Netflix Top Movie Diary: Love at First Sight

The daily rotating, ever-changing “Netflix Top 10” lists are interesting if you ever pay attention to them. Maybe I’m just the weird one here, but I open Netflix just about every day and see what changes have come to the movie and TV show rundowns. Part of the reason for that is because I write about streaming on a regular basis for work. But I also find it pretty fascinating, especially when a new title hits number one on the list, seemingly out of nowhere. Sometimes a brand new Netflix original takes the top spot, which makes total sense. Other times it’s a critically panned box office bomb from a decade ago that I completely forget existed until it stays on top of Netflix’s movie charts for multiple weeks at a time. 

It’s such an interesting grab bag at the top of Netflix’s movie charts, so much so that I thought it was worth exploring. What is it about Woody Woodpecker that makes people click “Play” five years after it first hit Netflix? Why was 2020’s Fatale suddenly a hate-stream sensation? That’s what this column is all about. Every time a new movie hits number one on the Netflix Top 10 Movies list, I’m going to watch it and write some things down. Doesn’t matter if it’s brand new or 30 years old, whether I’ve seen it before or not. I’m going to write down some thoughts on the movie, why I think it might be catching on with viewers, whether it’s actually worth watching or not, and some suggestions on similar movies on Netflix you should check out.

This is definitely an experiment in coverage, so if you’re still with me at this point, I greatly appreciate you being interested in this. Hopefully it’s at least an interesting journey together. First up on the Netflix Top Movie Diary is a new romantic comedy called Love at First Sight.

Love at First Sight (2023)

Netflix has been big on the rom-com genre for years now, but the service’s batting average when it comes to quality is lower than fans of the genre would hope. For every Set It Up there are a couple Your Place or Mines. Surprisingly, Love at First Sight is closer to the former. We’ve got a good Netflix rom-com on our hands, ladies and gentlemen!

Love at First Sight is based on Jennifer E. Smith’s book The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. It’s directed by Vanessa Caswill with a script from Katie Lovejoy. The film follows two strangers — Hadley Sullivan (Haley Lu Richardson) and Oliver Jones (Ben Hardy) — who have a chance meet-cute in JFK ahead of a flight from New York to London. After falling for one another on a seven-hour plane ride, they are separated once again. Will fate find a way to bring them back together, or was their meeting just one of those beautiful moments meant to be nothing but a memory?

This movie is all about how every element of life — including and especially love — is decided by both fate and statistics. They often work in opposition, but that doesn’t make either of them invalid or less important. That not only applies to the love story of Hadley and Oliver, but also to their relationships with their respective families. 

I’m a sucker for a supernatural, ever-present narrator in a romantic comedy, and The Good Place‘s Jameela Jamil portrays a wonderful one in Love at First Sight. She’s always narrating the story but she also pops up as a background character, interacting with both Hadley and Oliver, throughout the movie. It’s a fun trope that can elevate a rom-com when used correctly, and this is one of the better executions in recent memory.

A bit of fair warning: Love at First Sight is a surprising tear-jerker. One of the side stories deals directly with facing the end of life and how you sit with the choices you’ve made. It’s a bit of a twist and I don’t want to spoil much, but the emotional core in this movie really comes out of nowhere. It’s a surprising and exciting choice for a story that initially feels more straightforward.

Pass or Play?

This is not what I expected when I sat down with it, but Love at First Sight is an easy Play from me. If you’re into romantic comedies, it’s a no-brainer. This is probably Netflix’s best rom-com since Always Be My Maybe. If you’re not as big of a romantic comedy fan, there’s still quite a lot to like about this. These characters and their stories are much easier to latch onto than most others in the genre, and there’s so much more at play than just one single love story. I think everyone can find something to connect with here.

Richardson and Hardy have wonderful chemistry and they’re both incredibly charming. The side characters feel authentic and lived-in. Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay Love at First Sight is that it just looks great. Nothing about the production feels cheap or throwaway, as is the case with so many Netflix rom-coms. Caswill has a great eye and stages some genuinely interesting scenes, keeping you visually engaged even when there are just a couple characters talking. The visual appeal alone is enough to set this apart from 90% of the romantic films Netflix releases.

If You Liked Love at First Sight…

As we’ve talked about already, there are a lot of romantic comedy options on Netflix, but not all of them are really worth your time. It can be tough to sort through all of your options, especially when Netflix has been suggesting titles like Love Again and Your Place or Mine (skip those, you’ll thank me later). That said, there are quite a few really great rom-coms currently streaming on Netflix.

Set It Up, starring Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell, is one of the very best the streamer has released. The same can be said for Always Be My Maybe, which features great performances from Ali Wong and Randall Park, as well as an appearance from Keanu Reeves in one of the most hilarious cameos in years.

One that doesn’t get as much attention as those two, but is still wildly enjoyable, is 2019’s Someone Great. Like Love at First Sight, it’s more than just a love story, dealing with broader life strokes and how those closest to you can be just as big of an element in your relationship as the person you’re actually with. Gina Rodriguez, Brittany Snow, DeWanda Wise, and LaKeith Stanfield all give some dynamic, thoughtful performances, making for one of the better rom-com ensemble casts you’ll come across.