How To Be A Latin Lover: The 46 Year Old Toy Boy

How To Be A Latin Lover is a romantic comedy film directed by Ken Marino. The plot follows Maximo (Eugenio Derbez), a man who has made a living off seducing and marrying old rich women. One day his wife realises that she wants a new toy boy and chucks him out, then Maximo goes to live with his sister Sara (Selma Hayek), and learns the value of family.

So, before we get into this I want to give this film applause for not being predictable. A lot of the time this sort of film has a very simple structure that it follows, but this one surprised me at several turns. I enjoyed how the film didn’t cave to convention and make Maximo realise the error of his ways by the end of the film. He starts the film as a toy boy and that is how he ends it; his character grows but not hugely. I was pleasantly surprised.

The comedy in this film was spot on for me and it had me laughing a lot, again as I often say humour is subjective, consistently throughout the film. I especially enjoyed Kristen Bell’s peppy cat lady character, I thought she was a scene stealer.

Overall, the best thing about this film is its heart. It is warming to watch and the relationship between Maximo and his sister is quite heart-warming to watch. Also another great supporting role by Rob Lowe.

Pros.

It has a huge heart

It is funny

Rob Lowe is terrific

The relationship between Maximo and his sister is sweet

The film is surprising

Cons.

A little too long, a few pacing issues around the second act

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

What To Expect When You’re Expecting: Expect To Be Bored

What To Expect When You’re Expecting is a romance comedy film directed by Kirk Jones. The plot follows a group of women who all get pregnant around the same time. The film takes a New Year’s Eve or Valentine’s Day approach to storytelling choosing to have each story and character exist separately with minimal crossover with the others.

This is fairly inoffensive stuff; it is just a bunch of vaguely recognisable celebrities pretending to be pregnant and going through the various trials and tribulations surrounding that stage of life. It doesn’t leave much of any kind of impression and is not really memorable afterwards.

The comedy is okay, it made me laugh a handful of times throughout, again comedy is subjective, but this is by no means funny. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, even if I can’t remember any of their names and most of the characters just kind of blend together in my head.

Maybe this film would have had more impact on me if I was a parent myself, having never had a kid I can’t say how realistic it is in that regard, nor can I say whether they sugar-coated it.

Overall it is mindless fluff, fairly generic and unmemorable. Maybe genre diehard will get something out of it, but I didn’t.

Pros.

It has a few funny moments

The cast seem to be having fun

Cons.

It is dull

Its generic

You don’t care about the characters even enough to remember their names

The humour mostly didn’t land

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

My Big Fat Greek Wedding: One Of The Family

My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a comedy romance film directed by Joel Zwick. The plot sees a young Greek woman fall in love with a non-Greek man, will her family ever accept him? Will the star-crossed lovers get to be together?

So, this is another childhood favourite of mine, I watched it a lot when I was younger and recently decided to watch it again and see if it still held up: it does.

As far as standard rom coms go this is quite generic, there have been many other films with the same plot. Two people from different backgrounds getting together and their families having to adapt to the change; it is as old as time.

However, what makes this one stand out and be so beloved by me and others is the heart. This film has one of the biggest, purest hearts of any films I have seen for a long time. It is good comfort viewing to be sure, in these bleak times something like this can have even more of an impact.

All of the characters in this film are great and incredibly loveable, the film makes you feel like part of the family. You become immersed in this world and want to see this couple get together. Crucially what this film does that many other rom coms fail to do is make you care, making the emotional and romantic journey be something that affects us the audience.

Overall, this film is good for the heart, it will make you smile and has some of the best lines that are guaranteed to make you laugh.

Pros.

The family

The romance

Hilarious

Heartfelt

Cons.

A little generic at times

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Palm Springs: Your New Favourite Rom-Com

Palm Springs is a comedy romance film directed by Max Barbakow. The plot sees Sarah (Cristin Milioti), become trapped in a time loop at her sister’s wedding, luckily she is not alone. Nyles (Andy Samberg), has been in the same time loop for so long he can no longer remember when it started, and the two of them must figure out what they need to do to move on and escape the loop.

This is a film that you should watch blind, it’s very good, but really don’t read this review until you have seen it because I don’t want to spoil anything for you, beyond the base premise. Okay.

The reason why this film is so great is because of the spot-on chemistry between Samberg and Milioti, very few other rom coms have on screen chemistry quite like this; it is in a word electric. Both give great performances, but probably my favourite of the entire cast is J.K Simmons as Roy a man who always ends up killing Nyles at the end of the day. Simmons was the scene stealer of the film for sure.

Furthermore, this film breaths new life into the played-out time loop sub-genre, using it for something new and exciting. Yes, Happy Death Day had a romance plot line and also a time loop set-up, but that was far more of a horror than anything else.

Overall, this is a lovely film and one I highly recommend you see!

Pros.

Samberg

Milioti

The romance

The new twist on time loops

J.K Simmons

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Desperados: The Dead Heart Of The Rom-Com Genre Beats Again

Desperados is a romantic comedy film directed by LP. The plot sees unlucky in love Wesley (Nasim Pedrad), head to Mexico to break into the hotel room of a man she has feelings for so that she can delete a drunken email she sent that might jeopardise their whole burgeoning relationship.

I had a lot of fun with this film, more than I have had with any film in a while. Yes, the premise is ridiculous and makes no sense and the more you think about it the dumber it is. Yes, the final reveal of Wesley realising the man she has been perusing all film isn’t right for her and instead that Sean (Lamorne Morris), the guy who has been by her side through it all, is the one for her is painfully obvious and reeks of cliché. However, if you just turn you brain off, this film has a lot of charm.

The leads have both proven themselves to be great comedic talents in my book, so when I put this on I knew they were going to entertain me, and I wasn’t wrong. Pedrad is super likeable and easy to root for and has many funny lines, but the real reason why her character works so well is the chemistry she has with Lamorne Morris. Morris himself is a delight and this film proved him as a strong romantic leading man.

Overall, this is quite the delightful watch, yes it has its problems, but for the most part it is a lot of fun.

Pros.

The comedy

Pedrad

Morris

The romantic chemistry

Cons

It wastes time on setting upside characters

Robbie Amell is wooden

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Mickey Blue Eyes: Sleazey

Mickey Blue Eyes is a romantic comedy with a crime twist directed by Kelly Makin. The plot follows auctioneer Michael (Hugh Grant), who finds out his fiancé’s family is heavily involved in the Mafia, he then becomes tangled in a web of lies and half-truths which culminates in a shooting at his wedding.

I enjoyed the premise of this film, I thought it had a lot of good potential and to a degree I was right, but there is also a lot wrong with this film, including said premise losing its charm after about twenty minutes in.

So, one thing I loved about this film was the number of cameos from Sopranos actors, I took great delight in pointing out each one as they came on the screen. In my mind I like to think the film is set in the same universe as the show, it makes it a hell of a lot better.

The big issue with this film at least to me is that it is a Hugh Grant rom com, but Grant doesn’t have any of that bumbling British charm that made him so popular. Not only does Grant not have any kind of charm, but his character is often downright dislikeable and to be honest by the end of the film you really aren’t rooting for him anymore.

I feel like that is the problem, this is more trying to put rom-com star Hugh Grant in a crime film than it is trying to put crime elements into a rom-com. The two tones don’t work and what you’re left with is a forgettable mess.

Overall, this film has no charm.

Pros.

The cameos

The premise

Cons.

It doesn’t make the most of the premise

Hugh Grant is charmless

The two tones don’t work well together

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Princess Diaries 2: Formulaic Isn’t A Good Thing

The Princess Diaries 2 is a fantasy romance family film directed by Garry Marshall. The plot sees Mia (Anne Hathaway), searching out someone to marry so that she can become Queen, once her Grandmother (Julie Andrews), steps down from the throne or dies.

So this is just more of the same from the first film, if you liked that you will like this, that’s it.

However, I didn’t like this very much, in fact I thought it was painfully average. I thought that the jokes and charm of the first film are gone and the gimmick of the American girl who is not like everyone else in a foreign country gimmick gets old fast. This film really needed some new material, but fatally it doesn’t have any and sticks too closely to the first film.

The romance plotline doesn’t help matters as it feels a bit too mushy and sickly sweet, I rolled my eyes more than a few times. Usually, I believe a good romance side plot or main plot can save any film, but here it proves to be its undoing.

The actors Hathaway, Andrews and Pine are trying their best, but sadly they have nothing to work with from a script the feels cobbled together from a child’s fairy princess tea party material.

Ultimately this film can’t shake the feeling that it was solely made for the money and no one on the creative side really cared about it; those two things are painfully apparent.

Pros.

The actors try

It is more of the same

Cons.

The romance is too cheesy

The script is a train wreck

It is one of the most cynically made for the money type films I have ever seen

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The High Note: That Is Inaccurate

High Note is a music romance film directed by Nisha Ganatra. The plot follows Maggie (Dakota Johnson), a personal assistant to a former worldwide star who dreams of more. Then one day she meets David (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), a young talented musician who might be her big break. A romance follows.

To me this is A Star Is Born but without the chemistry. We have seen this before, similar films that show a romance blossoming to the backdrop of the music industry and I don’t know why, but I expected more from this film, the first half an hour told me to expect it, but it just feel apart.

The only two good things about this film, that I almost turned off three times, are Johnson and a rare great performance from Ice Cube. Johnson and Ice Cube are both trying to make something out of what they have been given, but they can’t change the fact that what they have is cliché tripe that is so laughably predicatable you can turn it off after 15 minutes and know the ending.

It gets worse, this is one of the most melodramatic, overly mushy films I have ever seen. The filmmaker and writer seem quite set on making every little thing into a huge dramatic event, in such a way that it would put the finest soap opera to shame.

Overall, this is contrived and overly familiar with no charm or chemistry to make it worthwhile. Much like Johnson’s 50 Shades films there is no chemistry here and the romance and plot fall apart.

Pros.

Johnson

Ice Cube

Cons.

It is too mushy

It is too melodramatic

The leads have no chemistry

It feels like a retread of about 100 different rom-coms

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

I Give It A Year: Don’t Give This 5 Minutes

I Give It A Year is a British rom com directed by Dan Mazer. The plot sees a couple’s relationship become tested as their family and friends debate whether they can last.

Strap in this is another one I strongly disliked.

So call me old fashioned, but being in a couple isn’t the worst thing in the world? Maybe I am alone in this, if this film is to be believed I am. This film is constantly telling you how bad being in a relationship is, every minute, characters are often encouraging the leads to cheat and worse. Yeah it’s a real bad message all round.

This film is one of the most cynical pieces of trash I have ever watched. It seems to revel in ripping down each of its character joy and likes to punish its leads for even being in a relationship. It does this all through the medium of really poor jokes that are of highly questionable taste, I was under the belief that jokes are supposed to be funny. Clearly this film never got the memo.

All of the characters are the worst kind of people and are gratingly unlikable. The distinct lack of any kind of charm really makes this a hard watch, there were multiple times when I wanted to turn this off.

Overall, this film reads as someone who is bitter and resentful towards relationships so has created a film designed to mock them with such blinding cynicism that it is hard to watch. This one should be avoided at all costs.

Pros.

None

Cons.

The characters are awful

It mocks people for being in a relationship

The cynicism is unbearable

It is not funny

You want to turn it off after the first ten minutes

0/5

Reviewed by Luke

You’ve Got Mail: A Spam Email

You’ve Got Mail is a romantic comedy film directed by Nora Ephron. The plot sees millionaire Joe Fox (Tom Hanks), begin emailing independent bookstore owner Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan). For most of the film they don’t know who is on the other end of the email. However, the two do have many interactions in the real world and hate each other bitterly, can you see where this is going?

This film manages to do the impossible, it makes Tom Hanks unlikable. Both the characters in this are deeply unlikeable and cliché filled, but before I get into that I just want to tell you a little something about Tom Hank’s character. So he is a ruthless millionaire you seems to care about no one but himself, he treats the people around him like dirt, he drives sales of Kathleen’s bookstore so low they are forced to close. If all that wasn’t bad enough, he catfishes her, he realises far before she does that they have been emailing each other, and rather than tell her decides to play games with her; he is a sadist.

So why pray tell should we root for them to be together? What sort of message is that sending? Hey kids its okay to play with people’s feelings and manipulate them for your own amusement, questionable to say the least. Meg Ryan’s character is little better, but she is highly irritating from the get-go, as she encapsulates the self-righteousness of a small business owner in the worst and most stereotypical way, her high-road approach is grating.

Overall, maybe this was a ‘you had to be there’ sort of film. To me, I can’t understand why this is considered a modern classic. Both the leads are vapid, self-entitled, arseholes and the message is a toxic as they come. Maybe I am missing something.

Pros.

The generic rom com beats.

Cons.

The message of the film- cat-fishing is not romantic

Both the leads are awful people.

You don’t or shouldn’t want the leads to be together.

It feels cliché and lacklustre.

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke