Puppy Love

Finding a good romantic comedy to play is always difficult. For example, I always go back to the good old “rewatch” and watch 13 Going on 30.

Still, I don’t give up and always give it a chance when a new movie of the genre is released.

When I saw the trailer for Puppy Love, I wasn’t very excited about the story. But the cast did interest me.

Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars) and Grant Gustin (The Flash) play Nicole and Max. He is a boy who developed social phobia after COVID and isolated himself from the world during the two years of the pandemic, she is a party girl with a very messy lifestyle.

When Max decides to adopt Chloe on medical advice and Nicole rescues Channing Tatum from the streets, their paths end up crossing.

Is Puppy Love good?

Puppy Love dives into the plots of enemies to lovers and opposites attract. If these aren’t clichés enough, sprinkle the film with absurd scenes and dialogues and you’ll have a film that would be shown in an afternoon session after a few cuts.

There’s nothing that shines or stands out enough to make Puppy Love the romantic comedy of the year.

The interactions between the main characters are quick and, often, it’s hard to understand some of their attitudes.

In the first meeting, for example, it seems that the character Nicole chose to be annoying for no reason. Meanwhile, Max continued to be the only one with justification for his actions (coming from a psychological problem).

Max and Nicole don’t like each other, but after a meeting in the park, Chloe ends up getting pregnant by Channing Tatum (and yes, the film shows the scene of the puppies being made). Because of this, the main characters need to learn to live together, since they will be grandparents to a pet.

Little by little, we see the change happen, Nicole helps Max feel better and get out of the house more. While Max helps Nicole face her fears and enroll in college.

Like every cliché movie, the reason for the conflict is kind of stupid, but it works here in the middle of this “guy with OCD, sloppy girl” narrative.

As for the acting, Lucy delivers the same as always, her performance is consistent and she manages to play the perfect girl from a rom-com movie.

Grant, on the other hand, is once again haunted by his past. If in The Flash it was absurd to have the character sing, here, there is no reason at all. The actor has to sing for nothing, with no addition to the narrative.

The reason is only one and obvious: he acted in Glee and knows how to sing.

In conclusion

Puppy Love won’t change the history of cinema; it’s just another generic and forgettable film that’s good for a laugh here and there.

Because it’s quick, it’s worth watching while you’re doing something else in your day-to-day life and just want to have some fun.

The film premiered on August 18 in the United States and is not yet available on any Brazilian streaming service.