Netflix's steamy new romance might look like a tearjerker, but this one big reason means it's going to be a hit
Zoey Deutch gang, rise up
It's always nice to see an actor you rate doing well, and I think Netflix has found itself a really reliable romcom performer in the form of Zoey Deutch. She's already anchored one of my favourite little cult Netflix movies, opposite Glenn Powell in Set It Up, and now she's starring in another Netflix movie some eight years later.
Deutch plays Jill, one of two main characters in Voicemails for Isabelle, which might not have the catchiest title of all time, but does look like a great bit of romantic fun nonetheless. Netflix gave the movie a proper trailer this week, ahead of a release date of 19 June, and I'm quite taken with it.
Jill is a young woman grieving the loss of her sister, Isabelle, and has found a relatively sensible way to process the loss; she still phones Isabelle's old number every so often and leaves her voicemails updating her on what's going on in her life, including both her professional travails as a chef and the challenges of modern dating.
Little does she know, though, that the number has been reassigned, and an extremely eligible and handsome man is listening in sheepishly. He's Nick Robinson as Wes, and when he starts to figure out her routine he can't help but introduce himself. The trailer doesn't exactly disguise the fact that they'll end up falling for each other, either.
Still, we'll clearly get some tension in the middle act, as Wes wrestles with the fact that Jill doesn't know he can listen to her voicemails, and confronting her with that information is likely to not go down all too well. Whether they can get past that isn't too hard to guesstimate, but the journey is always most of the fun in this sort of heady romcom.
The trailer makes its own comparisons to You've Got Mail, one of the most imitated romantic movies ever, so I don't have to – but in Deutch I think Netflix has one of the few actors who can hold a candle to Meg Ryan's level of chutzpah. Here's hoping the film lives up to that lofty comparison when it arrives in a couple of weeks' time.
