Voicemails for Isabelle

Grade: C+

Voicemails for Isabelle has a premise that immediately reminded me of a film from 2023 called Love Again. For me, at least, that will always be the movie where Céline Dion plays herself, in a supporting role – but otherwise, its plot involves a woman who continues to send texts to her recently-deceased fiancé, not realizing that the number has been assigned to a good-looking eligible bachelor’s new work phone, and he has been seeing them all along.

An extremely similar thing is happening in Voicemails for Isabelle. Zoey Deutch plays Jill, an aspiring chef. After her little sister Izzy dies from cystic fibrosis, Jill routinely leaves her voicemails. Whether it’s a cute inside joke, or an update about her life, it’s a way for Jill to cope, even if the other person won’t call back, or nobody is listening to the messages (she thinks). The early scenes are delightful to watch, as we see the banter and camaraderie between Jill and the bedridden Izzy as they grow up.

Unfortunately, the playful tone is taken too far, and quickly begins to feel phony. It’s fine when used sparingly, as a bit of Netflixy exposition in the opening minutes, but the first half of the movie is like a very long extended prologue until the meat and potatoes of the story kick in. This is also when we stop seeing voicemail musings, for which I was very relieved. Every time Jill does one, it reads like Deutch is submitting an audition for the lead in the most dated, archaic romantic comedy. She overacts up a storm. I’m interested to see if this was just a one-off choice, or if this is her artistic register every time she dabbles in the genre. I’ll get my answer soon, as Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass opens July 10th.

Wes (Nick Robinson from Snack Shack) has inherited Izzy’s number on his new work phone. He listens to everything from Jill, and becomes invested. He looks her up on Instagram. The screenwriter gave him a job of realtor to explain away how he’s able to suddenly up and travel around for long stretches. He does just that, finagling his way to San Francisco, under the guise of a business trip, to strike up a courtship with Jill.

I give the movie lots of credit for addressing a question that will arise in many minds. If you’re wondering why he doesn’t just text the number to let her know it now belongs to someone else: he tries to. He starts to send such a text, then gets interrupted, and it becomes a case of “I thought I did that.” Another time, after they have met in person, he verbally comes clean with it, only for the camera to pan over and reveal that she has fallen asleep.

This is a self-aware film that thinks it can excuse its cliches by getting ahead of us and acknowledging them before we can criticize their existence, but come on. They’re still cliches and tropes. Wes is the best man at his friend Andy’s wedding to Breeda. At one point, Andy actually observes that this is like a sick reboot of You’ve Got Mail, and “you’re no Tom Hanks.” Writer/director Leah McKendrick appears in the film as Breeda. She previously performed the same triple duty two years ago with Scrambled, which I liked quite a bit. It is generous of her to take a supporting role this time, and I’m a big fan of Deutch, but I wonder if Voicemails for Isabelle would have played more convincingly had McKendrick played Jill instead. That role could have used more of the grounded sincerity she brought to Scrambled.

Andy and Breeda just got married, and you’d think they’d be busy with their own lives, yet they keep showing up – like second-bananas in a romcom – to be support systems for Wes. Meanwhile, I waited impatiently for the truth to come out, followed by all the predictable beats. The soundtrack is chock full of wall-to-wall music, most of which is original songs by Este Haim and Amanda Yamate. Some of them are enjoyable, but more often distracting due to the sheer amount. I’m giving Voicemails for Isabelle the highest grade in my “not recommended” zone, because I had a couple of laughs and I appreciate and respect that they at least tried to bring texture and originality to an idea that’s been done before, as recently as three years ago. It still doesn’t work.

Grade: C+