Voicemails for Isabelle is Heartwarming and Hilarious

Netflix’s new rom-com, Voicemails for Isabelle (dir. Leah McKendrick), isn’t just heartwarming, funny, and an achievement in female directing – it’s also an instant classic. Following 20-something aspiring baker Jill (Zoey Deutch), Voicemails for Isabelle tells a story of grief, self-discovery, and fateful connections. Ever since her beloved sister Izzy’s (Ciara Bravo) death, Jill has been leaving her hilarious, extremely TMI voicemails about her chaotic love life and miserable day job as a prep cook. Little does she know that a handsome and unsatisfied real estate agent in her hometown has inherited the number and practically fallen in love with her by listening to her stories. 

The central storyline of the film – and its barrage of one-liners – is a genuinely delightful ride. After a gut-wrenching intro where Izzy dies, described by my friend as “the sibling version of the opening scene from Up,” we follow Jill through the trials and tribulations of San Francisco dating. These include cringeworthy dates with Pink-Eye Guy, an obnoxious dating influencer nicknamed The Douchecaster, and a nightmarish hookup with Jill’s chauvinist coworker that results in (his) tears. Across the country in Jill’s hometown of Austin, slightly sleazy real estate agent Wes (Nick Robinson) is getting dumped for taking his date to Buffalo Wild Wings.

After getting ghosted by The Douchecaster, Jill leaves a voicemail for Izzy when she reveals her plan to crash his podcast taping. Upon hearing this, Wes takes an abrupt work trip to San Francisco where he watches Jill berate the Douchecaster to the cheers of the audience and follows her to her favorite park, where they finally meet. Even though he can’t bring himself to tell her how he knows her, their romance blossoms. Viewers are treated to a heartwarming romance mixed in with hilarious scenes of Nick Offerman as fraudulently French Chef Bastien, Jill and Wes’ bus tour guide around San Francisco breaking out of the bus and Naruto running down the street, and Wes’s friends reminding him that the longer he goes without explaining the truth to Jill, the more his situation becomes like a “sick, sick reboot of You’ve Got Mail.”

Despite the impressively adorable romance, the movie really succeeds when it tells the story of Jill’s own life and personal growth. In fact, the film goes out of its way multiple times to show Jill explaining that she doesn’t need a man: “what I need is my sister back.” The movie is a Frozen-esque love story between two sisters as one comes to terms with the other’s death. The plot isn’t moved forward by the romance – the biggest turning points in the film are when Jill stands up to Chef Bastien and quits her job, when her parents give her Izzy’s college fund to start her own business, and when her dessert taco food truck (inspired by Izzy, of course) finally succeeds. In fact, the movie almost ends with Wes leaving Izzy his own voicemail asking for permission to move in with Jill, but quickly we cut to Jill leaving what she declares will be her last voicemail. She’s finally ready to let her sister go, and when their favorite childhood song starts playing in the park and a dance party breaks out, she knows she has her sister’s blessing.