The Wrong Paris Review: Rom-Com Served With Reality-TV Tricks
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Aspiring artist Dawn thinks she’s headed to France’s City of Love when she signs up for a Bachelor-style reality show in ‘The Wrong Paris’, planning to turn the gig into a free ride for her dream art course. But as the title suggests, she lands in Paris, Texas, and her ironclad contract forces her to play along.
Directed by Janeen Damian (‘Falling for Christmas’, ‘Irish Wish’) and written by Nicole Henrich, ‘The Wrong Paris’ stars Miranda Cosgrove as Dawn, a small-town waitress who can’t afford to attend the Paris art school she’s been accepted into. To raise money, she auditions for a dating show called HoneyPot, where a group of women compete for an eligible bachelor’s hand. Her plan is simple, take the signing bonus and get eliminated early so she can head to college. But Trey (Pierson Fode), the show’s dreamy bachelor, has other ideas.
Between reality TV drama, a swoon-worthy hunk, and feelings she never planned for, Dawn’s carefully laid plans start to get a teeny bit complicated. ‘The Wrong Paris’ plays out like a fun, silly rom-com that spoofs dating reality shows, caricaturing its contestants as over-the-top stereotypes. Madeleine Arthur (she played Lana’s BFF in the ‘To All The Boys…’ movies) is a ditsy princess type literally named Cinderella, Madison Pettis takes on Lexi Miller, a clout-chasing influencer, and Christin Park plays Jasmine, Dawn’s nerdy roommate on the show.
Like dating shows, the film too pits the women against each other through wacky games and competitions, which often leads to chaos and cat-fights. Yvonne Orji plays Rachel, one of the casting directors and producers of Honeypot, and she hilariously cheers for Dawn to get together with Trey. And for a change, the the couple do have more in common than just good looks. They come from the same region, and share a lot of similar interests.
Miranda Cosgrove’s last starred in Netflix’s bland ‘Mother of the Bride’, where she had very little chemistry with co-star Sean Teale. However, Miranda is a more fun as Dawn and her onscreen chemistry with the hunky Pierson Fode is more watch-worthy. Trey (Pierson) feels like a Disney prince run through a Magic Mike filter: handsome, hot, shiny, shirtless, and tailor-made for women to bicker over on screen.
Just like director Janeen Damian’s previous romantic movies, ‘The Wrong Paris’ is ultimately very formulaic, and predictable. But the film has a breezy ending where Dawn gets to have her cake and eat it too.
Rating: 6 on 10. Watch ‘The Wrong Paris’ on Netflix.
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