Romcom fans will know that Netflix’s original offerings can be hit-and-miss, but the streamer clearly didn’t phone it in with its latest release Voicemails for Isabelle.
The new film, starring Netflix regular Zoey Deutch and Maid’s Nick Robinson, has stormed its Top 10 chart – shooting to the top spot just days after being released.
And it’s not just viewers who are impressed; Voicemails for Isabelle has received a score of 84 per cent on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on critics’ positive feedback, making it one of the streamer’s more favourably received originals.
Written and directed by Leah McKendrick, the romantic comedy stars The Politician’s Deutch as Jill, an aspiring baker who continues to leave voicemails for her sister Isabelle after her sudden death from cystic fibrosis. When Isabelle’s number is reassigned to estate agent Wes (Robinson), he finds herself falling in love with Jill through the voice messages.
Since arriving on the platform on Friday 19 June, the flick has become a hit with fans – although many have been left in tears by its moving portrayal of Jill’s grief.
“Ok why did I think voicemails for Isabelle was going to be a rom-com because I cried at least once every 10 minutes for 2 hours ??????” one viewer wrote on X, while another said: “voicemails for isabelle made me laugh, cry a number of times, sweat, dance, take a shot, eat, and have many epiphanies.”
Deutch acknowledged how the film puts its viewers through the emotional wringer in a recent interview on The Tonight Show, telling Jimmy Fallon: “I’ve been getting a lot of videos of people crying.
“It’s really beautiful. It’s a cry-off. Please keep sending us your crying videos. We love you. It means a lot.”
The movie has been positively received by critics as well, with The Times calling it “a lush film” in which Deutch proves “she is a criminally underused Hollywood heavyweight”.
While The New York Times also praised Deutch’s performance, saying that the film “begins as a tear-jerker and morphs into a rom-com with poignant notes”.
Although some have pointed out the rather unsettling nature in which Wes pursues Jill, with The Guardian finding Voicemails for Isabelle “picks creepy over cute” with its borderline-stalker lead.
In fact, earlier this week, Voicemails for Isabelle director McKendrick revealed that she feared the film’s final scene may come off as “creepy” to viewers.
Voicemails for Isabelle has received a rating that’s marginally lower on Rotten Tomatoes than Deutch’s first Netflix original, Set It Up, in which she starred opposite Glenn Powell. She returned to the streamer to star in Ryan Murphy comedy-drama The Politician in 2019 and next year, she’ll be starring in biographical sports drama The 99’ers.
