Maintenance Required review (2025)

November 3, 2025 Jeffrey Lyles Jacob Scipio, Jim Gaffigan, Katy O'Brian, Madelaine Petsch, Madison Bailey, Maintenance Required, Matteo Lane

Maintenance Required is a fitting title for this fixer-up rom-com that could have been special with a bit more tinkering.

Charlie (Madelaine Petsch, Riverdale) is keeping her late father’s mechanic shop O’Malley’s going. While she’s not overwhelmed with customers, Charlie does have a loyal customer base who appreciate her honest business tactics. Petsch’s Riverdale co-star Camila Mendes has carved out a nice niche in the rom com genre, but Petsch proves just as capable of being a likable, enjoyable lead.

Save for one scene that leans into “mansplaining” and a too broad statement that male-operated mechanics all try to take advantage of customers, screenwriters Roo Berry, Erin Falconer and co-writer/director Lacey Uhlemeyer largely avoid the frustrating “the patriarchy is awful” trope mindset.

There’s no need to underscore women are equally capable of running any kind of business when Maintenance Required simply shows that playing out. To help Charlie keep things running smoothly, her best friends, Kam (Katy O’Brian, Twisters) and Izzy (Madison Bailey, Black Lightning) handle various roles. Kam is a skilled mechanic while Izzy provides a welcome distraction for customers stuck waiting by providing pedicures.

In an interesting wrinkle to the formula, overbearing auto repair franchise owner, Mr. Miller (Jim Gaffigan) decides he wants to expand his operations and set up a shop directly from O’Malley’s. In order to eradicate the competition, Miller sends his closer — renowned for his skills in shutting down rival stores — Beau (Jacob Scipio, Bad Boys for Life) to oversee the new location.

That creates a problem as Charlie and Beau have been carrying out a monthslong interaction via a car aficionado forum. They haven’t shared pictures, real names or jobs, but their mutual love of cars has led to a flirtship that seems like it could blossom into the real thing if they ever met up.

While Charlie and Beau’s first in-person encounter is full of intense chemistry and some funny double entendres, the spark quickly gets dashed when she learns he’s working for the competition threatening to run her out of business. That ruins their budding romance as Charlie just sees Beau as the enemy.

It seems like Maintenance Required could have had more back and forth moments with Charlie and Beau trying to one up each other on the business front while confiding in each other via the anonymity of the car forum. Instead, their scenes have lukewarm intensity that becomes frustrating after Beau learns that Charlie is his forum pal and maintains the charade of her competitor sparring partner.

Petsch and Scipio have adequate chemistry. It’s not sizzling or electric, but more of the “these are the two leads in the romantic comedy, so they’re supposed to be together” kind of chemistry. It also doesn’t help that Beau’s actions range from deliberately withholding the truth to being outright dishonest making it hard to root for Charlie to give him another chance.

Some of Uhlemeyer’s camera work is disorienting and distracting as if the film was shot with a fish-eye lens for no discernable reason.

Ironically, Maintenance Required probably would have fared better as a dramedy focusing on Charlie, Izzy and Kam trying to keep the mechanic shop open while dealing with a new rival franchise. Petsch, O’Brian and Bailey have outstanding chemistry as best friends. They’re believable as friends who’ve gone through some of life’s early challenges and successes together. Their interactions are the highlight of Maintenance Required.

To have some measure of romance in the film, Beau could have either have been Charlie’s already-established boyfriend or a subplot to Charlie’s larger story of maintaining the garage.

In the modern content model, there’s a decent number of TV series that would make for better movies. Maintenance Required is the kind of movie that probably could have made for a really enjoyable series. It’s not hard to imagine episode arcs featuring a new challenge for Charlie and company whether garage issues, troublesome clients and the continued rivalry with The Miller Boys.

Come for the rom com, but stick around for Petsch, O’Brian and Bailey, a fun trio that turns out to be the only essential tools Maintenance Required to be an entertaining movie.