Netflix has started including many of the recent releases on its roster by gaining the streaming rights for them later. The Delicious Romance review will explore whether they made a good decision doing that. Also known as 爱很美味, this movie is an adaptation of the drama of the same name. It is directed by Leste Chen and Chao-jen Hsu, and stars Chun Li, Hanyun Zhang, Wang Ju, Bin Ren, Fan Zhang, Nattawat Finkler, En Bai, Chengao Zhou and Boxiao Yang, alongside other cast members.
– The Delicious Romance Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
There are many chick flicks that follow characters on their journey as they come to terms with life, love and happiness. In this film, we see the characters facing their own challenges distinctly, apart from all the people in their lives. They were flawed, had doubts, and were ready to admit that, especially to their friends. It was such a positive depiction of female friendships. There wasn’t any unnecessary drama added to make the film more interesting. They were allowed to have separate lives outside of their friendship and had enough space to be whoever they wanted to be.
When we see the beginning, it feels a little tacky and overused, but it is also such a true and distinct depiction of what young friendships look like. Moreover, the story construction was done so well it all fell seamlessly into each other. Especially with all the characters in their separate spaces, it is incredibly difficult to link them together in a way that doesn’t feel abrupt, and the writers have managed to segue incredibly well.
Additionally, the dialogues have also been written incredibly well, reflecting modern conversation and language conventions that would exist among young adult women who are at a stage in their life where things are finally falling into place. The only qualm this writer has with their friendship is the fact that they fail the Bechdel test terribly. Nearly all their conversations revolve around a man, except for the few which were about their fights, but otherwise, there was a man at the centre of all their conversations.
It was fascinating, however, to see female characters with such authority, whether it be professional, casual or even in terms of sexuality. All of these women were treated respectfully, albeit still conforming to the gender binary. This writer must admit, though, that the romantic angst constructed out of the situations was absolutely top-notch. They were inserted in exactly the right place and came with relevance to the plot.
Even though there is nothing glaringly wrong with this romantic comedy-drama film, it is still just average and isn’t groundbreaking in any way. The lack of glaring faults is just a small reason why this film doesn’t fall down the drain of forgotten films. But there are some aspects of the film that truly make it seem like the professionals who worked on it had a specific vision for what the scenes should look like. Especially some of the shots were very stylised to evoke emotions, which it did manage to do.
Delicious Romance Review: Final Thoughts
While there are many other chick flicks on the platform, this definitely falls somewhere in the top tier because there aren’t any cringy dialogues or deeply problematic behaviour that would make any audience member pull their hair. However, we can leave it to the fact that it is average without any brilliant redeeming qualities. The acting is brilliant. They all carried their share of emotional work, and Chun Li delivered extremely well in her performance.
This writer would suggest that people watch this film when they are planning to use their brain to read the subtitle but are not that engaged to watch something mentally taxing. Delicious Romance is a sweet film and consists of plotlines that would be found in any normal rom-com, but that is what makes this genre so interesting and fun to watch. All their romantic interactions are different, and their dynamics also function differently, giving viewers something different at every turn.