Love at First Sight

There’s nothing new in this by-the-book rom-com

Ben Hardy and Haley Lu Richardson catch the Red Eye and feelings in the tepid Love at First Sight.

Hadley Sullivan (Haley Lu Richardson) misses her transatlantic flight by four minutes. Already stressed and dreading the prospect of attending her father’s second wedding, Hadley books a seat on the next flight and settles in for a boring wait at the airport.

Luckily for Hadley, there’s more than just a SkyMall catalog waiting for her on her flight to London. Oliver (Ben Hardy) is also on his way to London for a family function and decides that Hadley, being the prettiest girl in the airport, is, therefore, the love of his life. The two spend seven magical hours together before getting separated by customs.

Did Hadley and Oliver fall in love in seven hours? Will they ever find each other again?

Of course they will, you’ve seen this movie before.

And that’s the problem with Love at First Sight, a film so generic the title seems like a placeholder that was never fixed in the second draft. There’s absolutely nothing new in the relationship between Hadley and Oliver. They have polite, tepid chemistry. Poor Richardson works overtime to sell the idea that Hadley is just blown away by Oliver’s…accent? quirk? almost obsessively tousled hair? Beyond being the flavor of British that appeals to anglophile girls in their 20s and existing, it’s hard to understand why this dude is anyone’s soulmate.

Director Vanessa Caswill doesn’t care to explain the relationship that is at the center of Love at First Sight, mostly because she’s so busy cramming the film with so much adorable quirk, the whole movie could take place beneath Zooey Deschanel’s bangs. Think of this film as Amelie without the charm, acting, or consistency of tone. Amusingly, Caswill does have the world’s most generous view of JFK Airport and planes, as every place Hadley ventures has the same soft pink Instagram lighting that makes it look dreamy and lovely. Too bad the script doesn’t have the same aesthetic. Caswill loves a good statistic, and an intrusive narration rambles them at you to the point of near distraction. Hadley is five-foot-six! Her phone is usually at 21%! How unique! What a fun and totally new take on a character! No one’s ever been five-foot-six before!

To keep the film feeling spritely, Caswill inserts Jameela Jamil as a sort of Puck figure (just in case you don’t get that, she’s reading a copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream) who interferes with the narrative to help the young lovers and narrates in a knowing voice tone that becomes insufferable the more we hear from it. Setting aside that Puck isn’t a helper figure, but causes chaos in the play, it’s still a nothing role for an actor who deserves better.

But all is not rotten in the state of Denmark, as Caswill does take a narrative left turn with Oliver’s story that was genuinely touching. In fact, Oliver’s whole family is so delightful and ties into the ham-handed Shakespeare theme that it’s almost a pity we must waste time with Oliver, who is unquestionably the least interesting member of his family, and Hadley. But while this interesting tangent is the best part of the film, it also makes Oliver look dull and Hadley like a brat when she’s faced with real emotional issues.

While Love at First Sight is far from the worst film I’ve seen this year, it’s definitely one that will blissfully slip from my mind within a week of viewing it. If you’ve got a lot of chores going on one lazy Saturday, pop this on in the background and you’ll have 2 hours of white noise.

Verdict: Predictable and listless, Love at First Sight will be forgotten in a blink.

Love at First Sight is available on Netflix.