'Office Romance': Cheesy, great looking, and full of empty calories, but all in the best possible way
Office Romance | Director: Ol Parker | Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein | English | Netflix
She is Helen of Troy and he is Mr Bean. She wants him to tell her what he wants in life. He just survives. She has a fetish for English things, he likes powerful, attractive women. She is a New Jersey girl, he is, to quote the Taylor Swift song, a London Boy. It’s a common trope in romantic comedies, and in life. You only have to look at Zendaya and Tom Holland. So Jennifer Lopez plays Jackie Cruz, the CEO of an airline, who is also a pilot. Brett Goldstein, who co-wrote the script, is Daniel Blanchflower, a London lawyer who has just joined her company, which has a zero-tolerance policy on employee relationships.
The said company is full of characters, played by a revolving door of well-known TV faces, from Bradley Whitford to Edward James Olmos, the remarkable Betty Gilpin (from Glow) who has one of the most graphic childbirth scenes in a movie to the hilarious Tony Hale (from Veep). JLo looks like a million bucks and can do romcoms in her sleep. Goldstein is appropriately buttoned up, while Jodie Whittaker, playing his sister, is a hoot. JLo glows but Goldstein, from the Apple TV show Ted Lasso, is a good match. Yes, like the much-loved work comedy The Proposal (2009) with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, it is cheesy, great looking, and full of empty calories, but all in the best possible way.