Just before Labor Day Weekend, Netflix gave the world a little present in the form of a rom-com called Falling Inn Love. It stars Christina Milian (yes, of “Dip It Low” fame) as Gabriela, who, after losing her job and boyfriend, enters an online contest to win an inn located in New Zealand. She wins and uproots her life, only to find that her inn is completely run-down. So she enlists the help of a hunky contractor, Jake (Adam Demos), to restore the property to its former glory. Along the way they fall in love.
Twitter is absolutely buzzing over this movie and its many rom-com tropes. “#FallingInnLove is filled with every possible cliché, and I loved every second of it,” one person wrote. Another added, “I am watching Falling Inn Love, and it is like a 90s sitcom for 2019, complete with at least one actor who absolutely cannot act under any circumstances but is very nice to look at. I am having a lovely time.”
Check out some more reactions to the movie, below:
In an interview with Glamour, Milian shared her feelings on rom-coms, and basically zeroed in on everything that’s good about Falling Inn Love.
“I don’t know if there’s anything unlikable about rom-coms,” she said. “Keep showing the muscles on the guys. Give me more muscles. Give me more bickering. Give me more hot chocolate. I love it all. There’s nothing I wouldn’t take away from any romantic comedy.”
These reactions prove people are having fun watching Falling Inn Love, which is exactly what Milian wants. “I hope [people] like it enough they want to watch it over and over again,” she also told Glamour. “I love making movies that become family traditions or something people go back to. I hope Falling Inn Love is that type of film.”
“[Movies like Falling Inn Love] are good water-cooler conversation,” she says. “They bring about these good conversations that just randomly happen and trickle out to other people.The word-of-mouth of it all makes you feel kind of cool. Like, ‘I knew about this before,’ or ‘I’m in the same conversation because I watched it too.'”
And if people do watch, they’ll find the movie subverts stereotypes despite being an unapologetic rom-com. Gabriela is a particularly refreshing character; instead of retreating or recoiling after her life in San Francisco implodes, she travels to the other side of the world. That side of the character really resonated with Milian when she read the script.
“In most rom-coms, it’s sometimes a girl who’s going back home to her old life; in this situation she’s not going to anything she’s ever known,” the actor says. “She’s going completely into the unknown.”
“Gabriela is a risk-taker,” she continues. “She didn’t let anything bring her down, and from the beginning of the script she was a go-getter. She’s self-sufficient. She’s realizing some of her dreams and how maybe everything is not landing where she’d like it to be. Sometimes, I think, life is about having these evolutions where you’re like, ‘No, I’m not OK with being stagnant and being in one place.'”
Nicola Dove / Netflix
At its core, Falling Inn Love isn’t meant to be taken seriously. From the far-fetched premise to Jake’s laughably palpable sex appeal—I found myself screaming, “Just take your shirt off!” several times—it has the DNA of your favorite Hallmark Christmas movie. Milian agrees, noting the only difference, really, is the season. Exhibit A: Jake and Gabriela cuddle and flirt over cold beers in this movie, not hot chocolate.
“I don’t know if there’s anything unlikable about rom-coms,” Milian says. “Keep showing the muscles on the guys. Give me more muscles. Give me more bickering. Give me more hot chocolate. I love it all. There’s nothing I wouldn’t take away from any romantic comedy.”
That said, Milan does want viewers take a lot away from Falling Inn Love. Nothing serious, of course, but she would like it to become a staple in people’s rom-com rituals. “I hope they like it enough they want to watch it over and over again,” she says. “I love making movies that become family traditions or something people go back to. I hope Falling Inn Love is that type of film.”
Your first crush is a rite of passage. The fixations that follow it are just life. Nervous, awkward, sublime. Disastrous. Transcendent. Here, we celebrate infatuations, obsessions, and passions in all their exquisite splendor. Meet our “It’s Just a Little Crush” series. Isn’t she divine?
Since reality TV’s earliest days, countless shows about dating have entered our zeitgeist and stayed in our queues. The Bachelor. Love Island. Dating Naked. Are You the One?Joe Millionaire. I Love New York. The Dating Game. They span networks, platforms, casts, conceits, but they all share one central mission: finding love. (Or at very least, lust.) Why we love—and love to hate—these shows has been much debated, but I have a new theory to put forth: What if we’re all just in it for the crush? How intoxicating to see the exact moment a spark starts! It’s why The Bachelor‘s First Impression Rose is treated like a holy relic, and why Love Island is so quick to add new characters to the mix.
Finding love on reality TV has now become so common, in fact, it’s happening on other shows, ones not based on romance. Take Dancing With the Stars and Big Brother. They may be about competition, but they’ve produced their fair share of relationships. I guess this shouldn’t come as a surprise—put any like-minded individuals together long enough, remove them from the rest of society, and something’s going to happen. What is surprising, though, is when these relationships actually last. One could say these couples have truly found love in a hopeless place.
Below, we talked to three women who met their partners through reality TV.
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Rachel Lindsay on Being Engaged to Bryan Abasolo. They Met on The Bachelorette.
I was dating someone off-and-on for five years before I auditioned for The Bachelor. I was in my late twenties and genuinely thought he was the man I was going to marry. But we grew apart—both chasing our careers, not focusing on the relationship. I’d tried casually dating in Dallas after things with my ex ended, but that wasn’t really panning out, either. Then, one day, my coworkers came into my office and said: “You should do The Bachelor!” “You’ve got to be kidding,” I said. “Why would I do that show? I don’t even watch it!” But auditions were down the street, so I figured: Why not? Crazier things have happened. I’m cynical, and I didn’t actually think I was going to fall in love, but I was open to the possibility of it, so I went to the audition.
Fast forward a few years and ABC is approaching me to be on The Bachelorette. At first, I actually said no. It didn’t work out for me the first time when I was a contestant on Nick Viall’s season of The Bachelor, so I thought: Why would this time be any different? I truly didn’t believe they would be able to find somebody I’d connect with. What’s more, I knew I would be the first black lead for the franchise, and I didn’t know if I wanted that pressure. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I did want to be the first black lead. I felt I could do it right, and I knew it was bigger than me. If nothing else, I’d be breaking the franchise mold.
But wow, was this time different. Yes, you’re on the same show. Yes, you’re dealing with the same producers, but now you’re in the driver’s seat. I had this group of amazing guys, many of whom I was developing real connections with, and the producers kept telling me, “Have conversations, be open minded,” so I really tried to do that. From the beginning, I knew I connected with Peter and Eric. I also really connected with Matt, which nobody saw—you just saw how emotional I was when I sent him home. Maybe in another time or place it could have worked out with one of the other guys. But somewhere along the way, I fell in love with Bryan.
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At the beginning, I was cautious about Bryan. He was a charming guy, and I wondered if there was any sincerity behind the charisma. But moving through the season, I learned what sort of questions to ask to find out. Call it being 32. I just knew how to dig deeper, cut the BS, and get below the surface. With Peter, I felt as though he was still trying to figure himself out. Dean was a lot of fun, but definitely not ready for marriage. With Bryan, I saw that everything I was looking for was there. I actually told his producer, “He’s the one,” which is why, in the end, Bryan got my final rose.
Beyoncé performs almost every single one of her concerts in stilettos, and her ongoing On the Run II tour with Jay-Z is no exception. That means, though, that the occasional trip or misstep is bound to happen. The latest hiccup happened Thursday night (August 23) at Bey and Jay’s OTRII show in Nashville: Queen B nearly fell down the stairs on stage, but she used some kind of otherworldly strength to catch her balance on one foot. That, my friends, is truly defying gravity.
One concertgoer, who shared their angle of the breathtaking save on Instagram, titled the moment “Beyoncé Vs ‘The Stairs,'” declaring, “Beyoncé Wins!” In the video, you see Bey walk down the stairs; her right ankle begins to wobble, causing her to come down hard on her left foot and sink into a squat. At this point, a normal human would’ve been unable to stop their legs from flying out in front of them, but not Beyoncé: Instead, she did a subtle body roll to fight the fall and used her leg strength to push up and out of the squat.
See it for yourself, below:
This isn’t the first on-stage mishap to happen on the OTRII Tour. During her and Jay-Z’s show in Warsaw, Poland in early July, Bey was flying over the audience while performing “Young Forever” when her floating stage malfunctioned, leaving her stranded in midair. Rather than freaking out, Beyoncé remained nonchalant and blew kisses to the fans below until a crew member could set up an emergency ladder.
During her Philadelphia concert at the end of July, Bey’s ponytail braid reportedly got stuck in her earring while she was dancing up a storm. Fans described on Twitter how, despite that annoyance, she never missed a step and never even tried to unhook her hair. Dedication!
Attention world: 13 Going on 30 is leaving Netflix next month. No, this isn’t a joke: For unknown, tragic reasons, the beloved rom-com starring Jennifer Garner (in which she plays a 13-year-old trapped in a 30-year-old’s body, and shenanigans ensue) is leaving the streaming platform at the beginning of September. No longer will you be able to watch Garner and Mark Ruffalo dance to “Thriller” whenever you want. I hate that this is the world we live in now, but here we are.
Other titles leaving Netflix in September include Forgetting Sarah Marshall (sad), Just Friends (very sad), and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (eh—I think we can live without this one). Watch these 35 movies and TV shows, below, now while you can.
(On the plus side: Here are 99 movies and TV shows that are coming to Netflix in September. Catch me watching A Wrinkle in Time all month long.)
Leaving September 1
13 Going on 30
A Royal Night Out
Batman Begins
Casino
Dead Poets Society
Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
