Die andere Zoey

I am a total romantic comedy sucker, whilst at the same time, completely hating the relentless steretypes and tropes, and being sickened by the internalised misogynistic/ paternalistic biases usually on display. I am always on the lookout for a truly NEW romantic comedy. This movie isn't quite that, but I think it's trying to take a step in that direction.

The romantic set-up uses a ridiculous range of tropes; my MOST hated here being; a smart person making a series of stupid decisions. And kudos to the 'amnesia' trope. The choice of amnesia in particular was a clue that the writer was deliberately using obvious tropes in an attempt to subvert them. It does a good job of showing rather than explaining this, so at least it assumes the audience is smart.

Whilst it's generally inoffensive, it is never quite moving, either as comedy or drama. Still. It is trying to say something...maybe the very simple "Don't close yourself off from love". And the cast is diverse, very natural in their characterisations, and of course, very beautiful.

Though it's nothing challenging, it is enjoyable, and I think, can claim to be uncommon in its lack of implicit misogyny. Feel reassured it is watchable. Purely for entertainment.

Zoey Miller (Josephine Langford) doesn't believe in romantic love and is working on her version of a dating app. She has a meet-cute with Zach MacLaren (Drew Starkey) and the rom-com tropes continue. He gets hit by a car and in a semi-conscious state, he assumes Zoey to be his girlfriend. In reality, he has a new girlfriend in aggressive soccer player Zoey. Zoey Miller is about to tell his parents when his cousin Miles Maclaren (Archie Renaux) shows up.

The first part reminds me a little of While You Were Sleeping. It's got a lot of different rom-coms being mixed together. I'm willing to go with this unusual premise until the family dinner. I don't understand her initial plan. It makes no sense. She wants to sweep Miles off his feet so that he would steal his brain-injured cousin's sweet girlfriend. That's a stupid plan. Even if it works, you've got a guy willing to steal a girlfriend from his brain-injured cousin. There is an easy writing fix. Tell everybody except Zach right from the start. Nobody wants to cause him more trauma so everybody keeps it a secret from him. That would make sense. This does not.

A weak script and a bum's rush ending, it deserved to have an ending that went beyond Jam Fest. I liked the leads Langford and Starkey, but there was too much time spent on roommate Elle and her love interest Diego and too little time on Zoey's love interest Zach. Amnesia is a formulaic plot and love apps are so overused in rom-coms.

Andie MacDowell is a acting veteran, good in anything she's in. The rest of the cast was ok. Due to the strike we haven't heard from the leads or the writer and the director. Why didn't they interview cast and crew right after the shooting, so they had something for previews and to generate interest in the movie? If Netflix was looking for filler content, this was filler.

It's predictable, something to watch when you don't want to think too much. I don't watch a lot of romantic comedies, but for some reason this one caught my attention and I even laughed at some scenes.

Just don't go in expecting too much. I actually think that some scenes are performed robotically on purpose, as some kind of "creative intent" or some other lie they're telling this days. But the images are generally beautiful and I liked how the movie looks.

It's so bad, but I couldn't stop watching it.

6/10 - it's not a movie anyone must watch. Go for it if there's nothing else and you want something light.

Oh my gosh, Zach was absolutely ADORABLE. He's seriously one of the most endearing love interests I've seen in a romcom! However, I do wish we could have had more actual interactions between him and Zoey, cus right now their feelings felt a little bit random and pretty underdeveloped... Which is a shame cus I think their dynamic had a lot of potential, especially since I love the opposites attract trope.

P. S. The plot made zero sense. I mean, did she really just fall in love with some guy for saying he DOESN'T believe in love? And did she really think that the best way to start a relationship with him was by pretending to be his cousin's girlfriend?? Make it make sense, please.