A One Mann’s Movies review of “Love At First Sight” (2023).
Boy meets girl at an airport. Boy loses girl. Girl finds boy. Love ensues. It’s a pretty standard romantic formula. But “Love at First Sight”, streaming on Netflix, manages to deliver it in an enjoyable package.
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary:
Hadley Sullivan (Haley Lu Richardson) is flying to London, reluctantly, to attend the marriage of her father (Rob Delaney) to his new wife Charlotte (Katrina Nare). Oliver Jones (Ben Hardy) is on the same flight to attend a different sort of family event with his mum (Sally Phillips) and dad (Dexter Fletcher). The two spark a flame together. But due to an accident at Heathrow, they fail to share details. Will true love between the pair flourish in the end? (You’ll never guess!)
Certification:
UK: 12; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC web site: “Language”).
Talent:
Starring: Haley Lu Richardson, Rob Delaney, Katrina Nare, Ben Hardy, Sally Phillips, Dexter Fletcher, Jameela Jamil.
Directed by: Vanessa Caswill.
Written by: Katie Lovejoy & Jennifer E. Smith.
Twitter Handle: #LoveAtFirstSight .
Running Time: 1h 31m.
All loved up at Heathrow. Hadley (Haley Lu Richardson) and Oliver (Ben Hardy). (Source: Netflix).
“Love At First Sight” Review:
Positives:
- It’s light and fluffy fare, but Haley Lu Richardson and Ben Hardy make for an amiable and believable couple and the meet-cute at the airport is nicely done. Haley Lu Richardson in particular has a fabulous screen-presence and deserves a seat in an A-list breakout film.
- The film comes in at a digestible 91 minutes and the narration (by a character-hopping Jameela Jamil) provides a neat way of doing a voiceover (my pet peev) without doing a voiceover. It reminded me of Rowan Atkinson’s turn as “the angel” (that never explicitly made the final cut) in “Love Actually”.
- The concept behind the event organised by Tessa (Sally Phillips) and Val (Dexter Fletcher) is actually a pretty neat idea. If I ever find myself in that position, that’s certainly going on the plan!
Negatives:
- It’s lightweight romantic comedy, so haters of that genre will hate this without question.
- I didn’t think the casting of Katrina Nare as Charlotte was quite right. (This is without taking anything away from Ms Nare’s performance which was good). Part of the plot, as I saw it, was that you are supposed to think Hadley is unreasonable for railing against the new stepmother in her life. I can’t find how old Katrina Nare is – late twenties, early thirties perhaps? – but the obvious age gap with the 46-year-old Rob Delaney made me side more with Hadley. “Irreconcilable differences” be damned! He’s clearly trading in for a younger model!
Val (actor/director Dexter Fletcher) and Tessa (Sally Phillips) at an excellent idea of an event. (Source: Netflix).
Triggers
There is a strong theme about cancer running through the film.
Summary Thoughts on “Love at First Sight”
It’s not bloody Shakespeare. But what it tries to do, it does perfectly well. An enjoyable romantic diversion of a film.
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Trailer for “Love at First Sight”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kro6SuwxM.
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