| What starts as a cute, fun, typical rom-com quickly devolves into a preachy, pandering, predictable story where the movie can’t decide if it would rather sell the audience a self-help book or religion, so it settles on both. Relationship Goals is named after the self-help romance book featured in the plot of the movie, which just so happens to be a real book which you can buy right now on Amazon. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. | | 2026
Directed by: Linda Mendoza
Screenplay by: Michael Elliot & Cory Tynan and Laura Lekkos
Based on the book by Michael Todd
Starring: Kelly Rowland, Method Man
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The actual story is one that has served many, many romantic comedies that have come before it – for both the better and worse. Leah (Kelly Rowland) is destined to be promoted to show-runner of a morning show in New York. Surprise, the network has decided not to promote her yet, and instead has hired her hated ex, forcing them to work together and then decide which one will get the promotion. It’s a frequently recycled rom-com plot because it’s easy and it works.
It’s so easy, that apparently the film doesn’t need to write anything else. Just throw in a random religious sub-plot, produce a show about a self-help book, and then have best friends who repeat meaningless platitudes from said book. While I can generally remain non-cynical about rom-coms, this one I can’t. The religious sub-plot starts when Jarrett (Cliff “Method Man” Smith) pitches his religious-themed relationship book and then starts defending “faith” as if Christianity is on trial. It’s not, and continually presenting it in this manner does not help.
The religious sub-plot is relatively minor, but not subtle. The worst of it is the church that Jarrett takes Leah to in order to reaffirm her faith. It’s one of those new-age churches where the pastor literally makes a spectacle out of God, where everything is a performance. I try to avoid making fun of people for going to church, but not when it’s this type of church. You can literally see where your donations go, and it’s not to help the poor or the needy, it’s to help pay for the pastor’s fancy suit and Rolls Royce. He probably also needs his own private jet, you know to help get closer to God. That’s how religion is presented in this movie – almost any faith-based movie would be better than that.
Because the movie wants you to buy the book Relationship Goals, it’s not going to reveal all of its secrets but the main one is to not list out all the qualities you want or don’t want in a man, because that is going to limit you. And if by magic, Leah rips up her list and then finally sees what was right in front of her eyes this entire time.
Not sure how many people have asked a self-help book and religious rom-com in one, but this is it.
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