Planes, weddings and undeniable chemistry make for a classic romcom, starring Ben Hardy and Haley Lu Richardson.
Love at First Sight (PG, 90 mins) Streaming on Netflix
Directed by Vanessa Caswill
There’s something very appealing about the way the story of Love at First Sight unfolds.
Disorganised Hadley (Haley Lu Richardson) meets high-functioning Oliver (Ben Hardy), a perpetual observer of the frequency of events, as they wait in a JFK airport café for their plane to Heathrow.
She’s missed the previous flight, of course, and he’s ahead of time for his, of course.
Her phone is never charged, she drops things, and he reassuringly, helpfully, tells her how statistically likely all her little catastrophes are, and almost immediately, they see in each other what each of them is missing in themselves.
Lightness and quick banter hint at the possibility of love, but as in all good romantic comedies, there have to be delays, obstacles and misunderstandings.
Add in a bit of magic, and there’s a tried and true recipe, with a few unexpected aspects to it, for a successful film.
The Hadley / Oliver story turns out to be a slightly bumpy ride.
But it’s a very enjoyable ride for us in the audience, and the bumps are never tear-jerkers, just moments of wishing and hoping things would turn out well for them.
Their on-screen chemistry is clear — great casting by Colin Jones.
Family is the reason for Hadley and Oliver to be flying to Heathrow, which adds depth to the story.
Oliver’s parents and brother bring a Dickensian rough diamond sort of humour, while adding a bit of pathos to the struggle Oliver’s having in his relationship with his mother Tessa (Sally Phillips), a relationship that’s loving but also fraught with difficulty.
Hadley’s relationship with her dad Andrew (Rob Delaney) is loving and fraught in a different way.
There’s been a year of awkwardness between them and now her dad is remarrying and Hadley must meet his wife-to-be for the first time.
There are many really good lines.
The script by Katie Lovejoy was adapted from a book The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, who gets a writing credit for the film.
The soundtrack is a beautiful thing, particularly Morgan Harper-Jones’ two renditions of I Wanna Dance with Somebody, one conveying melancholy yearning, the other joyous relief.
Hayley Lu Richardson holds the film together.
In HBO’s The White Lotus series, she played Portia, another chronically disorganised girl who dresses weirdly, but Hadley’s infectious, impish, flirty character is much happier than Portia’s.
And in Hadley’s wedding dance with her dad, to Morgan Harper-Jones’ version of The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star, Hayley Lu Richardson shows what a talented dancer she is.
There’s an all-seeing, all-knowing, narrator (Jameela Jamil) who has Hadley and Oliver’s interests front and centre.
She inserts herself into many scenes in various guises, a magical Puckish character without any visible magic juice, but all the same a purveyor of the sort of magic that’s needed to ensure things turn out well in the end.
And they do. A charming film meant for anyone with a romantic heart.
Highly recommended
Films are rated: Avoid, Recommended, Highly recommended and Must see.
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