This Jennifer Lopez workplace romcom should be demoted.
The new Jennifer Lopez vehicle on Netflix “Office Romance” is just as lousy as the poster suggests. It features her and Brett Goldstein in an elevator with the tagline: “It’s Going Down.” Without seeing a trailer, I was expecting it to be a bad romcom where two people get stuck in an elevator and they end up falling in love with each other. I’m glad the movie doesn’t stoop to that level, but it’s still should be demoted from Netflix’s library to Tubi.
Jennifer Lopez plays Jackie Cruz, the CEO of AirCruz, who runs a tight ship and doesn’t have a social life. When her attorney (Bradley Whitford) ends up in the hospital, she has Daniel Blanchflower (Goldstein), her a new lawyer from London, stepping in for their deposition. Despite their conflicts (and him accidentally getting an erection in her office), he likes her and she may like him too, but they can’t because of certain principles in the work place. She even asks her human resources employee George (Tony Hale) if the company’s strict “No dating anyone in the workplace” policy was “unrealistic,” and the scene cuts to the next one before he can even answer. But when they go on a business trip in the Dominic Republic, that’s when they have their romantic fling.
Among the supporting characters, Jackie has a pregnant assistant (Betty Gilpin), who refuses to go on maternity leave, while Daniel lives in America to keep his imprisoned sister (Jodie Whittaker) from going on death row. And others are left out to dry like Jackie’s father and the man behind AirCruz (Edward James Olmos) and a cleaning lady played by a comedy star (Amy Sedaris).
“Office Romance” could have been a good movie if it was written by Goldstein and his “Ted Lasso” collaborator Joe Kelly, but instead, it goes for unlikable characters, cliches, an embarrassing version of the birth scene from “Knocked Up,” the obligatory F-bombs and C words (distinguishing between how it’s said in America and the U.K.), a “Graduate” reference, and the cynicism of it all. There may have been a better story regarding Goldstein’s sister, and why she was in New Jersey in the first place, but that’s never really explored. All she says is that she chopped a man’s head off, and if that was really the case, this lawyer must really be legit or the system is just plain stupid. And Hale’s cameo is the best thing about the film, and he should have been a major character and not the pregnant assistant.
I think director Ol Parker (in his first entry since “Ticket to Paradise”) needs to find better material for his next film. It’s all perfunctory with all the elements I’ve mentioned, and you know a British filmmaker like Richard Curtis should have been the one to write better material for Lopez and Goldstein. He’s somebody I trust, but instead Parker just goes through the motions with the characters.
The movie is also too long with about half an hour having the workplace romance taking heat with blackmail, arguments, and negativity. There are many great romcoms currently on Netflix’s site like “There’s Something About Mary,” “Father of the Bride,” “Pretty Woman,” and “Tootsie.” But “Office Romance” should be the one that’s “Leaving Soon.”
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