Good on Paper

Expectations can severely alter your perception. Over hyping something can easily put it on a pedestal which will inevitably result in disappointment. But the opposite can be true as well. At first glance, Good on Paper looks like such painful, straight to Netflix rom-com trash that I had been dreading throwing it on. But I'm a fan of Iliza Shlesinger's stand-up work, and was curious to see her film debut. I kept waiting all movie for it to take a sharp turn towards shmaltzy sentimentality, but as it became clear that it wasn't going down that road, it had me rooting in it's corner! By the same token, if I was expecting knee slapping hilarity, it may have been a bit of a let down, as it doesn't really succeed at bringing the frantic energy of Iliza's live shows to the big screen. What you get is a rather amusing story which basically did happen to the comedian in real life, and a light easy watch that doesn't get bogged down by tired genre clichés.

I wanted to like this movie but it was a rough watch. The jokes felt a bit lazy, the scenes too exaggerated, and the ending felt unrealistic and as though it was simply trying too hard.

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.

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 can understand the confusing reviews probably come from a mindset of expectation from the movie, considering Iliza was in it.

Although many including myself may have looked forward to a goofy, lighthearted laugh, I have to say the story had an abstract depth to it from a psychological point of view. In some ways it touched on some serious issues some of us deal with in relationships, not realizing the overtness in agendas of partners in them. In some ways also, the elephant in the room was addressed. Full marks for that.

That said, I'm not sure if the director even realized the power of the script. I felt as a movie, this was all over the place because it touched on so many different societal issues.

Maybe the focus could have been on narcissism and how to deal with the trauma it brings to those who don't realize it. Maybe this could have just been one of Iliza's (love her to bits) stand up episodes, I don't know.

Watch it if you're able to switch your expectations. It's a good one with a very important message. Don't watch it if you're expecting tears from guffaws.

This is a strange one. I liked it though.