Sam Odom
Netflix has been reviving the romantic comedy the past couple of years, releasing hits such as “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” “The Kissing Booth” and “Set It Up.” The newest one to be released is “Falling Inn Love.” As this punny title indicates, the audience is in for a cheesy and romantic ride.
Personally, I love a good rom com. I grew up watching Drew Barrymore and Katherine Heigl star in summer blockbusters that shaped how I saw romance, and I became familiar with the machine-like consistency of the plot-lines, so when I saw the teaser for “Falling Inn Love,” I was excited because the movie looked like fun. Did I know how it ended before it even began? Yes, I did, but that’s all part of the fun!
“Falling Inn Love” follows the story of a young woman named Gabriela Diaz who lives in San Francisco. Smart, beautiful, in a relationship, and a successful business woman, she seems to have it all. That is, until the company she works for suddenly goes under, and she breaks up with her boyfriend due to a lack of commitment.
In a wine-drunk haze she signs up for a “Win-an-Inn” contest in New Zealand. She wakes up in a daze, and what do you know, she wins. Gabriela decides that she will use the Inn as a bed and breakfast and make an income that can be used to achieve her dreams: create affordable solar-powered green housing.
One traveling montage later and Gabriela Diaz is in New Zealand to see her beautiful new Inn. Only, the Inn is in complete disarray, the only resident is a goat, and she keeps running into an annoying man named Jake Taylor.
Can you guess who the love interest is?
Anyways, Gabriela takes this setback in stride and decides to fix up the Inn. She enlists some help, and lo and behold, the only contractor in town is Jake. Eventually they decide to become business partners, fixing up the Inn together and splitting everything 50/50. Gabriela quickly becomes friends with the locals, and her and Jake grow increasingly close as they rebuild the Inn.
Overall, the film was exactly what I grew up with. We watch the woman lost in her career and love life slowly find her passion and a boyfriend. We also have a best friend who is there to say exciting things like “I think Jake is keen on you,” as well as an ex-boyfriend who never listens and pressures Gabriela to eat salad. Then we have the perfect man who hates salad, is not afraid of commitment and loves to sing along to crazy songs on car rides. All of these concepts have been used before. This movie was just like any other rom com I grew up with, except it had virtual reality, Lyft and an iPad.
This movie is exactly what it looks like: something to do with your friends on a Friday night. I recommend this movie to anyone who appreciates cheesy romantic movies.
Will Gabriela and Jake end up together? You could probably guess, but you’ll never actually know unless you watch it.
