Office Romance

The new Netflix film Office Romance pairs rom-com veteran Jennifer Lopez with Brett Goldstein in a story about the hazards of falling for your boss. But is the on-screen chemistry there? And how does it fit into J. Lo’s rom-com history? Directed by Ol Parker (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again), the film was written by Goldstein and Joe Kelly, one of the writers he worked with on Ted Lasso. If you need another Jennifer Lopez fix, check out these episodes: Can Jennifer Lopez's 'This Is Me... Now' say anything new? https://www.npr.org/2024/02/22/1197962072/jennifer-lopezs-this-is-me-now A silly 'Shotgun Wedding' sends J. Lo on an adventure https://www.npr.org/2023/01/25/1151319714/a-silly-shotgun-wedding-sends-j-lo-on-an-adventure Connect with Pop Culture Happy Hour: Letterboxd https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/ / Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pchh Our weekly newsletter https://www.npr.org/newsletter/pop-culture Support Pop Culture Happy Hour+ https://plus.npr.org/happy See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:28Linda Holmes?

  Romantic comedies often live and die by the charisma of their leads. The new Netflix film Office Romance pairs rom-com veteran Jennifer Lopez with relative newbie Brett Goldstein in a story about the hazards of falling for your boss. The movie is jam-packed with MVPs in the supporting cast, and it's a little raunchier than your average film of its kind. And we're going to get into whether it works, how it fits into J-Lo's rom-com history, and what, if anything, it's trying to say about relationships at work. I'm Linda Holmes. Joining me on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour today is my co-host, Ayesha Harris. Hello, Ayesha. Hello, Lynda. Also with us is the host of NPR's It's Been a Minute, Brittany Luce. Hello, Brittany. Hello.

• 1:13Linda Holmes?

  It is so good to see you both. Office Romance stars Jennifer Lopez as Jackie Cruz, the CEO of an airline. When the company gets embroiled in a lawsuit, she meets Daniel, a lawyer who's just joined the airline. They have instant chemistry, but because she's the CEO and the company has a zero-tolerance policy for office relationships, they both try to put it aside. But naturally, not for long, and romantic comedy complications follow. The film was directed by Ol' Parker, who previously directed both Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again and the similarly old-school rom-com Ticket to Paradise, which I will point out, all three of us discussed together on this show. Wait, really? In 2022, yes. Yes.

• 1:56Linda Holmes?

  Oh, I completely forgot. I mean, I remember the movie. I love it. This is the Ol' Parker gang back together again. Yay. Office Romance was written by Goldstein and Joe Kelly, one of the writers he worked with on Ted Lasso, and it is streaming now on Netflix. Brittany, I'm gonna start with you as a veteran of watching, as I understand it, many J-Lo rom-coms and many other rom-coms. How did you feel about Office Romance?

• 2:21Speaker 02

  I enjoyed Office Romance. I mean, I'll say this. I think that if you are looking for, like, I recently re-watched Something's Gotta Give. If you're looking for something on that level, when Harry Met Sally, look someplace else. You should probably go seek out those films.

• 2:39Linda Holmes?

  Okay.

• 2:40Speaker 02

  But a Jennifer Lopez rom-com with Brett Goldstein, which is, there's just enough intrigue there and the difference kind of in their personas. Also, the fact that this film is born of his, like, I think, obsession with Jennifer Lopez and her rom-com over, listen, I got my money's worth. Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein, I had a blast. Were there some moments where I was like, what the heck is going on?

• 3:05Speaker 02

  Absolutely. Is there a medical procedure that happens on screen that completely caught me off guard?

• 3:11Linda Holmes?

  Yes.

• 3:12Speaker 02

  Absolutely. Did it remind me of the baby from Ally McBeal that was dancing around? Yes, it did. However, I'm sorry, I was charmed by this. I had a blast. I really enjoyed myself. I was telling you all before we started recording that I kind of judge a lot of J-Lo's sort of like, modern day rom-coms by, like, how do they compare to Second Act, a movie from 2018?

• 3:37Linda Holmes?

  So that's like the median, and there's like, is it in the top half?

• 3:40Speaker 02

  Yeah. That felt like, to me, like, something that kind of marked the, sort of like, second half of her rom-com career, where she was kind of doing maybe these movies that were not quite as big as the ones from her past, like, from her, I guess, what some people might call J-Lo's golden era. And so I kind of, I'm like, is this better or worse than Second Act? A movie that I also admittedly kind of enjoyed for what it was, and I feel like this was a bit better. So I'm overall thumbs up on Office Romance.

• 4:09Linda Holmes?

  Brittany is overall thumbs up. Aisha, how about you? How'd you feel about Office Romance?

• 4:15Aisha Harris?

  I don't know, man. This is, this is kinda hard for me to watch. And I don't think I've seen every single J Lo rom com. But I've seen the big hits. I've seen The Maid in Manhattan. I've seen The Wedding Planner. I've seen Second Act. I've seen her more recent stuff. And I have to say, it made me realize why I don't find myself returning to J Lo's rom coms in the way that I do to her other performances and other movies. Which is that, look, she's a very beautiful, sexy woman. That is undeniable. She looks fantastic. I get why anyone would be attracted to her. In terms of her ability to actually move beyond that with any sort of romantic co-star

• 5:00Aisha Harris?

  on screen, or arguably off screen too, I don't think she has it. I don't think she has chemistry with the men that she is up against. With the sole exception of Out of Sight. I like, look, her and George Clooney, The Heat, it's there. That's also probably the best script she's ever worked with. And so you have that, and then you have J Lo and George Clooney stuck in a car trunk. Like, that is hot. Yes. But every other time I've seen her, especially in a rom com form, it's just not there. And she can be a very dynamic performer, hustlers, she's great, but that's not a rom com, right? Like, she is in her element there. I don't see any chemistry here with Brett Goldstein. Like, they're attracted to each other. That's kinda the whole thing.

• 5:44Aisha Harris?

  It's like, oh, we are attracted to each other, but it's forbidden. It's an office, you're my boss, whatever. But that just feels more a function of the story and the story that they are trying to tell as opposed to any actual, anything generating between the two of them on screen. And so because of that, and because of a lot of other things that maybe we'll get into in terms of just like, how this story doesn't actually make a lot of sense. And look, in a rom com, the story doesn't necessarily have to make sense. But if there's also no chemistry with the two leads, then I'm gonna start thinking about everything else that doesn't make sense. So I found this difficult to watch. And it just proved to me that J Lo is very hot, but not necessarily a good romantic performer. And that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

• 6:28Linda Holmes?

  I get that. And you know, because I revisited our conversation about Ticket to Paradise this morning, it was interesting to me that one of the things we talked about in that film is that, you know, that movie is George Clooney and Julia Roberts playing the parents of Caitlin Dever. And the two of them have been divorced for a long time, but they're still, you know, they eventually are going to go blah, blah, blah, get back together. And they go to kind of interrupt Caitlin Dever's wedding, despite the chemistry between the two of them, which they absolutely have. One of the things that we talked about was that these relationships weren't built out enough to make them feel compelling. And I think that this movie has the same problem. What they're trying to do, and I do respect this, this movie is absolutely

• 7:11Linda Holmes?

  intended to respect the roles of lust and sex in romance more than some movies do, right? There are a lot of rom coms that are very chaste, you're going all the way through and kissing at the end. They're not going for that. They're trying to acknowledge that people being physically attracted to each other is a big part of what happens sometimes at the beginning of becoming involved with someone. And as part of that, you know, Ayesha mentioned this kind of Jennifer Lopez is very beautiful. She, she looks awesome. She's super hot. And they try, I think, to work around that by having him sort of at the moment that he meets her, you know, there's this thing where he's sort of like gobsmacked and says, you're glowing. And he kind of is, is stammering over his words and so forth.

• 7:54Speaker 04

  Ms. Cruz, I can assure you, I am quite capable and happy to help with whatever you may need help with shoes or law, probably more law based help. I imagine you need actually from me.

• 8:10Linda Holmes?

  And it's supposed to kind of get that out of the way by acknowledging that if J Lo was the CEO of your company, then the first time you met her, you'd be like, what? Right? And I think they're trying to kind of deal with the over the topiness of her sexiness. But I think in a weird way, it throws the movie off a little bit. I also think. As it goes on, it's just never clear to me how they get to like each other. It's clear to me how they get to be hot for each other.

• 8:39Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 8:40Linda Holmes?

  And I think I probably sabotaged myself with this movie because of the expectations that I had. I have found Brett Goldstein to be a writer with a very high emotional IQ, based on the work that he did on Ted Lasso, but especially on Shrinking.

• 8:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:56Linda Holmes?

  And I think I expected a little more of that, like deeply human stuff that he has brought to some of his other writings, since he was the co-writer of this. And I didn't really find it. I gotta say also, I appreciate a stacked supporting cast, but like, there's a lot of people in here where I'm like, why is this what Betty Gilpin is doing?

• 9:14Speaker 05

  Are you two in love with each other?

• 9:17Linda Holmes?

  What? Sidney!

• 9:18Speaker 05

  Sidney, our relationship is completely professional.

• 9:20Linda Holmes?

  Something happened to the Dominican Republic! I mean, she's funny in it.

• 9:24Speaker 02

  She is.

• 9:25Linda Holmes?

  Yeah.

• 9:25Speaker 02

  I mean, my guess is that A, Netflix pays. And B, I think people like Brett Goldstein.

• 9:31Linda Holmes?

  I was gonna say, I think this is where you see the budget.

• 9:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, I think that they could afford to have, even like having Edward James Olmos play Jennifer Lopez's dad again, as he did.

• 9:42Linda Holmes?

  Selena Reunion.

• 9:43Speaker 02

  Yes, and Selena.

• 9:44Linda Holmes?

  Yeah.

• 9:45Speaker 02

  I'm a huge fan of his, just like as a human being, as a performer. And like, the first scene where he shows up, it's like some boardroom scene. I was watching with my husband and I was like, wow, it really is like, when you get a real old head, like the level of gravitas just goes way up.

• 10:00Linda Holmes?

  Yeah.

• 10:00Speaker 02

  And I was happy to see him, but I was also like, wow, you're adding a lot. Like even Tony Hale's presence, Amy Cines's presence, like y'all are adding a lot.

• 10:09Linda Holmes?

  Right.

• 10:10Speaker 02

  To this film that I wasn't expecting to see that sort of supporting cast. I feel what both of you are saying. I can't even say that I technically disagree with either of you. I mean, especially Ayesha, to your point about Jennifer Lopez in romantic comedies. For me, Monster in Law, The Wedding Planner, Made in Manhattan.

• 10:30Linda Holmes?

  Right.

• 10:31Speaker 02

  Of the sort of 2000s romantic comedies, I will go back and watch Jennifer Lopez more so out of like nostalgia and a general positive regard that I have for her, even though I know that she's totally ridicul- I've written on the NPR.org website about how ridiculous Jennifer Lopez is. But there is something I find very compelling. For me, I'm at a place in Jennifer Lopez's career. I'm at a place in her career, in my understanding of her career. But her sort of self mythology around being this like, public figure who's so associated with love and romance, but always seems to strike out in that area of her life, but always seems to kind of be trying again. It's very interesting to me that this is such a part of her persona, because I do think that some of it is constructed. Obviously, she would not be able to be this successful this long without some sort of constructed identity that we can all,

• 11:17Speaker 02

  that we're all sort of fascinated with to a certain degree. But I don't know, some of it is like, I think I might have been on this show to discuss her like, recent like, films that were about herself. Her like, long music video film.

• 11:29Aisha Harris?

  This is me now.

• 11:30Speaker 02

  This is me now, yeah. The documentary she made about making this is me now.

• 11:35Aisha Harris?

  I love how bonkers that movie is.

• 11:37Speaker 02

  And that's the thing, I think for me, I get a lot of mileage out of like, part of me can sort of buy into her being interested in a guy like Brett Goldstein, who maybe on the surface, we're not exactly seeing the math on screen of why they grow to love each other, even though I did buy their attraction. To me, every Jennifer Lopez rom com of like, the past decade, there's like, sort of like a meta narrative for me around like, sort of what she's trying to also work out through her persona, and also in her personal life, that, I don't know, there's like, so much self mythology at work on all levels of sort of like, the Jennifer Lopez as like, failed love goddess facet of her whole thing.

• 12:19Speaker 02

  For me, that is what makes these really sometimes not very good, newer romantic comedies like, work for me. And also too, there's like, also sort of, to me, another whole other meta narrative about like, I'm watching the film, and also I think you've all seen Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein's like, their press tour for this is kind of really, they're really playing up the aspect of like, Brett Goldstein being obsessed with Jennifer Lopez. Which like, I mean, you can go back and find a lot of, like, quotes from him in different interviews, talking about how he's seen all of her movies, and how he really wants to be in a movie with her and write something for her. There also, to me, is this sort of like, I'm like, I don't know, Jennifer, like, this is the kind of man you need.

• 12:57Speaker 02

  This is, it feels like to me, like the sort of role that he's playing, both on the press tour and in the film. I don't know. It kind of feels like it fits into like, sort of like, maybe this isn't just who Jackie Cruz in the film needs in her life, like a guy who's sort of like pathetically obsessed with her to the point where it kind of ruins his life. I think that she kind of needs that in real life, too. So I don't know. I mean, like, I still got more mileage out of this, I think, because I am fascinated with the whole Jennifer Lopez, will she ever find love of it all? And like, I don't know, on screen and in real life, it's like, who's going to be the man to really be that?

• 13:34Aisha Harris?

  That's the thing, though, right? It's like, so much of this is coming from outside of what is actually on the page and what is in the final product, right?

• 13:43Speaker 02

  But also, I'm like, at this point, what are we expecting from Jennifer Lopez in a romantic comedy?

• 13:48Linda Holmes?

  That's exactly true. That's exactly true. Okay. We are going to take a quick break, but when we come back, we will talk about the sillier aspects of the plot and whether they even matter for a rom-com.

• 13:59Speaker 06

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• 15:20Linda Holmes?

  Welcome back. Okay, Ayesha, I know you have more thoughts about J-Lo.

• 15:25Aisha Harris?

  Is Jennifer Lopez a movie star? Absolutely. But is she an actress? It really depends on the script.

• 15:32Linda Holmes?

  Yeah.

• 15:32Aisha Harris?

  And again, beyond the chemistry between her and Brett Goldstein, whatever, I also just think like who she is as a character throughout this doesn't really hold up and is not explored in an interesting way. The most interesting thing about her is that we learn that she's an Anglophile, like in a kind of creepy way.

• 15:50Speaker 02

  That was so weird.

• 15:51Aisha Harris?

  It's so weird. But then also like they set her up as this quote unquote nightmare boss, like she's a Miranda Priestly type character. And yet, we don't really.

• 16:01Linda Holmes?

  Is she? I don't know if I even got that that was what she was supposed to be.

• 16:04Speaker 02

  In the beginning, they're like, don't look her in the eye. Don't compliment her shoes.

• 16:08Linda Holmes?

  She hates the sound of breathing. Don't breathe. But if you have to breathe, try to take a quick gas through the side of your mouth like this.

• 16:17Linda Holmes?

  All of her coworkers are talking about her.

• 16:19Speaker 02

  They did not sustain that throughout the film.

• 16:20Linda Holmes?

  And they don't sustain that. And I'm just like, what are we doing here? Is she a horrible person? And then at the end, near the end, where she's like, we're all family. I'm like, how did we make these leaps?

• 16:32Speaker 02

  At that point, I was like, whatever, girl. I'll give it to you.

• 16:36Linda Holmes?

  This film has a lot of problems that I would put in the bucket of, if the love story were working, I wouldn't care. But there's a lot of stuff that's like, the whole kickoff of this movie is the airline is getting sued. And the reason the airline is getting sued is that a rival airline says, well, we were all lined up to get access. To these gates at this airport, but then you went out and either slept with the guy who ran the airport, or you paid off the guy who ran the airport.

• 17:07Aisha Harris?

  She's accused of.

• 17:08Linda Holmes?

  And he gave you the gates and took them away from us. I'm not sure that's a lawsuit against the airline. Like, it might be a lawsuit against the airport guy if he undid a contract you had. But like, what are they being sued for other than a lawsuit that requires everyone to start talking about whether she slept with this guy from the airport or not? And so she's defending like her virtue in a way. And it plays into this sub storyline that the board is always trying to fire her. Why? Like, why is the board always trying to fire her? If they're trying to fire her, why don't they just fire her? If her dad, who's the big head honcho, who's still kind of lurking in the, on the fringes of things,

• 17:52Linda Holmes?

  even though he retired from being the CEO, if he's on her side and he's supporting her, why are they always trying to fire her? If he's not, then why aren't they firing her? And it's like, so these are all things that I wouldn't care. There's also, when you find out, so Jodie Whittaker plays his sister, who is the reason why he is in the United States. And when you first get an explanation of what exactly happened with her, I was like, well, obviously, she's lying about this. This is not going to be what actually happened. But it is, apparently. And that's a wild, uh, choice, I think. It's one of those things where it's less, these things in a romantic comedy are deathly important. It's more when

• 18:36Linda Holmes?

  you find yourself spending time thinking about these things, you know that something is not working in the basic thrust of it. And it's interesting, the conversation about Jennifer Lopez. I often find that the more kind of over the top the project, the more I buy her. I actually have enjoyed her more in something like Shotgun Wedding.

• 18:59Speaker 02

  Loved it.

• 19:00Linda Holmes?

  Which is like this absolutely

• 19:01Aisha Harris?

  It was okay.

• 19:02Linda Holmes?

  wackadoodle, action picture, comedy, wedding comedy, very violent, action comedy.

• 19:10Speaker 02

  She's like shooting people.

• 19:11Aisha Harris?

  She's great in violent. Enough is a, like, she's great in that movie.

• 19:14Speaker 02

  Love it.

• 19:15Linda Holmes?

  Yeah. Let me just get to this and ask you guys this.

• 19:17Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 19:17Linda Holmes?

  Did you get the sense that there's like an underlying thing in this movie of like, oh, everybody shouldn't be so Personality about the CEO sleeping with people who were the company.

• 19:29Speaker 02

  I wonder if even like one or two scenes that really could have sold, I think they're kind of somewhat odd couple dynamic where she's this very, very American, like ebullient, sexy, vivacious woman, and he's this more sort of understated, dry, very British, more reserved kind of guy who kind of does have like a raunchy streak. I think that the film could have benefited from having one or two scenes that really solidified what could make them so exciting as a kind of odd couple.

• 20:00Linda Holmes?

  Yeah.

• 20:01Speaker 02

  That played into their individual peculiarities, like to really bring it together.

• 20:05Linda Holmes?

  Yeah, and one thing I did appreciate about this film is that it does not set up the dynamic as one person wants the relationship and the other person doesn't, or one person is needy and the other person can provide what they need. It really is both of them meet each other, see something in the other person, both of them are not pursuing it because it's at work, essentially.

• 20:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:26Linda Holmes?

  And I do like the kind of relative balance of that compared to, and Jennifer Lopez has talked about this a little bit with this film, that it's not a thing like Made in Manhattan where like she's, you know, potentially being kind of rescued by a rich person, or even the wedding planner where she's kind of working for richer people, that it kind of puts her on an evener keel, right? With him, I mean, even she's obviously his boss, but like it doesn't put them in a, it's not a thing where one of them needs and the other one of them gives.

• 20:54Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 20:55Linda Holmes?

  And I do appreciate that about it. And I think maybe that is where you see a little bit of the Brett Goldstein, Joe Kelly kind of emotional IQ that I was talking about.

• 21:04Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 21:05Linda Holmes?

  I just wanted a little bit more of that because those writers are so good at scenes where human beings come to understand each other.

• 21:13Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 21:13Linda Holmes?

  And I wanted more of that in this relationship because I respect the fact that they want to talk about the role of lust and sex. I was expecting a little bit more sex or sexy time than what, like, we get humorous, sexual situations.

• 21:30Speaker 02

  You were expecting like tender sex, like real.

• 21:34Aisha Harris?

  Yeah, sexy sex and also just like, again, maybe that would have helped me believe that they actually had chemistry as opposed to just like, let's make fun of the fact that she's obsessed with British people. Like, sure.

• 21:48Speaker 02

  I see. I believed the chemistry. They didn't need to have that. They didn't need to have the whole Anglophile angle. I believed the chemistry before then. But again, I mean, that's also me, again, grafting the real life Jennifer Lopez. I'm like, girl, you need someone who's going to be obsessed with you. You need to get it together. Open your eyes up. You've been alone.

• 22:05Linda Holmes?

  I love how like for Brittany, these are all just texts about Jennifer Lopez, like in the, in the greater Jennifer Lopez mythology, which like maybe they are that for Jennifer Lopez, too.

• 22:16Speaker 02

  I think they kind of are.

• 22:18Linda Holmes?

  It is, it is interesting.

• 22:19Aisha Harris?

  She's Elizabeth Taylor. She's the Elizabeth Taylor of our time.

• 22:21Speaker 02

  The thing is, she believes in love, though.

• 22:23Linda Holmes?

  Listen, I think if you go into this with appropriate expectations, which are, what do I expect a J-Lo Netflix rom-com to be? Then I think it is possible that like Brittany, you will come out feeling like, I got what I ordered, even though I wouldn't order it every day.

• 22:42Aisha Harris?

  No, that's a good description.

• 22:44Speaker 02

  It's like a blooming onion.

• 22:46Linda Holmes?

  Exactly. But I got what I ordered. Things worked out. Do you like a streaming rom-com? This is one, right?

• 22:53Speaker 02

  You're right, though. You're totally right.

• 22:55Aisha Harris?

  Sold.

• 22:56Linda Holmes?

  That's what I would say. All right. I think that we have some mixed feelings about this movie, but sometimes that's how it goes. Sometimes that is how it goes. That brings us to the end of our show. Brittany Luce, Aisha Harris, thank you so much for being here. I wish both of you all of the appropriate love in your lives that, that you need and want.

• 23:18Speaker 02

  Thank you so much, Lynda.

• 23:19Aisha Harris?

  Thank you, Lynda.

• 23:20Linda Holmes?

  All right. Just a reminder, signing up for Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus is a great way to support our show. You support public radio. And you can listen to all of our episodes sponsor free, which is pretty cool. So please go find out more about that. You can go to plus.npr.org/happyhour, or you can visit the link, which is in our show notes. This episode was produced by Liz Metzger and Mike Katzif. It was edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello, Come In provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Linda Holmes, and we'll see you all next time.

• 23:58Speaker 06

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