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Netflix’s Voicemails for Isabelle | Honest review | A feel-good romcom sure to make you laugh, cry and scream
Let me start off by saying what the entire internet is saying –
ROMCOMS are so back!
I am a sucker for a good romcom. I’ve grown up watching them. I think I have watched 27 Dresses more than a hundred times. Katherine Heigl is my queen. So is Sandra Bullock from The Proposal.
I guess I didn’t realize how much I was missing a feel-good, will-make-you-bawl, happy ending with super-hot movie stars romcom, until I watched Voicemails for Isabelle.
Summary of Voicemails for Isabelle | What is Voicemails for Isabelle all about?
Jill, a young chef, is struggling to cope with the death of her younger sister Isabelle, who passed away due to Cystic Fibrosis. It is devastating because the two of them were super, super close. Have to applaud how Dancing on my own by Robyn was perfect here!
To keep her memory alive and to hold on to her sanity so she isn’t overcome with grief, Jill continues calling Isabelle’s old number and leaving voicemails for her. These include ramblings about everything from her job to her disastrous dates to working under a shitty boss chef.
What she doesn’t know is that Jill’s number has already been assigned to a complete stranger named Wes, who unknowingly becomes privy to Jill’s most personal, vulnerable thoughts.
As he continues to listen to her accidental confessions, he begins to fall in love with a woman he’s never met.
And this sets the stage for one of the sweetest meet-cutes I have seen in a while.
My unhinged review of Voicemails for Isabelle
I will be honest – I was going to dismiss this as yet another romcom that Netflix may have churned out. But the internet convinced me with two scene edits, featuring our goddess Taylor Swift –
Scene 1:
Wes sitting desolate by the pool, listening to New Year’s Day. And when his friends arrive, he says, in the immortal words of Taylor Alison Swift – The old Wes can’t come to the phone right. BECAUSE HE’S DEAD. When he falls in the pool, he says – Look what you made me do. AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Scene 2:
Wes running through the streets on New Year’s Eve, with the background playing the bridge theme from Out of the Woods. I WAS SOLD. I think the real scene had a different song, though. Nevertheless, people running for the love of their lives will always be one of my favorite micro-tropes.
To be honest, Voicemails for Isabelle is a romcom that will make you fall in love with love.
Wes and Jill.
Jill and Isabelle.
Andy, Breeda and Wes.
Every relationship, every form of love has been portrayed so beautifully.
For the first time in a long while, I actually giggled while looking at some scenes. Like all alone in my room, staring at the screen and giggling like a teenage girl who shook hands with her crush.
Every time Wes smiled, I was a goner. Actually, I was a goner every time Nick Robinson was on screen. HOW IS HE SO HAWT? I wanted to hide behind my pillow cause I felt so shy.
The romance is so ridiculously charming, that it brought me to my knees. So badly, that I never noticed that it is invasive or maybe creepy for Wes to listen to those personal voicemails and then walk up to that bench and sit down beside her, all the while knowing everything.
But the way Jill and Wes are drawn to each other doesn’t feel forced at all. Rather, it feels natural, funny and incredibly comforting. I was smiling during their conversations even before I realized it.
Voicemails for Isabelle made me cry
Now, a few days after I have watched the movie, and have had time to absorb it, I am starting to understand that along with being a romcom, at its heart, the movie is about grief too.
It is about what happens when someone becomes such a permanent part of your daily life, that even after they’re gone, you don’t know how to stop talking to them.
Their sudden absence feels so soul-crushing that you never really understand what to do with that part of your love that you no longer have to give to someone.
I am glad I watched this one alone in my room because of how hard I laughed and cried at some of the scenes.
But the humor made me scream, giggle and kick my feet
The humor, especially, doesn’t seem awkward. It is so well-timed and wonderfully hilarious. Why? Because they felt real, not forced.
Thankfully, this wasn’t one of those movies where every joke sounds like it was written by executives desperately trying to cater to Gen-Z.
From the damned kumquats to the chef that cried after sex to the dating guru who got exposed on live TV and every conversation between Wes, Breeda and Andy.
Chef’s kiss, all puns intended.
Rounding up my best scenes from Voicemails for Isabelle:
You’re not Tom Hanks! – When Andy and Breeda find out that Wes never really told Jill about the voicemails
Chicken pot pie with a corn bread crust – The way my heart melted when Wes tried it. Just shows that it is the small things that people remember that make the biggest impact.
Dancing on my own, last scene – When I noticed Isabelle, I began to cry. Then Wes started dancing and I was happy crying.
Wes’s smiles and yearning – Man, those eyes would work on me, 100%, EVERY SINGLE TIME.
Jill standing up to Chef Bastien – BEST BEST BEST. Probably spoke for all other people with the shittiest bosses.
I have already mentioned the poolside and Wes running scenes, but please know, they’re both incredibly important.
Why did this movie work so well?
Because of its simplicity. Its ability to make the viewer feel good. Let them smile, laugh, cry.
There are no shocking, over-the-top twists or dramatic betrayals. It understands the concept of ‘small moments with big impact’.
All in all, I loved it.
I came for a romcom. Stayed for a story about genuine love. And left with a heart full of it.
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