Sorry to take so long to post a review of Office Romance but the film left me a bit rattled. This is a slight, amusing in spots, sweet in others, occasionally vulgar, ultimately forgettable, romantic comedy that premiered a few weeks ago on Netflix. If you are looking for a new rom-com movie to watch, one that stars Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso, Shrinking), this might be for you, especially if you just can’t get enough of the one word that remains the ultimate taboo in polite or even not-so-polite company: the C-word.
Goldstein, who co-wrote the script with Joe Kelly, loves saying this word. In Office Romance, he plays a detached Brit corporate lawyer who works for Lopez. She plays Jackie Cruz a very attractive power boss who runs a mid-size airline. Cruz gets plenty of turbulance from the backstabbing weasels in her Man’s Club of a boardroom.
I’ve seen a lot of meet cutes in movies but this one sticks out. Goldstien’s character, hampered with the ridiculous name Daniel Blanchflower, has a meeting with Cruz to discuss a legal matter. Their eyes meet, sparks fly, and before you can say, “Shwinng!” he gets a boner. Not just a little boner. It could qualify for a best supporting actor boner.
A few awkward moments later, somebody in the office is retiring, and people are making toasts, and Goldstein’s character Blanchflower tries to shed his reserved Brit rep among these Yanks and oversteps with a shocking bit of slang from back home. Do I have to spell it out? A C you next Tuesday salute.
Everyone, including the audience watching this movie is shocked.
Sidebar your honour: many years ago, maybe 30, I was on one of those Television Critics Association press tours in Los Angeles. Before the critics on that day was Timothy Dalton, still and always best known for his two James Bond movies. Feeling a little too at home among the American and Canadian scribes and perhaps overserved by the hotel bar staff, Dalton casually dropped a C-bomb at the session.
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The place went nuts. Tea was dropped in harbours in Boston. Months, or maybe a year or two earlier, the righteous TV press attacked a network boss for allowing a little girl to say, “you suck.” on a sitcom. James Bond or no James Bond, the C-word was a much bigger Dr. No-No.
You’d think things would be different in 2026, but the word still shocks, especially in the context of this Andrew Dice Clay of rom-coms. Yes, right off the bat, we meet a minor character out on a speed date with our lady boss J-Lo, and out of nowhere he veers over the line. Because he’s played by the always welcome and hilarious Will Sasso, it seems double-y wrong but we love him so we let it go.
But this whiplash from Hallmark to genital joke-a-thon never ends. Another character in the film is Cruz’s loyal office wing-woman Sydney Bloom, played by Betty Gilpin (so good in GLOW). She is, like, 10 months pregnant but vows to be back in the office hours after giving birth. Sure enough, her water breaks, J-Lo and Goldstein become instant midwives, and without giving more away, this is the crowning moment of all of their careers.
There are other wonderful actors in this movie, including Edward Jame Olmos as Cruz’s founding father; Tony Hale (Veep) as the horrified Human Resources director who must endure two straight minutes of C-bombs, Bradley Whitford as the firm’s former top law dog, and the great Amy Sedaris in a key cameo.
The script, however, is the star. This plays like Goldstien scribbled a bunch of “they’ll never leave this in” notes in the margins and they left them all in. If you are in the mood for it, you will laugh out loud with eyes wide open. You will also completely forget this movie the very next day.
