Good on Paper

5/10 - definitely not the rom-com I was expecting when I hit play on Netflix, but despite everyone involved's best efforts, this one just does not stand out as anything remarkable and most of the jokes seemed to fall flat (at least for me)

I'm certainty glad I didn't check ratings here before watching this movie... because at the current 5.6 rating, we wouldn't have watch it.

This movie is entertaining! Comedy and some drama mixed in, with a dose of strong women, and an engaging storyline. Really enjoyed it and would watch again. A great Saturday night movie...for after the kids go to bed.

I heard Iliza Shlesinger on The Joe Rogan Experience recently promoting this movie. She talked about the real-life events that led to the movie being written. I remember after she told the story thinking, that's an interesting story but how is it enough to justify making a movie out of? It sounds like the plot of the very laziest Lifetime movie. Sure enough that's pretty much how the film comes across.

I may be mistaken but I don't remember seeing a movie inter-spliced with stand-up comedy before. I've certainly seen it in sit-coms like 'Seinfeld' and 'Louie', and it works reasonably well there, but to do it in a movie seems strange. Particularly considering none of the stand-up is in any way funny. Surely if you're going to do that you want to be putting your best stuff out there, right? And I think that's the biggest crime this movie commits - it's written by a comedian, and is still never once funny.

It's not all terrible though. I found Shlesinger and Ryan Hansen watchable enough in the leads, and some of the side characters have the odd moment of interest. There's the odd intriguing scene too, like the one set on a golf course (although that could just be down to me liking golf). 'Good on Paper' was a film that I should've hated immensely, but instead sat there only mildly bored for 90 minutes. I can't put my finger on what that was down to exactly. This isn't one I'd recommend all the same. 5/10.

Good watch, could watch again, and can recommend.

This is one was a little spoiled for me as I heard a podcast discussion on the real story, and then the slightly refined comedy routine on it.

Seeing those things come to life as a movie, I kind of knew the whole plot, which is just how it is with real life stories.

While I'm super happy Iliza got to have her story told, there was an opportunity to turn this into something spectacularly absurd.

("Tusk" was also based off a real story, from a discussion on a podcast but I'm still waiting on "Moose Jaws" (It's "Jaws", but with a moose.), so who knows.)

I think this is a great "chick flick", a great "woman empowerment" movie, and good venture into....not sure what to call it, an "anti-romantic comedy"?

I'm honestly hoping we get more movies with this sort of structure.

Iliza Schlesinger taking the Larry David approach to placing herself inside the fictional character, and it works. Like one of her stand-up routines massaged into a full story, Iliza pulls it off without seeming to break a sweat.

I'd like to see her stretch herself in future projects, but this one worked for me as a nice surprise by one of the hottest comics, fully capable of making the jump to acting. Looking forward to more!