Romantic movies come and go, the genre really has evolved from being the subject of amazing epics into a becoming the “movie of the week” type of things thanks to platforms such as Hallmark, Lifetime, and now, Netflix. No matter what the critics and naysayer have in mind, these movies have found their audience, and they serve as a perfect product for streaming services looking for content.
If Netflixmanages to push out two or three of these every months then the fans of this type of genre will be extremely happy. And Isn’t that what film is supposed to do? Entertain, let you travel to new places, meet new people, and go on adventures that you could never go to in real life? Film, just like books, and other mediums like video games are windows to other lives, and they fundamentally enrich the lives of the people who are patience enough to sit down and watch them.
This is why films like the one that this review will talk about are basically critic proof. There is an inherent value to them, even if they don’t push the medium forward or try to challenge the viewer with the way they tackle a particular subject. A Perfect Pairing, the new Netflix film of the week manages to bring all the necessary elements to satisfy the audience’s hunger for this type of film. Yes, we have seen this movie before, and yet, it is quite enjoyable.
A Perfect Pairing is directed by Stuart McDoland, and stars Victoria Justice, Adam Demos, and Emma Kate Lawrence. The film tells the story of Lola, a hard working wine company executive that sees herself leaving her big firm in order to create a company on her own. On the journey to grab a big client, her destiny will take her to Australia where she will find more than just the next big wine brand.
You just have to look at A Perfect Pairing for a couple of seconds to see that this movie has a particular look, one that has been adjusted and perfected throughout the years in many other productions of the same type. The skies are blue, the grass is bright, the weather is perfect, and the people are beautiful. It is indeed, a scene coming from a perfect world. A world where we all want to live in.
This look that seems to be right out of a catalogue, serves the purpose of creating this hyper reallity where everything is possible, and because of it, every time something fantastic and perfect happens, your brain won’t really think about it twice, it doesn’t feel strange because from the get go, the audience knows this isn’t the real world. This is a perfect world, where all is possible, and you will want to see all those things happening.
The movie was filmed around the Gold Coast, Queensland in Australia and it really shows a new side of the country that is not often represented in film. Most representations of Australia go into the Outback, the famous and rough Australian desert. In most movies Australia is either hostile at best, and a post apocalyptic landscape at worst. It feels nice to learn more about the country and how diverse are its biodomes. The movie really sells it as a place to visit once in your lifetime.
Performances are fine all around, the movie doesn’t really asks a lot from his actors. Victoria Justice plays the perfect protagonist for these type of movies; she is beautiful, innocent looking, and there is an air of honesty that comes from her performance that it is hard to replicate. When she says she is going to do something you believe her, and when things go wrong for her you want to give her a hug. She is the perfect surrogate sister, girlfriend, wife that you could ever ask for.
The rest of the cast does what they need to do. Adam Demos is our male lead, and just like Justice, his acting chops are not really pushed in any way or form, so he does just fine in the role of a secretive romantic interests for Justice. The rest of the supporting cast are just that, and their roles are just too small to make an impression.
The main storyline follows the perfect three act structure that we have seen in countless other romantic comedies throughout the decades, there is really nothing new here. Which is a shame, it will always be, as the genre really refuses to move on from a formula. However, the formula is a formula because it works, and even when you know exactly what is going to happen, the events are enjoyable. Another proof that spoiler culture is just out of control.
A Perfect Pairing has beautiful locations, beautiful actors in the lead roles, and a classic love story that you will enjoy to watch even if you will end up forgetting about when the credits roll. The movie does absolutely nothing to push the genre forward in any way but as long as audiences keep consuming this type of content at the rate they do, the creatives won’t feel the need to change it, ever.
