The Other Zoey Movie Review: An interesting premise brought down by cliches 

In an early scene in The Other Zoey, Zoey Miller (Josephine Langford) calls out stereotypical romantic-comedy films by taking a jibe at Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant’s classic, Notting Hill. She ridicules the genre for having grand gestures and heartfelt monologues, and 90 minutes later... The Other Zoey ends up as a cliched rom-com with a predictable ending.

Cast: Josephine Langford, Drew Starkey, Arche Renaux
Director: Sara Zandieh
Streamer: Prime Video

The Other Zoey revolves around a smart and overachieving Zoey Miller, who believes in compatibility over chemistry and challenges the stereotypical elements of romance. However, her life takes a turn when Zac McLaren (Drew Starkey) mistakes her to be his girlfriend Zoey Wallace (Maggie Thurmon), due to temporary amnesia. As Miller finds Zac’s cousin Miles (Archie Renaux) to be her compatible match, she goes on to live a lie. What happens when they find the truth? Who does she end up with?

The premise of The Other Zoey challenges the traditional characteristics of a typical rom-com. While Zoey's character design has a lot of novelty, the film fails to adequately explore this facet. For example, the computer science-loving Zoey is so determined about her theory that she builds an app to help people find their suitable match. While I thought that it would be a central element in the film, the app hardly gets a couple of passing mentions through the rest of the run time.

Similarly, the film takes quite a few predictable routes. Zoey’s mother gives the “Go after him, don’t lose him” advice after explaining to her daughter the meaning of true love. There’s a scene where Zoey’s best friend Elle (Mallori Johnson) has to teach her that she should pick bathing suits over books to woo her crush over a weekend trip. The list just goes on and on...

The first 40 minutes of the film manage to maintain the momentum that the premise sets. As Zoey tries to get closer to Miles, we wonder who she will end up. But when one of the suitors is eliminated from the picture almost immediately, the film suffers a setback, and we end up predicting every twist and turn.

Having watched Josephine Langford as Tessa Young in the five very similar After films, it was refreshing to watch her play Zoey Miller. The rest of the cast were also perfectly competent for their roles, except that not much was written for them. For instance, Zac’s sassy and loud-mouthed sister Avery (Olive Abercrombie) was very entertaining in the dull portions, but she hardly had a role in the bigger picture.

The Other Zoey is not all bad, though. The film is peppered with well-written dialogues. For example, while mocking Julia Robert’s iconic “I am just a girl…” line from Notting Hill, Zoey says, “The line’s a classic, but Hugh Grant says nothing and then he looks like he just farted.” And, let's be honest, she isn't that wrong either. Lines like these come as a saving grace to the film, in many instances.

Additionally, the film also goes with achievable targets. Although it ends up as a typical rom-com, it does not preach the ‘happily ever after’ trope and hints at the importance of time and space for any date to turn into a long-term relationship. But I still wish the film took a non-familiar and non-formulaic take on romance considering how it started. Director Sara Zandieh mocks the rom-com blueprint just to end up taking solace within the very same genre, quite safely in fact.