Title: Voicemails for Isabelle
Actors: Zoey Deutch, Nick Robinson
Director: Leah McKendrick
Writer: Leah McKendrick
Genre: Romance
Length: 1 hour and 58 minutes
My Rating:

Watch Voicemails for Isabelle on Netflix

Voicemails for Isabelle

Jill has always been very close to her sister, Isabelle. When Isabelle passed away, Jill struggled to let go of the bond they shared. She used to tell her sister everything, and even now she leaves voicemails for Isabelle, updating her on the events of her life.

What Jill doesn’t know is that Isabelle’s old phone number no longer belongs to her. The number now belongs to Wes, who has been receiving all of Jill’s messages. Rather than telling her, he finds himself looking forward to each voicemail. Through her stories, humor, and honesty, he becomes fascinated by the woman on the other end of the line.

Determined to meet her, Wes travels to San Francisco. As they get to know each other, they slowly fall in love. But there’s one thing Wes hasn’t told Jill: he’s the one who has been listening to all of the voicemails she thought she was leaving for her sister.

Review

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Title: Office Romance
Actors: Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein, Betty Gilpin
Director: Ol Packer
Writers: Brett Goldstein, Joe Kelly
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Length: 1 hour and 54 minutes
My Rating:

Office Romance

Jackie is the CEO of Air Cruz, and she runs a tight ship. One day, her best lawyer gets into an accident involving a burrito, and Daniel Blanchflower has just started working for Air Cruz. He immediately has to step up. As a lawyer, Daniel has to work closely with Jackie, and he doesn’t mind that at all. From the moment he first saw her, he fell in love. As they spend more time together, they grow closer and closer, but they try to keep their distance. Dating a coworker is against company policy, and this isn’t exactly the right time to start a relationship anyway because of the lawsuit against Jackie and Air Cruz.

Review

I was sort of excited when I saw a new rom-com coming to Netflix. I mean, the movie starred Jennifer Lopez, and in the early 2000s, I was obsessed with her rom-coms. I loved watching them. At the same time, though, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this one. I watched the trailer and got some weird vibes from it. I wasn’t convinced it was going to be a great movie.

After watching it, I’m still not sure how I feel about it. There were some parts I genuinely liked, but there were also quite a few cringeworthy moments.

Let’s start with the positives. It wasn’t all bad, and I still enjoy seeing Jennifer Lopez in rom-coms. Honestly, I loved her outfits and overall style in this movie. I think Jennifer Lopez looks good in anything. The acting was pretty solid from both the main cast and most of the supporting characters.

I especially loved Sidney Bloom (Betty Gilpin), Jackie’s right-hand woman. She was funny most of the time, and her facial expressions were fantastic. George Dudek from HR (Tony Hale) had very little screen time, but he did an amazing job as well. I also loved Daniel’s sister, who is in jail. I think she was the funniest character in the entire movie. I enjoyed the cultural differences between the USA and England, too. At times, the movie even gave me some good early-2000s rom-com vibes. There were definitely a few scenes that worked really well.

Now for the things I liked less. Right from the beginning, I got a Hallmark movie feeling. Some scenes felt a bit cheap. I don’t really know how to explain it, but if you’ve ever watched Hallmark movies, you’ll probably understand what I mean. There’s a difference between a polished movie and a typical Hallmark movie. I’m not saying Hallmark movies are bad, but the production quality often feels lower. I got that feeling from this movie every now and then, although there were also some scenes that looked much higher quality.

Then there were the jokes, and this is the biggest reason I gave the movie only 3/5 hearts. It was all a bit over the top. The movie felt like a constant stream of jokes. I read another review that said this movie was made for people with a terrible attention span, and I kind of agree. Jokes are important in a rom-com, but not every single minute. Sometimes it felt like the movie was trying too hard to keep the audience’s attention.

My least favorite part was probably the childbirth scene. Was it really necessary to make it so explicit? I would have deleted that scene entirely, along with the jokes they made while Sidney was giving birth.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this movie. There were moments I genuinely liked and enjoyed, but there were also scenes that weren’t very funny and were sometimes even a little cringe-worthy.

Rating: 3/5 hearts.

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Title: Remarkably Bright Creatures
Actors: Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, Colm Meaney
Director: Olivia Newman
Writers: Shelby van Pelt, Olivia Newman
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Length: 1 hour and 50 minutes
Rating:

Watch this movie on Netflix

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Tova, an elderly woman who cleans the local aquarium, needs extra help after an accident makes her job more difficult. Meanwhile, Cameron Cassmore is searching for his father, but with little success. In the meantime, he takes a cleaning job at the aquarium.

Tova teaches Cameron everything he needs to know, including the fact that he should keep an eye on Marcellus, the octopus who enjoys sneaking out of his tank for nighttime adventures.

Marcellus is old, and he knows the end of his life is approaching. After witnessing Tova’s accident, the octopus becomes determined to do one last thing before he dies: help heal Tova. And the new cleaning guy might just be the key to making that happen.

Review

This movie is based on the book by Shelby Van Pelt, which had been on my wishlist for a while. At the same time, I wasn’t entirely sure if it would be my kind of story, even though I had heard nothing but positive reviews and knew it had an amazing rating on Goodreads. So instead, I decided to watch the movie adaptation first.

And honestly… I don’t even know where to begin. This might be one of the best Netflix Originals I’ve seen in a long time. I usually check out most of Netflix’s new releases, but they often end up being average or sometimes just bad. Then, on rare occasions like this, you come across something truly special.

The cast was wonderful. Sally Field was phenomenal, and I also really loved Lewis Pullman’s performance. Honestly, everyone in this movie did an amazing job. The casting felt perfect.

The story itself was beautiful and emotional. I had expected it to be a slow-paced movie, which was actually one of the reasons I hesitated to read the book in the first place, but it never felt slow to me. From the very beginning, I was completely invested in the story.

I especially loved how Marcellus, the octopus, tried to heal Tova and fill the emptiness in her heart. Tova has been through so much, and Marcellus makes it his final mission to help her find a little happiness again. The bond between Tova and Marcellus was truly special and one of the most heartwarming parts of the movie.

The ending made me cry. Honestly, I think I saw it coming, but that didn’t stop me from crying hard. I’m not even going to deny it. I also don’t want to explain exactly why it made me emotional because I don’t want to spoil too much, but the ending beautifully combines sadness, love, and family.

If you’re looking for a movie to watch during your next movie night, I highly recommend this one. It’s a beautiful, heartwarming drama, and I genuinely loved everything about it. I honestly couldn’t find a single thing I disliked. The acting was amazing, the story was amazing, and the emotional moments felt incredibly real.

We definitely need more movies and stories like this.

Even though I watched the movie before reading the book, and therefore can’t compare the two, I still absolutely want to read the book someday.

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Title: Roommates
Actors: Sadie Sandler, Chloe East, Aidan Langford
Director: Chandler Levack
Writers: Jimmy Fowlie, Ceara O’Sullivan
Producers: Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler
Genre: Comedy
Length: 1 hour and 47 minutes
My Rating:

Roommates

Devon has just graduated and is about to start college. She’s hopeful about this new chapter; maybe now she can finally make real friends. Devon has never felt like she truly belonged in a friend group, and she hopes that will change.

At an introduction event to meet other students, she tries really hard to make a new friend, but people think she’s a bit weird. Then she meets Celeste, and they have a good time together. They even decide to become roommates.

But the friendship Devon imagined turns out to be nothing as she expected; it slowly turns into a war of passive aggression.

Review

I’m not even sure how to start this review. I was just bored and wanted to watch a movie, so I picked this one. I had zero expectations, although the trailer looked decent. But I ended up having a lot to say about it.

Let’s start with the positives. I think Roommates definitely had potential. I didn’t hate it, and some of the actors were good. The actress who plays Celeste did a solid job. I mean, the character is terrible, but she portrayed that really well.

However, Celeste isn’t the only main character; there’s also Devon. She’s the shy, “weird” girl who has never really had friends, which was somewhat relatable. But I felt like Sadie Sandler (who plays Devon) was missing something. At first, her facial expressions felt a bit off, like she was in pain or something and for the rest of the movie, her performance was just… meh. I think what was missing was charisma.

And that brings me to my next point. I’m okay with a “nepo baby” if they can actually act, but right now, I’m not convinced Sadie Sandler is a strong actress. Especially when you realize that her father, Adam Sandler, produced this movie, it kind of feels like this project exists because she wants to act, and he’s helping her. That said, I hope she proves me wrong. I usually give actors (and authors) several chances before I completely give up on them. Maybe it was the wrong movie or she just needs a little bit more experience.

Devon also develops a romantic interest in her TA, Michael, but there’s basically zero chemistry between them. Honestly, it felt like she had more chemistry with her brother than with Michael.

Now, about the story. According to IMDb, this is supposed to be a comedy… but where? I didn’t laugh once. I would describe it more as a coming-of-age story. The delivery robots felt completely pointless, and overall, the execution could have been much better.

The movie also has a “story within a story” structure. It follows two roommates who are constantly fighting, while Dr. Schilling tells them a story about Devon and Celeste. In my opinion, it would have been stronger if they had removed that outer storyline entirely. It didn’t add much and just felt unnecessary.

So overall, I’m not the biggest fan of this movie. I’m giving it a 2.5 out of 5. I still think it had a lot of potential, but lately it feels like many movies have great ideas and very poor execution.

I would recommend skipping this one; it was pretty forgettable.

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Title: Reminders of Him
Actors: Maika Monroe, Tyriq Withers
Director: Vanessa Caswill
Writers: Colleen Hoover, Lauren Levine
Genre: Drama, Romance
Length: 1 hour 54 minutes
My Rating:

Reminders of Him

Kenna has just been released from prison after being involved in a car crash with her boyfriend, Scotty, in which he died. She survived the accident. Now, she has returned to the small town where she fell in love with him. But the main reason she’s back is to see her daughter, the child she had with Scotty, who was taken away from her at birth while she was in prison.

Now, Kenna is determined to prove that she can be a good mother.

Review

I had very low expectations for this movie. I’ve watched two other movies based on books by Colleen Hoover (It Ends With Us and Regretting You), and I wasn’t the biggest fan of those stories. Regretting You especially felt a bit boring to me. Still, I wanted to give this one a chance because the trailer looked promising.

And honestly, it wasn’t that bad. I actually think this might be the best story by Colleen Hoover so far. I know we’re also getting Verity this year, but I’ve read that book and wasn’t that impressed—it was just okay for me. Still, I’m curious to see how the movie adaptation will turn out.

Back to this movie called Reminders of Him: I thought it was a beautiful but sad story.

Kenna hasn’t been able to see her daughter because she was in prison after the accident where Scotty died. She left the scene, which is why she went to jail. But, of course, nothing is exactly as it seems—her side of the story is more complicated. She writes letters about what really happened that day and continues to write to Scotty, who was the love of her life.

Now that she’s back in town, people refuse to hire her because of her past. Ledger is one of the people keeping her away from her daughter, but they start spending more time together. He begins to see that she isn’t dangerous, and once he learns what really happened, he starts to help her.

Kenna was a likable character. She respects the boundaries set by others but still holds on to the hope that she’ll one day see her daughter again. The chemistry between Ledger and Kenna was really good, which made the story more engaging. It’s also quite emotional. Imagine losing the love of your life, spending years in prison, and then not being able to see your own child.

So yes, I would say this is my favorite Colleen Hoover story so far. It has romance, drama, and emotional depth. I actually had a pretty good time watching it. It definitely wasn’t as bad as I expected.

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Title: Wuthering Heights
Actors: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi
Director: Emerald Fennell
Writers: Emerald Fennell, Emily Brontë
Genre: Drama
Length: 2 hours and 16 minutes
My Rating:

Wuthering Heights

Catherine lives with her abusive father, and one day he brings home another child. Catherine names him Heathcliff, and over time they become close. Heathcliff often tries to protect her from their father’s abuse. As they grow older, they develop feelings for each other. However, Catherine believes she cannot marry him because of his lower social status. Instead, she marries another man, and Heathcliff disappears. Years later, they meet again, and it becomes clear that they still have strong feelings for each other, feelings they cannot ignore.

Review

Years ago, I bought Wuthering Heights. I wanted to read more classics. Well, guess what? I still haven’t read it. Mostly because I’m a bit scared. English is not my native language, and I’m afraid it will be too difficult to understand. So I decided to watch the movie instead, without reading the book first. I didn’t even know what the story was about.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch this movie, if I’m being honest. I had read and heard so many negative reviews. Most people said it was super boring and that they had wasted two hours of their lives they would never get back. So yes, I was a little hesitant. But I still wanted to form my own opinion.

During the first hour or so, I actually thought it was pretty decent. It felt like the perfect movie for a slow Sunday, and I was somewhat invested in the love story. But after that, I started to lose interest. I had no idea how it was going to end, but it felt like something was missing—or maybe the movie was just too long. It’s around two hours, and I feel like it could have been shorter to keep the audience’s attention.

The acting was pretty good, and I enjoyed seeing Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi on screen. They did a great job, and I was rooting for them. However, I didn’t like the choices their characters made (which might mean I really should have read the book years ago). Maybe their decisions make more sense considering the time period they lived in.

Visually, the movie looks amazing. It is beautifully shot, but the story itself didn’t blow me away. It’s not a movie I would watch again or recommend. I will probably forget about it soon—it just wasn’t very memorable.

The only thing I’m wondering now is what the book is like. I mean, it’s a classic for a reason, right? So many people love it. I think I’ll have to read it soon, because after watching this movie, I don’t really understand the hype around this tragic story.

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Title: Regretting You
Actors: Allison Williams, McKenna Grace, Dave Franco
Director: Josh Boone
Writers: Colleen Hoover, Susan McMartin
Genre: Drama, Romance
Length: 1 hour and 56 minutes
My Rating:

Regretting You

When Morgan was young, she was dating her boyfriend Chris, and she was best friends with Jenny, her sister, and Jonah. Then Morgan got pregnant with Clara, and she and Chris married young. Now, seventeen years later, they look like the perfect, happy family.

But Morgan discovers a huge secret when Chris and Jenny die in a car accident, and it turns her whole life upside down. At the same time, she doesn’t want her daughter Clara to know the truth about her father. Clara adored her father and Jenny—it would ruin her.

Review

I started doing my Saturday night movie nights again, and this time I decided to watch this movie. It has been on my watch list for a long time, and I was curious to finally see it. I hadn’t read the book before watching the movie. In fact, I had no intention of reading the book, but I did want to watch the movie.

First of all, the realization that these actors are now old enough to play the parents of a teenage daughter is mind-blowing and a bit shocking. In my mind, we all stay young, and I sometimes still think that I am too immature to be a parent. But my age says otherwise. The fact that these actors are now playing the role of parents was an eye-opening moment, haha.

I have mixed feelings about the movie. There were some good things, but I also had moments when I thought they could have done it better. But let’s start with the positive things.

The actors were pretty good. I think this is the first movie I’ve seen with Mckenna Grace in it. I’ve heard about her before, but I don’t remember seeing a movie with her in it. The only thing I could think about, though, was how similar she is to Kiernan Shipka. Not just the looks—they have the same kind of energy. And of course, I already knew Dave Franco and Scott Eastwood from other movies, and they didn’t let me down. The acting was good.

The only thing I have some issues with is the story. The story is about Chris and Jenny, and they have a secret that Morgan finds out about pretty quickly. The moment they die, the secret is revealed, and then the rest of the movie is basically about Morgan keeping that secret from her daughter to protect her. But that’s the whole movie. I was expecting a little bit more. Maybe it would have been better if the secret had been revealed later in the story. If a movie revolves around a secret and then reveals it within the first 30 minutes, the rest of the movie can start to feel a bit pointless.

I’m not saying I thought this movie was terrible, but I did keep wondering if that was it. I think I was expecting a little bit more. I also wonder if the book might be a bit more interesting.

Overall, it was just an okay movie for me. The acting was good, but I think the story was lacking something. I hope the next Colleen Hoover book-to-movie adaptation will be better. That movie is called Reminders of Him, and I saw the trailer—it sounded pretty interesting. It’s also on my watchlist, so hopefully you’ll be able to read a review of that movie here on my blog soon.

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Title: Maintenance Required
Actors: Madelaine Petsch, Jacob Scipio
Director: Lacey Uhlemeyer
Writers: Erin Falconer, Lacey Uhlemeyer
Genre: Romance:
Length: 1 hour 42 minutes
My Rating:

Maintenance Required

Charlie took over the auto repair shop after her father passed away. Now she works there with two of her best friends, and they love what they do—although Charlie has bigger dreams. One day, another auto repair shop opens across the street, and they try to figure out how not to lose any customers to the competition.

At the same time, Charlie hasn’t been on a single date in years. She loves spending time with her car, but she’s also been talking to a guy she met on a forum. Her friends think it might be time for her to meet him in real life.

Review

I had literally zero expectations for this movie. I saw the poster and thought I might like it, but I had absolutely no idea what it was going to be about. And honestly, it wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen.

The movie kind of reminded me of the popular film You’ve Got Mail, because that movie is also about owning a business and then having a chain store open up across the street. In that film, the main characters also fall in love with the person they’re talking to online. It’s a classic and one of my favorite movies of all time. Maintenance Required wasn’t as good as that movie, but I still think it wasn’t bad at all.

I liked the main characters. Charlie works at the auto repair shop with her two best friends, and they’re all women — I loved that. I recognized Madison Bailey from Outer Banks and Katy O’Brian from The Rookie, and I really enjoyed them together. Beau was sort of likable, even though he made some stupid mistakes along the way. But I forgive him, because he was pretty good-looking and had great chemistry with Madelaine Petsch (Charlie).

The story was fun, and I really enjoyed it. When a movie is boring, I usually start scrolling on my phone, but that didn’t happen this time. The movie was over before I even realized it. It was a good rom-com — definitely entertaining and easy to watch. The actors were pretty good too.

I don’t have a lot of things to complain about, except that it was very obvious this movie was inspired by You’ve Got Mail. I tried not to compare the two, but I still did. Of course, the original is much better, but I think they did a good job with this movie. It’s the perfect choice for a cozy rom-com night.

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Title: People we meet on vacation
Actors: Emily Bader, Tom Blyth,
Director: Brett Haley
Writers: Emily Henry, Yulin Kuang, Amos Vernon
Genre: Romance
Length: 1 hour and 57 minutes
My Rating:

Watch this movie now on Netflix

People We Meet On Vacation

Poppy and Alex meet when they are both heading back to Linfield and end up sharing a car. They are complete opposites. Poppy is the kind of girl who sees beauty in almost everything and dreams of traveling the world. Alex, on the other hand, loves coming home after a vacation and prefers staying in with a good book.

Somehow, despite their differences, they become best friends. Every year, they spend one week together somewhere in the world, having fun as friends. But one vacation changes everything, and now they are seeing each other for the first time in two years

Review

Am I the biggest fan of Emily Henry’s books? No, not really. I wouldn’t call them bad at all, they’re just not my favorites. That said, I did like Funny Story. Most of the Emily Henry books I’ve read have been a miss for me, but every now and then she writes something I genuinely enjoy. Still, I was super excited about this book. I think this is one of those books I kind of liked, not a favorite, but not a disappointment either.

And it is a great movie from the start. I loved the actors. The first part, when they’ve just met and are on their way to Linfield, is fantastic. Poppy is having fun and singing in the car, while Alex’s facial expressions are absolutely hilarious. That part really made me smile. They are complete opposites, but somehow they still become friends.

The chemistry is great. I really loved them together, and I think the casting was done perfectly. Even when they were both in relationships, you could clearly tell how much they cared about each other and that they had deeper feelings. He takes care of her when she gets sick, even though they were supposed to go to Norway, and they are constantly texting each other. When they have big news, they tell each other first instead of their partners.

After watching the movie, I saw people on social media saying it should have been a series, and I kind of agree. Now all of the vacation trips are pushed into one long movie. It would have been more fun if each vacation had its own episode, with more details and time to develop everything. I honestly wouldn’t have minded that at all.

But overall, I really enjoyed it. I think they spent a lot of money on this movie, definitely more than on most Netflix rom-coms. It felt more expensive and like they put a lot more effort into making it. The overall quality was higher than most romance movies these days. And the good news is that they also bought the rights to other Emily Henry books. I think Funny Story is going to be the next movie or series, and that’s my favorite Emily Henry book so far, so I really can’t wait.

Is the era of rom-com movies finally coming back? I hope so.

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Title: The Housemaid
Actors: Amanda Seyfried, Sydney Sweeney, Brandon Sklenar
Director: Paul Feig
Writers: Freida McFadden, Rebecca Sonnenshine
Genre: Thriller
Length: 2 hours and 11 minutes
My Rating:

The Housemaid

Millie has a secret, and because of it, she struggles to find a job. But she refuses to give up. One day, she comes across a job opening as a housemaid for the Winchesters. The house, and everything in it, is beautiful. She doesn’t expect to get the job, but she does, and suddenly she’s living and working in this stunning home. Everything seems normal at first, until Nina starts acting strangely and blames Millie for everything that goes wrong. Millie then learns from other nannies about Nina’s past and the things she’s done.

Review

Last year, I decided to read the book because I saw that the movie was coming out in 2025 and I was really curious. At the time, I was mostly reading romance novels and not much else, but I still picked up a copy, and I loved it. I gave it 5/5 stars on Goodreads. It was that good. So of course, I wanted to watch the movie and find out if it was just as good as the book.

I think the actors did a great job. I’ve always been a fan of Amanda Seyfried, and she was amazing in this role. The cast overall was really strong. Millie did something in the past, and because of that, it’s hard for her to find a job, so she takes whatever she can get. She desperately needs the money and is living in her car at the moment. Getting this job, and having her own bedroom in the house, was a huge improvement for her situation.

The only thing I felt was missing was Cece’s character. In the book, she was a spoiled brat, very rude and annoying, and I didn’t fully get that from the movie. I think they tried to portray it, but if I remember correctly, Cece was much worse in the book.

Of course, I was also comparing the movie’s storyline to the book, and most things were the same. However, I was expecting the peanut butter situation to be included as well. Cece was supposed to be allergic to peanuts (or not), and this came up multiple times in the book.

And there was one big thing that was different from the book: they changed the ending. Honestly, I’m a bit sad about it because I loved the ending in the book. The movie’s ending was a bit disappointing, to be honest. Maybe there was a reason for the change, but this is exactly why I gave the book a 5/5 rating and the movie “only” a 4/5 rating.

I still enjoyed watching this movie, though. It was still really good, and even though I knew what was going to happen, I was still disgusted by it. I honestly couldn’t watch during a few moments when they were in the attic, that was just horrifying. Anyone who could watch that with a poker face is a sociopath. I had to look away.

Now I’m just wondering if they are also going to film the second and third books in the series. The second book was also very good, and I would definitely pay money to see it on screen. I still have to read the third book, but I’m planning to do that very soon. Overall, it’s still a great movie.

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