Voicemails for Isabelle

It all adds up to a wonderful surprise of a film, the kind that makes you remember just what we’ve been missing as these women-centric genres have fallen out of fashion. Voicemails For Isabelle will make you laugh, make you cry, and make you believe it’s not embarrassing for a movie to strive to be “life-affirming.”

What truly makes Voicemails for Isabelle stand out is that it isn't just another romcom that's going to get some views and be forgotten; this movie offers a genuinely meaningful story, in which audiences get to see Jill heal after this brutal loss—and that's what it's really about.

The appealing Zoey Deutch is the best reason to watch Voicemails for Isabelle. Written and directed by Leah McKendrick (who also plays a small, amusing role), the movie begins as a tear-jerker and morphs into a rom-com with poignant notes.

A big, sprawling romantic comedy with large emotions and messy characters and shoutouts to your favorite love stories. The enthusiasm comes across, and it’s infectious even when the movie doesn’t quite work. Which is most of the time.

For all its otherwise precision-engineered sweetness, “Voicemails for Isabelle” doesn’t find its way there. Which is a shame, because Zoey Deutch and Nick Robinson — two reliably likable actors, alike in age, genre credentials and button-cuteness — do everything in their power to make you believe.

Though it’s not any better than most romantic comedies, Voicemails for Isabelle has aspects that are genuinely interesting. It touches on ideas and suggests nuances of psychology that feel serious, even though the movie itself does not.

In trying to scratch our itch for the old while also recognising the new, McKendrick settles for something stale.