The biggest issue with Office Romance is that its writers know romcoms too well. Brett Goldstein and Joe Kelly worked together on Ted Lasso, a show that already proved that they know how to pay homage to the best of that genre, particularly Nora Ephron and Richard Curtis. Goldstein also wrote (together with Will Bridges), the superhero romcom SuperBob (2015) that not enough people have seen, and that maybe just because it was so restricted by its budget, ends up being the better film.
Office Romance is the story of forbidden love between high-powered airline CEO Jackie Cruz (Jennifer Lopez) and her newly hired in-house lawyer, the awkwardly named Daniel Blanchflower (Goldstein). It thus has the classic Richard Curtis set-up of handsome-but-bumbling Brit and intimidating American, and thankfully, the leads‘ chemistry matches it, which is at least 70% of what you need to make any romantic comedy work. It also has a deep bench of supporting players, from Lisa Gilroy who sets the tone with a date going wildly off the rails, to Bradley Whitford as Daniel’s direct boss, Betty Gilpin as Jackie’s colleague and confidante, Tony Hale as a pained HR worker, and a variety of (recent) Star Trek alumni (Mary Wiseman, Michelle Hurd), frequent Goldstein collaborators (Brian Gallivan, Mo Welch and the great Jodie Whittaker) and none other than Edward James Olmos as Jackie Cruz’s father.
The plot is also quickly explained: AirCruz is getting sued by a competitor, and when Daniel’s boss chokes on a breakfast burrito, he needs to take over the deposition last minute. He realizes she’s a goddess, but like him, also an incorrigible workaholic who hasn’t dated anyone in years, and so it’s not long before they act on their chemistry. This however is a problem not only because the company has a zero-tolerance policy for interoffice dating, but because in the ongoing lawsuit, the opposition is trying to insinuate Jackie incurred favors by sleeping with a business associate. As the board is already keen on ousting her from her own family‘s company, one that she built, she risks losing everything. By the end, after the expected brief breakup, Jackie is threatened with blackmail because of the affair and wants to step down – but Daniel swoops in with the grand gesture, so they get to be together and she gets to keep her job.
Most of the set pieces work here. Daniel moved to New Jersey because his sister (Whittaker) is in a high security prison there (for murder!) and he doesn’t want to leave her behind. It’s another Curtis trope to have the male lead deal with a struggling sister, but this iteration is slightly over the top and ultimately on the verge of parody – and yet, here, too the chemistry makes up for a lot, as Goldstein and Whittaker’s banter is incredibly endearing. (The code-switching immediately sold me.)
It also leans into crassness more in line with Apatow romcoms (Daniel getting a boner from a handshake, the explicit birth scene that seems lifted from Knocked Up), but the film doesn’t always fully manage this range of tone – the idiosyncrasy Kelly and Goldstein did so well on Ted Lasso is arguably harder to translate into a barely 2-hour film. What does translate is the culture clash; this is the definitely the only romcom out there that has a long monologue about the word “cunt“, as Goldstein gets to rehash one of his best stand-up bits about its versatility. It’s the upside of a release on streaming rather than a theatrical run where this would need an R-rating; this way we also get gems such as Betty Gilpin deadpanning “I fuck“ while extremely pregnant.
As someone who spent too much time avoiding Jennifer Lopez’s acting work for no good reason other than I never particularly liked her music, I have to admit she is pulling this one off – and there is no doubt she had fun making this. Her production company Nuyorican is also bankrolling the film, and Ol Parker, who directs, did some of my favorite films in the past (particularly Imagine Me & You, a film likely still pivotal for any bisexual teenager).
Office Romance, much like its protagonists, is sometimes trying a bit too hard, and risks standing in its own way by attempting to do it all. But there’s worse sins, and as we’re still living through a dearth of good romcoms, I am more than happy to see one made by people who know what they’re doing. It’s not soaring as high as it could, but it definitely won’t let you fall out of the sky either.
Office Romance is now streaming on Netflix.
