Friday Streaming - Resort to Love on Netflix is an all-inclusive rom-com minus the feels

Resort to Love is a predictable rom-com about realizations, closure, falling in and out of love, and a beach vacation on a budget.

This Alicia Keys-produced Netflix release tells the story of an aspiring singer who is roped in by her best friend to go on a dreamlike escape to Mauritius to sing at a resort after her first break as a singer kind of falls apart.

Cast - Christina Milian is terribly charming as Erica Wilson. She's driven, kind of a wreck, loves what she does, and isn't afraid to say it like it is. Erica is pretty much you and me! She's finding it hard to move on after her fiance left her without any closure, one month before the wedding! It doesn't help that her music career failed before she got a chance to launch. Jay Pharoah plays the role of Erica's ex-fiance, Jason King who isn't sure of his feelings for either of the women in his life. He's rushing into this marriage and the lack of closure from his last relationship with Erica, leaves him confused and unsure of himself. Sinqua Walls aka Caleb King is an extremely underutilized character, who has retired from the US Special Forces and is also Jason's older brother who doesn't get along too well with his brother. Caleb comes across as the kind of guy you'd want to date if only we'd gotten to see his story unfold better.

Storyline - Resort to Love follows Erica to a club where she's over the moon about her first break as a singer with Cre who then refuses to release it and shatters the record and her career within seconds. Still reeling from her broken engagement, she's devastated over her career hitting the roof too. In an attempt to break her out of this funk, Erica's best friend finds her a job at a fancy 5-star resort in Mauritius as a lounge singer. While she's dealing with these feelings, she runs into Caleb who has recently retired from the US Special Forces. Meanwhile, her ex-fiance, Jason checks in at the same resort with his fiance and bumps into Erica, who might have to sing at her ex-fiance's wedding! Old feelings come to the surface when Erica and Jason meet and that's not all! Caleb turns out to be Jason's older brother whom Erica hadn't met in the 4 and a half years that she dated Jason. Sparks fly between Caleb and Erica as she's struggling to understand whether she needs closure from Jason or wants to get back together with him!

What the trailer here!

What I liked - This movie covers deeper concepts like sibling rivalry, taking it all the way back to Jason and Caleb's childhood. They've explored the tension between the two brothers rather well. While most rom-coms are fixated on showing women fighting over a man, Resort to Love shows the two of them as rational individuals who are getting along and end up helping each other get closure and clarity. I love the pop soundtracks throughout the film, especially the ones by Christina Milian and Christiani Pitts

What I didn't quite like - All the characters are half-baked and don't have any depth to them or their relationships. While the plot was so interesting, the movie didn't do any justice to it! It left you waiting on the edge of the seat for something to go wrong or right, but it just passed you by.

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