Devine battles bad script

By Amy Geldean

“When We First Met” is a romantic comedy filled with overworked twists and turns, the same as every other romantic comedy.

The cast of the film, which includes Adam Devine, Alexandra Daddario, Shelley Hennig and Robbie Amell, work well together to develop the plot and make the audience laugh, despite script and story flaws. The actors and actresses should not be faulted for ultimately doing their best to produce a film with an overplayed plot.

“When We First Met” focuses on Noah, played by Devine, a young man who meets a beautiful girl named Avery, played by Daddario, and falls madly in love with her. Avery, however, friendzones Noah immediately, leading him to suffer for three years until he gets a chance to go back in time and change their fate.

Throughout the film, Noah tries various ways to get Avery to fall for him. This positively contributes to the reality of the film because it shows how different choices people make will follow them through life. Despite this, each character’s life ends up the same, as Avery continuously falls for Ethan, played by Amell, and Noah realizes he can’t change fate.

Devine does an excellent job portraying his character in different lights by testing personalities out on Avery, a task not every actor could successfully pull off. Playing a balancing act of roles, Devine bounces back and forth between each ‘character’ Noah takes on with an effortless ease.

One of the ways he tries to seduce Avery revives the attitude of Devine’s role in the 2012 film “Pitch Perfect,” where he played the arrogant snob, Bumper. Devine carries this role perfectly into the film, reminding fans of his past while also showing his growth.

The film exploits the romantic side of the story more than the comedic, however, nothing in this Netflix original stands out. All the other romantic comedies in the world follow the same general plot with a love chase and cheap laughs.

This movie will not go down in history as a classic romantic comedy like the 1989 film “When Harry Met Sally” or the 2003 film “Love Actually.” It is just another romantic comedy with the same plot lines and plot flaws as most.