A Little Rebel Wilson Goes a Long Way, and In “Isn’t It Romantic” You Get a Lot of Rebel Wilson

“Isn’t It Romantic” (Warner Brothers)

Rebel Wilson is the amazingly good comedienne who stole all three of the “Pitch Perfect” movies as “Fat Amy” (her term, not mine). Based on her success in that role Wilson has now been given a starring role in the new movie “Isn’t It Romantic.” She is surrounded by supporting players such as Liam Hemsworth, Priyanka Chopra, Betty Gilpin and Adam Devine, who are all good as supporting players. The unfortunate fact is so is Wilson.

Wilson can be adorably appealing in small doses. In the “Pitch Perfect” movies when Anna Kendrick needed someone to bounce jokes off of, and look good doing it, Wilson was there. When they needed someone to take a pratfall or roll down a hill, Wilson was there. She was there, and when she wasn’t needed to do those things, she wasn’t there. In “Isn’t It Romantic” she is always there whether we want her to be or not.

Since Wilson dominates all aspects of the film people we would like to see more of in the film, such as Hemsworth, Chopra, Gilpin and Devine, don’t get much screen time at all. And they are only in the film to heap more attention on Wilson. Now this isn’t Wilson’s fault. This is how the script was written, but it comes off as her grabbing every sparkle of the spotlight she can grab.

It also doesn’t help that the scrip is basically an Amy Schumer hand me down. Remember Schumer in “I Feel Pretty.” She played a plus sized young woman who hit her head and then woke up feeling beautiful. In “Isn’t It Romantic” Wilson plays Natalie, a plus sized young woman who hits her head and wakes up living her life in a romantic comedy. Sounds familiar huh?

This also is one of those message movies that attributes all the ills one can feel to just not “loving yourself.” That is not a bad message but it is one that has been hammered to death by better movies than this one. To some of the women I know just getting Liam Hemsworth to say “I Love You” would solve a lot of their problems.

The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and adult situations.

Rebel Wilson is fun but at this stage of her career she needs to share the spotlight and at least let another star carry half the load. When the movie rests on her shoulders alone it tends to bend under the weight. “Isn’t It Romantic” is not all bad, but it isn’t all good either. And that makes it end up being just average.

I scored “Isn’t It Romantic” a star-less 5 out of 10.

Jackie K Cooper

www.jackiekcooper.com