Sometimes redos are ok. Remember the movie Yesterday, about a world where only one guy knows the Beatles discography? That’s a killer premise…that Richard Curtis murdered when he decided the audience really wanted a lame romantic comedy instead. Love Again was one of those same killer premises…ruined by creeperism and a crazy Celine Dion sideplot. So, Hollywood, get John Carney to do Yesterday again please; if it’s half as great as Leah McKendrick’s Voicemails for Isabelle, you’ll out box office the 4 upcoming Beatles movies combined!
Cause this premise rocks: since birth, Jill (Zoey Deutch) and Isabelle (Ciara Bravo) have been as close as sisters can be. Cystic fibrosis forces Issy to live vicariously through Jill’s chef dreams in San Francisco, but the bond remained strong as ever. Remained being the key word: poor Isabella passes away, devastating poor Zoey. So much so, she starts leaving voicemails to her sister to keep her alive in someway. But that phone number is now in the hands of Austin based realtor Wes (Nick Robinson). The more voicemails he hears, the more he gets invested in Jill’s life. So when an opportunity to sell that Painted Lady comes up in SanFran, Wes jumps, hoping to meet this person he’s become invested in.
Leah McKendrick understands Voicemails’s premise better than the Love Again team. Two key things she changes to make the movie work. First, give up the hook once the pair meet. The minute Wes shows up at Jill’s favorite Golden Gate bench, the only time the voicemails come up again in when Jill has to find out about them, meaning more time to invest in the couple together. Second, is a better emotional understanding of the voicemails. In reality, there is a dual meaning to it. Wes is in the romcom, staging a meet cute with a girl, and hopefully falling in love with them, the more time they spend together having fun. But Jill is in the darker story: she’s in a heartbreaking family drama, adrift and alone, hoping someone, anyone, can connect with her on a deep level like she did with Isabelle. This dichotomy lets McKendrick write stories within stories, traversing the US across two timelines until they merge, creating another story altogether. That unexpectedness gives Voicemails For Isabelle a more enriching watching experience that creeps up own you. I love where this movie ends, definitely tearing up a little.
That’s also in large part thanks to whom Leah McKendrick built the movie around, two vet romcom actors for such a young age. Nick Robinson is well cast as the guy holding a secret eating him up inside. But Wes is not Simon, and has much more charm and charisma he gets to let loose here, so good it makes you forget the creepier parts of the character. His counterpart I’ve had season tickets two since she stood out in a room full of hot baseball bros on Everybody Wants Some!! Zoey Deutch has lived an entire movie life since that debut, including her own romcom magic. She shows why Wes was so into Jill; Deutch radiates the “it” factor, completely charming the screen as the cutest hot mess that has ever existed, a girl next door that feels attainable and cool at the same time. I enjoyed her best on those voicemail calls, la de da ing her way through the call to hide the deep pain underneath them that make you want to hug her and tell her everything’s gonna be ok. Deutch and Robinson went to school together, so their connection comes through pretty effortlessly onscreen. Hella important when there’s only 20ish minutes together where they have to convince us to root for their coupling. They nail it, plain and simple.
I’m so happy Voicemails For Isabelle worked! I knew that hook “star crossed lovers over cell phone change” was bound to work with the right recipe, like Leah McKendrick and her splash of Zoey Deutch and Nick Robinson. Makes me wonder what other redos we can try besides Yesterday? Maybe Splice? Or try to fix a near classic like Sunshine, Stripes, or Full Metal Jacket? You’re right, I’m getting ahead of myself. John Carney, fix Richard Curtis’s movie please!