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A simplistic rom-com that can’t maintain interest. |
| You’ve Got Mail has become its own subgenre within the romantic comedy, to the point that some movies will just take that loose concept but present it very differently (like Hallmark’s surprising anti-AI rom-com Return to Office) or take the exact same plot pretty much verbatim but just the industry it’s set in, which is what Amazon’s Maintenance Required has done. | 2025 Directed by: Lacey Uhlemeyer Screenplay by: Erin Falconer & Lacey Uhlemeyer, and Roo Berry Starring: Madelaine Petsch, Jacob Scipio | |
| Charlotte, shortened to Charlie (Madelaine Petsch), owns a car repair shop, which she has taken over from her recently deceased father. It’s an all-female, financially-struggling repair shop with a part-time nail salon run by the more feminine one of the employees. Charlie has an anonymous flirtatious thing going on a car forum at the same time that a new evil corporate repair shop opens across the street, managed by the very handsome and slick Beau (Jacob Scipio). The movie knows how common this plot is so it wastes zero time establishing it, we all know what’s happening here. So the camera instead takes its time lingering over the very attractive bodies of its two charming leads Petsch and Scipio. It’s not a bad way to start the movie, most viewers will be hooked enough to keep watching. The problem is most rom-coms build into something more special. As audiences get to know the characters, we fall for their charms and can’t help but fall in love with their predictable journey. In this movie, almost the reverse happens. There’s charm right from the opening, but the formulaic script is repetitive and soulless, and the movie gets less charming as the characters fall in love. I didn’t even realize that was possible. The simplicity becomes a bit too problematic because there’s nothing to build on, and the obstacles – namely Charlie’s awesome shop going out of business and Beau working for a heartless organization – are just sad, not funny. Other critics are calling this AI slop; I don’t think that’s true. Beau’s ex works as one of those corporate “fixers” who come in to automate companies and fire the working people. She’s not presented as the future, but rather an unintelligent waste of a human. I think there are real people behind this movie, but if there is real passion for cars in the background, that does not translate onto the screen. It takes a popular rom-com format but can’t find the necessary ingredients to make it pop. I do love how the movie modernizes the gender gaps. While men will naturally assume they are better at cars than Charlie, most characters give her respect. And her companions – coworkers and friends, Izzy and Kam, both eschew gender stereotypes without being obvious about it. Which is a nice reflection of how the younger generations are advancing our society. I wanted to like Maintenance Required much more than I did. The leads are attractive and charming, and I love the modern take on the gender stereotypes, but it copies the rom-com formula too simplistically and is unable to keep it interesting. | ||