If Up was a chick flick.
Review
Voicemails for Isabelle's description tells you up front that this is a movie about a woman leaving voicemails to her dead sister. A sad enough premise, but it feels implied you got the sad part out of the way before you jump into a fun rom-com. Lies. They Up-ed us. The first 10 minutes of this movie is watching these girls grow up together. The titular Isabelle has cystic fibrosis, and from a young age you watch the sisters bond and cope throughout their young lives together. Jill (our main character) is constantly working to make Isabelle laugh and give her a life worthy of vicariously experiencing. They become best friends like only sisters can. We get introduced to their song that'll be a recurring theme throughout "Dancing On My Own." Eventually Jill (Zoey Deutch) has to move out and get on with her rom-com life, but by that point the movie has been injected with a colossal dose of pathos.
Her new life begins in San Francisco where we see Jill set out on her stereotypical chick-flick path of a struggling career (as a baker working under an awesome cameo from Nick Offerman) and floundering through a truly depressing dating scene. She's relaying all of these misadventures back to her sister still, fulfilling her vicarious duties, but we also get the sense that the movie's description is about to payoff. Soon enough Jill gets the call.
Her real new life begins now, without her sister. She starts to leave her voicemails as a grief management tactic. One final drip of that pathos before we can jump into the rom-com half and life our spirits a bit. The meet-cute mechanism here is our guy Wes (Nick Robinson) gets a new work phone and takes over Isabelle's old phone number, so he's listening in to the voicemails and catching feels for Jill who is a perfect contrast to his current lame girlfriend. Creepy in every realm outside of the romance world, but it works here because we want it to work. I was going to say for any rom-com ball knowers, this is the kid from Love Actually, but that's apparently not true. I am clearly not a rom-com ball knower. He's the emo older brother from the new Jurassic Parks. Whatever, he's good in this.
Keeping this movie from even higher scores is we go through the motions a bit once we hit the romance half of the movie. Same tropes we've seen a million times. All done well here, but that's not why people are loving this movie. It all ties back to the sister's bond.
As rom-com's go, this is a pretty meaty 2 hour movie. Not a ton of fat, the extended length is from the added heart wrenching montage at the beginning. Pretty solid way to spend 2 hours sitting next to your very sad/happy wife.
This movie is for any classical chick-flick lover, but it has depth that'll give it staying power. People are talking about this movie. They'll remember it. Women with sisters get even more out of it, as that's the true love story in this one.
Closing / Recommendation
I recommend this one for anyone really. Movies are meant to put you through all of the feelings in life and this one checks all the boxes. The Up scene up front is a real kick in the nuts, but one you'll happily take to have known that kind of sisterly love. Even for 40 year old dudes doing time on the couch next to their wives, you'll feel that sisterly bond.
Image / media credit: Netflix