GRACE MCDONALD
mcdonaldge@lopers.unk.edu
People remember meeting the love of their life. In the 2018 Netflix Original movie, “When We First Met,” Noah Ashby (Adam Devine) believes that on the day he met Avery Martin (Alexandra Daddario), destiny practically caused the clouds to part and the angels to sing.
Three years later, Noah’s friend-zoned heart still yearns for Avery as he reluctantly toasts her marriage to another man, Ethan (Robbie Arnell). After drowning his sorrows in alcohol, Noah stumbles upon the old photo booth that him and Avery once cherished.
While holding a strip of their crumpled souvenir photos, Noah activates the photo booth, which transports him three years into the past – to the day on which they first met.
Utilizing the mystical power of the photobooth, Noah goes on multiple humorous time-traveling journeys in an attempt to win over Avery’s heart by learning from his mistakes and gaining advice from his friends Max (King Bach) and Carrie (Shelly Hennig).
Directed by Ari Sandel, we get to see Adam Devine’s facial expressions and comedic timing compliment the humor behind the clever writing.
The amazing chemistry between the cast members is dynamic. Even though the time-travelling aspect creates similar circumstances, the subtle changes in the characters’ emotions keep the viewers on the edge of their seats, especially with the incorporated creativity offered by the symbolic photobooth.
On the other hand, the plot of “When We First Me” is kind of predictable and can lag after a certain amount of time-travelling.
To put the storyline into perspective for movie buffs, the plot is similar to a combination of Groundhog Day, Back To The Future, and Big. After watching it a second time, I realized that a couple of the trips taken by Noah were used as opportunities for unnecessary humor, instead of advancing the plot.
For this reason, I give “When We First Met” three Lopes out of five.
However, for anyone wanting characters to root for and dialogue to laugh at, they can decide whether or not this romantic comedy is worthy of the friendzone when compared to their list of favorite films.
