A 'J-Lo' Rom-Com normally leaves little to the imagination. Girl meets guy - girl / guy fall for each other - throw in plenty of reasons for them
not to be together, issues overcome - happy ending. In fact, that's not just J-Lo Rom-Com's - that's
all Rom-Com's.
But, what happens if you add Roy Kent as the male interest with his totally watchable persona and colourful language - mixed in with J-Lo's ever adorable charms - is it any better?
Well, Office Romance which is new to Netflix is definitely a funny and watchable romp through a frowned upon blossoming Office Romance (clue is in the title!) between airline President & CEO Jennifer Lopez and in-house lawyer Brett Goldstein (Roy Kent in Ted Lasso).
Thrown together, due to the regular in-house lawyer and company stalwart Peter Vance played by Bradley Whitford (Handmaids Tale / The West Wing) being unavailable - characters Jackie and Daniel embark on a will they / wont they journey, against all in-house staff fraternisation 'HR' rules to try and contain their lust for one another - reaching high's and then low's that see us trundle through just under 2hrs hours of adorable giggles, colourful language (party down to Brett) and culminating with a pretty obvious ending.
Written by Goldstein himself - he really is playing the Roy Kent role to the extreme - very much typecast (I'm afraid to say) - the only real difference here was that Kent's Footie Kit was replaced with Blanchflower's well tailored Suit and although a little more polite and well spoken - it's still Roy Kent, C* Bombs and all.
There is quite a decent backstory here for most of the cast, Cruz, after taking over the family named airline 'Air Cruz', set up by her father (Captain Jack) has made it a global power and an extremely profitable brand - but there are board members who want her out - without any real explanation, that fuel her desire to succeed and in the shadow of her father, continues on trying to make her own name in the industry mean as much as her fathers.
There is the ever-present Executive Assistant Sydney (Betty Gilpin) who is hilarious as the all-knowing and extremely pregnant voice of reason to Cruz as well as a host of internal staff (Admin / HR) that all come with their little quips and quirks but the other notable presence is that of Goldstein's sister - played by Jodie Whittaker (Broadchurch / Doctor Who) who is Daniel Blanchflower's reason for being in America - to support his incarcerated sibling, banged up (admittedly) for murder is a great little distraction to the main plotline.
Yes it's predictable but remains funny at the same time and with some great 'off-screen' press junket's to boot, the on-screen chemistry between Lopez and Goldstein is actually totally cute and adorable.
Friday night in with your partner? This is a real winner.
