This is a pretty simple romantic comedy that I – as a human grump factory – found really sweet and endearing. I may get kicked out of the club for this one, but I chuckled and I awwed at the romance and the chemistry between the two leads.

The film is about an uptight British writer whose first book – the Sensible Heart – is a less-than-torrid romance that is sterile and chaste. It’s on its way to the bottom of the lists when his publisher reports that it’s #1 in Mexico. So he’s off on a book tour with the novel’s translator… a Mexican woman who took the opportunity to edit the book into something more akin to a steamy telenovela.

Here’s the thing… I think these two actors have immense chemistry and are really fun and lovely together. Yes the movie is full of clichés but since it’s a romcom that dallies in a lot of the tropes, it really just comes down to how good the dopey moon-eyed writing is (pretty good) and how good the actors are together (quite good).

Yes, the movie has the inevitable relationship crisis that almost breaks them up. And yes it’s kind of dopey. But, here’s the thing… I wanted them to get back together again. In most rom-coms, you know it’s inevitable so this stage of the movie is just time-keeping. But, even though its direction is predictable, I hoped these two knuckleheads would make it. Making me care about the cliché is good writing and acting… or it’s me being a sudden doe-eyed ninny. Take yer pick.

I also appreciate that it’s set in Mexico and doesn’t feature a single cartel member. That’s a low bar to reach but it doesn’t happen often in films set in Mexico (at least ones distributed out of that country… this one is on Amazon Prime). Nice just to see normal romantic comedy vibes in a setting we rarely see.

Might be worth taking a look at it if there’s any part of you that enjoys rom-coms. I could be dead wrong. Who knows. Maybe I’m just in a good mood. But the film worked for me, mainly due to the chemistry of the leads and the fizzy writing.

Score: 84