You know all those stats that are often thrown at us, regarding every department of life? Are they useful? Should we take them as guiding numbers? I thought about all this while watching Netflix’s latest rom-com, Love At First Sight. The narrator (a likeable Jameela Jamil) keeps throwing such statistics at us throughout the film, thanks to the hero Oliver’s (Ben Hardy) love for probability.
Cast: Haley Lu Richardson, Jameela Jamil, Ben Hardy
Director: Vanessa Caswill
Platform: Netflix
There aren’t many surprises in this template. When Hadley (Haley Lu Richardson) rushes into the airport, we know she is going to miss her flight. Of course, she soon gets her meet-cute moment with Oliver. While Love At First Sight often chooses to take the familiar route, it manages to throw in a sweet little romantic surprise or two.
Hadley heads to London from the US for her father’s second wedding. Oliver, a YALE student, is also en route to London to attend his mom’s memorial. The two meet–as the narrator puts it–on account of fate, and eventually fall in love. But what will happen when they forget to exchange numbers or last names?
You might roll your eyes thinking about the probability of a rom-com heroine getting a meet-cute at an airport. Well, Oliver says 1 in 50 people meet and fall in love at an airport. There are many such probabilities that fall into place even if it is less to do with statistics and more to do with convenient writing choices.
Of course, the beats are age-old, but there is enough saccharine romance to fill our heart. The makers write in two opportune moments for Hadley and Oliver to share their first kiss, but the film chooses a wholly different scenario. Similarly, the charm of the lead couple is effective enough for us to root for them even after the credits roll.
Love At First Sight ends with Jameela’s narration saying that the couple will be married 58 years, as opposed to the cliched, “And they lived happily ever after.” Although the film has exaggerated aspects like Hadley going in search of Oliver all alone in a new place, the quirky statistical quips, and the very real emotions that both Oliver and Hadley experience due to their personal trauma, make the film relatable, and rather real.
And for the exaggerated aspects, can we really be sure they are exaggerated? You might just find your soulmate on your next flight, and a warm conversation or at least a charger or a power bank might come in handy. There is, apparently, a 1 in 50 chance that it might happen.
#Jameela #Jamil #plays #cupid #sweet #romcom #Cinema #express
