But it is not easy to start a business that imports wine. There is a lot of competition. So if Lola wants to stand out, she needs a big client. This is when she thinks of Vaughn Family Wine. The same big client in Australia that Calder and Audra are going after.
So she immediately went to the Land Down Under to meet the winery’s owner, Hazel Vaughn (Samantha Cain). Her goal was to get her to be her importer. But because she didn't have a proper business license, she turned down her proposal right away.
All hope was not lost, though. Lola heard that they were looking for a jackaroo, so she jumped at the chance to strike a deal with Hazel. She will work as their new newbie cowboy, in exchange for a discussion with her.
She agrees. Hazel’s right-hand man, Max (Adam Demos), takes her under his wing. The two spend most of their days working on the farm. And as they spend more time together, they start to fall for each other.
But unbeknownst to Lola, Max is hiding a secret about his own identity.
Netflix doesn't really have a good track record when it comes to making romantic comedies. And there are many reasons for that. But one reason that stands out is that they focus less on characters and stories. Often, they make low-quality movies just for the money. Not because of the art, the story, or the message.
Such is the case with "A Perfect Pairing," which is pretty much just a way to milk money off of hopeless romantic millennials and adults stuck in the Y2K era. The movie's story is average at best. It has the same basic DNA as most movies back then like "The Last Song" and "A Good Year." And if you look at it closely, it's clear that there is zero to little potential of making it better than its predecessors. The real offense of it is that director Stuart McDonald didn't even try to change the plot's formula at all.
"A Perfect Pairing" was also bad because it didn't even try to make its characters more interesting. Lola is still Lola, by the end of the movie. She still lacks depth. Her goals are still undefined and hollow. If you think about it, her only role in the narrative is to help a dithery man with his identity crisis. It's like she's turned into a plot device in her own movie.
This open up a lot of problems, especially with the way women are portrayed in movies. The film pictured Lola as a go-getter. A charismatic saleswoman, a smart tactician, and a strong, independent woman. But time and time again, the script fails her and belittles her as an awkward, clumsy, and incompetent character. All the while framing it all as cute and sweet, for her male counterpart to fall for her. It’s cheap and sometimes offensive.
Speaking of romance, this film lacks a lot of it. There’s chemistry between Justice and Demos because of their good looks, but it’s not enough to make people swoon every time they’re together. Most of the time, when they go off on their own, the story gets a little better. This is probably also the main reason why the third act is so lackluster. There's no substantial connection between them. They're more like colleagues than lovers.
In essence, it's hard for me to think of "A Perfect Pairing" as a good movie because it never present anything new to enjoy. It surely belongs to Netflix's plethora of forgotten, stake-less, boring, and humorless romantic comedies.
1/5
