Weekend Watch: Review Of Zoey 102 (2023)
I couldn't make up my mind on the 'right' movie to watch for the weekend. I like to go with my frame of mind vis-à-vis what's streaming or what I have downloaded on my PC. I had two choices: the latest Fast & Furious release or this delicious romantic comedy. It takes a lot of effort to sit for two and a half hours watching Vin Diesel and his team intrigue me with fast cars and some crimes. I wasn't in the mood for an adrenaline-pumping film so I settled for something mellow—Zoey 102 (2023)
It's a decent romantic comedy that is actually a sequel to its television series, Zoey 101, but it can be watched as a standalone. You won't be missing anything.
The rom-com begins by introducing Zoey (played by Jamie Lynn Spears) as a reality TV show producer called LOVE: Fully Charged who is under-appreciated by her boss. He takes off the show when her colleague steals her innovative idea to make the show better. Then her best friend, Quinn (played by Erin Sanders), a tech genius, calls to invite her to be her maid of honour. The wedding is fixed on the same date as the reality TV season finale.
Since Zoey is off the show, she agrees and prepares for the wedding until Quinn tells her that her ex-boyfriend, Chase, will be the best man. It turns out Zoey and Chase had not resolved their issues when they broke up. She's in a state of anxiety over the wedding when her boss calls her to say she's back on the show. How will Zoey handle both the wedding and the TV show? Is she ready to accept that Chase has moved on and will be bringing his girlfriend to the wedding?
Review
The plot is classic of most romcoms—the protagonist has unresolved feelings for an ex, they both show up at a wedding, act as maid of honour and best man, and try to find closure along the way. What makes this film particularly interesting is the inclusion of a TV reality show similar to the Bachelor and Bachelorette reality shows that I'm not a fan of.
The storytelling is not bad as viewers immediately become familiar with the characters if they have not seen Zoey 101. I haven't seen the TV series but the character development made it easy to understand their roles.
The humour scenes are not much but funny and enjoyable though more effort is placed on the romance. The cast's performance is excellent but I'm not too impressed by Jamie Lynn Spears' acting. Her role of trying to multitask and end up ruining things felt very wrong. I particularly enjoyed the scenes of Zoey's fake boyfriend, Todd, competing with Chase at karaoke. Dean Geyer did great in his role as Todd. He stole the show from almost all the cast in my opinion. Or maybe it's his good looks and charisma!
The cinematography is cool and so are the sceneries displayed in the film. The film is well paced but the ending feels rushed. Director Nancy Hower portrays a happy ending where everything that went terribly wrong is fixed which is just unrealistic.
Overall, Zoey 102 is not a bad continuation of the TV series Zoey 101 and is a fun watch. I'll gladly recommend it to rom-com lovers.
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Other images are screenshots from the movie
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