Valentine’s Day may be over, but that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped getting our fix of Romance films, especially when some of our favorite people are involved. And if they happen to include any of our favorite tropes, we’re all in. Prime Video’s latest film, Picture This, directed by Prarthana Mohan, and starring Simone Ashley and Hero Fiennes Tiffin, gave us another reason to appreciate Rom-Coms.
Written by author Nikita Lalwani and based on the Australian movie Five Blind Dates, Picture This focuses on professional photographer Pia (Ashley) as she tries to maintain her struggling photo shop Ninth Mandala with her “gay bestie” Jay (Luke Fetherston), while also attempting to avoid all things love. Much like her character Kate Sharma in Bridgerton, Pia is all about her independence and for her, marriage couldn’t be further out of her mind. This challenges her as she prepares to do her duties as Maid of Honor for her sister Sonal’s (Anoushka Chadha) wedding.
More: Haven’t Seen Bridgerton Season Two? Learn all About Simone Ashley’s Character Kate Sharma.
Pia’s mother Laxmi, played by the delightfully entertaining Sindhu Vee is having none of this. Though she’s been separated from Pia and Sonals’ father Mukul (Adil Ray) for fifteen years, which she’s been hiding from the entire family, she wants to see Pia married with children. Pia has a different future in mind. Her photography shop brings her joy. Though it’s on shaky ground, and let’s be honest, so is her life. She’s doing all she can to show that all is well. That is until her first love Charlie (Fiennes Tiffin) reappears.
Charlie, the best man at her sister’s wedding, causes old feelings to resurface for Pia. She’s completely unprepared. Charlie is too. He tries to play it cool as well but it’s clear that he’s not over her. We’re not sure a wedding is the best place for old loves to run into each other, but it is one of our favorite tropes. After their awkward and slightly comical reunion, which included Pia being introduced to Charlie’s date, Lily, who, as Pia stated, is “Love Island’s biggest fan,” she is forced to reopen old wounds and re-evaluate what tore her and Charlie apart.
After receiving an astrological reading, Pia learns that one of her next five dates will be “the one.” Because Laxmi and Sonal want to see Pia married, they take it upon themselves to play matchmaker to speed along the process. Pia is naturally reluctant, I mean who wouldn’t be? But also, if you knew you would find “the one” after just five dates, would you do it? I’m willing to bet you would. I think we all would just out of curiosity. Eventually, Pia agrees, and every date leads to interesting results.
As we mentioned previously, there is also the whole ex-boyfriend drama, which honestly wasn’t really drama. What led to Pia and Charlie’s breakup was that they both had diverging paths, with poor communication on both sides. The two were supposed to go to the same University, but Charlie had to stay behind and help his father, whose restaurant was struggling. They both realize their break up could have been avoided all those years ago if they had just had an adult conversation. But we needed this conflict because that makes the second chance Romance trope kick in, which we also love.
One of the great things about Picture This is that it isn’t just a story about a second chance Romance. It deals with all aspects of love. There’s the family love pouring out in abundance as we see how loved Pia is by her mom, dad, and sister. Although she doesn’t follow the typical Indian traditions, her family doesn’t make her feel bad about it and I loved that. Laxmi in some ways encouraged Pia to be herself and embrace the woman she is. Mukul is the same. He loves his daughter, and he’s not the overly pushy patriarch who demands his daughter to go off and get married.
Then we have the platonic soul mate best friend love between Jay and Pia. It’s obvious how much Jay loves Pia and vice versa. Even though Ninth Mandala is struggling to the point of eviction and Jay hasn’t been paid, he refused to leave Pia’s side. Instead, he provided advice and suggestions on ways they could grow the business to realize her dream. But more importantly, he gave her the space she needed and was the supportive bestie who didn’t push.
What’s also lovely about Picture This is even with Pia going on so many awkward, and we do mean awkward dates, she learned more about herself and what she did and didn’t want. She realized in the end that Charlie was who she still wanted in her life. Speaking of Charlie, it must be stated that we didn’t know how much we needed Hero in a Rom-Com until this film. If you’re familiar with his work in the After franchise and even the film First Love, you know those were more emotional and dramatic. That’s not to say there was no drama in Picture This, but it was different.
More: Want to know what we thought of the After movies? Check out our review.
With Picture This, Hero could do two things simultaneously and quite well. Like a certain man from the Bridgerton world (Sorry, we can’t help it, the comparisons are too easy) he delivered a charismatic charm that balanced out those moments when he was a bit of a jerk. His chemistry with Simone had us smiling throughout the entire film. The way they bounced off each other with their quick wit (Thanks to the writing) was very entertaining. We didn’t realize how funny Simone is either, including her physical comedy. We now need her in more Rom-Coms after this one.
Before closing out this review, I must mention how much I enjoyed the cultural aspects in Picture This. I’ve never been to an Indian wedding, but it looks like fun. This was my first time watching a Rom-Com with an Indian family, and I loved it. And it was further proof that we are not so different. Anyone can relate to the characters in this film. You don’t have to be Indian to relate to the story. We all know Pias, Sonal’s, and Laxmi’s. You may even be exactly like one of these three. At the core of Picture This, love is the main idea, which we can all understand.
Picture This is available to stream now on Prime Video.
