Netflix has a new number-one movie - just don't look at the reviews
If bad horror movies can be enjoyable, why not bad romcoms?
We often report on the most popular content on the big streaming services. But sometimes, that doesn’t equate to a recommendation.
Netflix’s current number one movie is Irish Wish, a romcom starring Lindsay Lohan that received some right old excoriating reviews from the critics.
The most eye-catching of the lot was from Vulture, a three-and-half-thousand word, 48-point screed about why it is a “crypto fascist AI-generated harbinger of doom.
Despite all that, it’s the number one Netflix movie of the moment according to Flixpatrol, reaching the top spot in 69 territories including the US and UK.
It has crawled up over the last few days, and would that actually happen if Irish Wish were as bad as some of these reviews say?
After looking a little deeper, we may have found out why Irish Wish is actually doing fairly well. As we all know, movies don’t have to be good to be enjoyable, and even some of the critics like it well enough.
Five of the 14 “Top Critics” reviews are rated as fresh by Rotten Tomatoes, including those of RogerEbert.com, Variety, Observer, New York Times and Paste.
The Observer 3/4-score review sums it up nicely:
“No one is expecting Irish Wish to be an Oscar winner, but it’s successful as what it is. I would watch 50 more rom-coms starring Lohan set around the world, and so would all of her fans. Sometimes you just want something uplifting, easygoing and surface-level, which this is,” it reads.
Irish Wish plot
What’s Irish Wish about? Lindsay Lohan is Maddie, a ghostwriter for a best-selling author.
She is invited to this star’s wedding. And one evening she wishes it was her marrying this supposed dreamboat, rather than his fiancé.
Without as much as a trip to a Zoltar machine, this becomes reality and Lohan finds herself hurtling towards her wedding. But James Thomas (Ed Speleers) might have something to say about these plans.
Yep, Irish Wish formulaic nonsense, packed with dodgy characterisation and dodgy writing. But romcoms are rare enough these days that maybe this dollop of cinematic blancmange is just what you need some evenings.
The first-week Netflix viewing dfigures for Irish Wish have also come out. It achieved a moderately decent 30.6 million hours after just three days on stream.