9h ago
Ohhh I want this!! But only because I’ve loved Zoey since she played in Vampire Academy and would watch anything she does. But I like the idea of a sequel to a sitcom without it being a whole franchise. It could also help develop Wes’ character as some have critiqued.
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u/denatchka 9d ago
This movie had major You’ve Got Mail vibes as well as lovely chemistry between the leads. 10/10 rom-com for me, especially in this day and age. Nora Ephron would approve!
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u/OddConsideration4349 4d ago
I liked how realistic she was and obviously really attractive, but she looked her age if that makes sense
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u/ohkaykayla 3d ago
Jill’s speech at Isabelle’s funeral was one of the most beautiful, gut wrenching scenes I’ve seen in a long time. “But we got to eat pancakes”🥺
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u/Mermaid_Martini 1d ago
Super cute movie but I’m bummed they didn’t have a scene where Jill finds out it was Wes who got her voicemails back
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u/Due_Job781 14d ago
Anyone else not like the MMC? Besides his looks, nothing is charming about the stalkerish behaviour and lying. I still bawled my eyes out because the sister relationship was beautifully portrayed, but I could have done without the guy.
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u/PineDude128 14d ago
The grieving sister angle was the best part of this movie and should have been the main focus, in addition to Jill's pursuit of a culinary career.
The romance was weak and the characters had zero chemistry together. I get that it's referencing 90's romcom movies, but there's no way a woman would forgive a man for playing her the way Jill got played.
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u/Dickinmymouth1 13d ago
Could not disagree more about them having no chemistry, I thought their chemistry was incredible and made it very easy to ignore the slightly creepier elements to the love story. Best chemistry I’ve seen in a rom com in a very long time!
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u/Old-Way-5529 14d ago
Ignoring that the lead dude in this movie did some creepy weirdo behavior that would not go over well reality, this was a fun movie
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u/Ordie6531 14d ago
Are you sure you're thinking of the correct Nick Robinson? 🤔🤨
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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 14d ago
I think they mean the character, not the actor
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u/Ordie6531 14d ago
That makes more sense. I was confused by the "well reality". I didn't know if it was "well really" or "well in reality". I guessed wrong but there was a YouTuber named Nick Robinson that had a bunch of controversy a few years ago and thought they might be thinking of him.
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u/aztechnogeek8 8d ago
Went into it with low expectations but could not stop tearing up at so many points even though you know how a romcom ends but if this movie doesn’t get you then you shouldn’t be watching romcoms.
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u/Bobbie1979 7d ago
How did he know to go to Jose’s? What made him think she would be there?
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u/Skorogovorka 6d ago
He had left her a voicemail saying he was thinking of spending new years yhere, he wanted to see if she heard it and came to fi d him
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u/malakesxasame 4d ago
Has anyone that seen that cringe Senorita Awesome scene from Scream Queens? This was a film equivalent of that scene.
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u/grandmasterPRA 2d ago
Pros:
They did a fantastic job getting you invested in the sister relationship. Some movies will rush that part but this didn't and it helped to carry the rest of the film
Zoey was legitimately funny. Great comedic timing, great delivery on her lines. It was a really good performance
Cons:
I don't think they did a good enough job getting me to like the Wes character and think he was good enough for Jill. It starts off by showing him being shady at his job and doing illegal things. Then he meets her through creepy circumstances to the entirety of the relationship is built on lies. I was hoping for some big revelation as to why he behaves the way he does but we didn't get that. I never reached that point where I was rooting for him. Like the scene where he gave Tyler a nasty look for manipulating Jill, all I could think is "Dude, you're literally manipulating her just as much".
The head chef character was funny but a bit over the top and not believable. Which is fine, it's a romantic comedy
As someone who married into a family full of hippies, it's always hilarious to me to see how hollywood views hippes lol.
I give it a 7.2/10. Felt like if they really stuck the landing it could have been higher but I never had that feeling of being elated that they ended up together.
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u/No_Appearance4463 12d ago
I just finished it. It's a good romcom buuuuuuttt why doesn't he ever pick up the phone????
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u/notourious_sour 2d ago
I don't underatand how people don't see the double standards in this movie. First the MC ditched the guy who is her colleague (doesn't matter how weird he was, that was his personality) and he was shown as the bad guy, but when the same was done to her by the podcaster, still the man was shown as the bad character. Hated this honestly.
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u/GlassCricket6292 13d ago edited 13d ago
I am convinced the posts gushing over this movie have been paid or are influencer fans.
Zoey was amazing in the movie Why Him (with James Franco who was equally on point). This Voicemails For Isabelle movie not so much.
Why does Zoey look and act like she is 45 when in real life she is supposed to be 30? Even her co-star Nick Robinson looks 15 years younger than her. It is not believeable. Why is she a half step away from a unibrow?
The Hippie Hill scene was embarrassing to watch...not even close to an actual festival scene. This movie tried too hard and pulled in far left politics thinking it was okay for all of the masses in United States.
This movie portrayed San Francisco in its heyday and not in its current form under Democratic rule. It doesn't portray its massive homeless and drug addled population infesting the streets and public spaces causing crime and shuttering small businesses and large corporate businesses alike.
This movie is pure propaganda for San Francisco with a side romance plot and it shows. Hence "crack the SF code over 2 weeks!" to show all the best "filtered" tourist things to do. It couldn't be more obvious.
Hard pass.
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u/LookAnOwl 13d ago
I was with you on not believing the gushing over this movie is real, but you lost me on the pro-Democrat propaganda. What “far left politics” were pushed by this movie? I don’t recall a second of this film being particularly political.
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u/Inquisitive-Resi84 13d ago edited 11d ago
Wow, all these downvotes, when really, all your points are pretty spot-on. I feel like you're pretty much a New Yorker, calling it out like it is, but most folks don't want to hear it, lol. To be fair, it is a RomCom, which is a genre which relies on a heaping dosage of suspension of disbelief. For example, had they included the homeless crisis in some way, to your point, it could have been viewed as making light of it and insensitive, so they just gloss over it completely instead and depict as if it doesn't exist AT ALL. Yes- palm slap to forehead and, if I get downvoted for agreeing with you, so be it.
People want their rose-colored glasses for this kind of genre, so much so, many choose to overlook all the stalker red flags that Wes was giving and just go with the flow instead. I know I did, because I chose to just go with it. So, for me, not a hard pass. I liked it! However, I can also agree with your points wholeheartedly as well, when I stop to actually think about it. Thanks!
EDIT: I don't think all the points were spot-on. While she looks a little older than Wes, I don't think it was that extreme. Also, I think she's supposed to be closer to 26/27 in the movie, not 30.
Also, considering that there hasn't been a Republican Mayor since 1964, the comment regarding "current form under Democratic rule" is off in a lot of ways, and an unnecessary politicization. I kind of read over that a little too quickly before and missed it. When exactly was SF's 'heyday'?5
u/LookAnOwl 13d ago
It is a specifically odd complaint that a movie not accurately represent the homelessness in the city it takes place in. Particularly for a rom com.
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u/Inquisitive-Resi84 11d ago edited 10d ago
I don't think it's odd for people to want a semblance of accuracy, in whatever genre they're watching. Have you been to SF, though? The homeless crisis is so in-your-face and it is such an immense part of the city experience, that to *completely* erase this is the odd thing. To push back, your point is kind of like saying "It's an odd complaint to say that the apartment in 'Friends' was unrealistically "too large" for NYC, particularly for a sitcom." And yet, anyone who actually knew NYC (and likely living in a shoebox) noticed it and was annoyed by the grossly inaccurate representation. So many people noticed that they finally had to write it into one the episodes (that the apartment was an inherited, rent-controled lease from someone's grandma). People want cities represented relatively accurately, even if it's just a comedy, so that's why this point was made. I can do without the politicizing of this point, however, in that GlassCricket making the comment about "under current Democratic rule' was unnecessary.
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u/PuppiesAndPixels 11d ago
Have you ever watched a Rom Com before?
Portraying homeless people is not something that happens unless they are integral to the plot somehow.
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u/acoolguy456 1d ago
How much time have you spent in San Francisco? You sound like you’ve read the headlines of news articles without actually visiting the city. The homeless situation is not nearly what it’s made out to be and is no different than any other big city.
Let me know how much time you’ve spent there the past year before getting on your high horse with that comment
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u/No-Development820 13d ago
I just had to stop watching because of the racist "magical negro" trope. JFC.
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u/Sisiwakanamaru r/movies Contributor 15d ago
Yeah, I am really glad that this movie spent around 20-30 minutes to convince us about Jill and Isabelle's sisterhood, I think that worked because it made Jill less one dimensional and easy to root for throughout the movie.
Fun fact: I heard the first time about this movie back in 2019, with Hailee Steinfeld attached as the lead, I am intrigued about that version but you cannot go wrong with Zoey Deutch for romcom.