Love is in the Air review
Love is in the Air plays out similar to a Hallmark movie with loftier ambitions of being another in the lengthy lineup of Netflix’s must-see romance dramas. It’s missing that spark to fully warrant a recommendation largely because it seems better suited for a TV series.
It’s not hard to envision Love is in the Air as an eight-episode series. That would give the story more space to flesh out some subplots, build a charming chemistry with its leads and not dive bomb into an unlikely ending for the sake of a happy ending.
Dana (Delta Goodrem) is running a skeleton crew trying to keep the family seaplane business, Fullerton Airways, operational. As the pilot she’s responsible for giving tourists a thrill to keep the bills paid. Dana is more focused on providing aid and doing supply drops for the locals. That’s the way her late mother did it and Dana doesn’t see a need to change it.
Enter William (Joshua Sasse) a representative of ITCM Financial, the group that shoulders the financial burden for the group. Seeking ways to save the company from bad investments, William suggests shutting down Fullerton. William’s CEO father wants him to do due diligence and then shut it down.
Naturally, William isn’t quite so ready to pull the plug after meeting the Fullerton staff of Dana’s father Jeff (Roy Billing) and best friend/mechanic Nikki (Steph Tisdell). And maybe it doesn’t hurt that Dana’s work attire consists of short shorts and tank tops.
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The setup is familiar — Dana initially doesn’t want anything to do with the paper pusher when she could be out helping others. William starts to question if he really wants to walk in his father’s footsteps, especially after seeing how passionate Dana is doing a job she loves. And Nikki thinks there’s a spark that just needs a little help.
Screenwriters Caera Bradshaw, Katharine McPhee and co-screenwriter/director Adrian Powers have the right idea for the film, but it feels too rushed. A romance film clocking in under 90 minutes is usually the ideal window, yet Love is in the Air needed more of a hook to just push Dana and William together.
In the manner the film plays out, it almost feels like there’s timestamps where certain boxes need to get checked off. Meet cute by the 15-minute mark. Sparks fly at 32 minutes, minor squabble 50 minutes and so on.
Goodrem and Sasse don’t have the sizzling, immediate chemistry to sell this accelerated love story. They both seem game and could probably get there given enough time to flesh out their characters. Still, it’s a tough ask given the nature of the script, which doesn’t make the connection feel organic.
Billing and Tisdell settle into their supporting roles nicely. They provide enough jokes that Love in the Air could technically qualify for a romantic comedy. But does it count if the two leads aren’t the ones bringing most of the humor?
Production values are decent though lacking the polish of the standard Netflix romance/rom-com, which look ready for the big screen. There’s very much a TV quality element to this film.
Whether the tiny cast, the overall glossy sheen of the film and insert commercial here transitions, the film frequently feels too limited and financially conscious.
The final act especially feels rushed and casually avoiding any logic just for the sake of a happy ending.
Love in the Air is an alright enough time-killer. Yet Netflix has a strong stable of better entries in the rom com genre to avoid settling on one that doesn’t always take off.
Rating: 6 out of 10
Photo Credit: Netflix