The only thing guaranteed about Love, Guaranteed is that you’ll barely remember watching it. In fact, I almost forgot to write this review. As Netflix original romcoms go, this one is just plain weak. The premise seems engaging enough: An earnest do-gooder of a lawyer named Susan (Rachael Leigh Cook) desperately needs to pay some bills to keep her small office afloat. So she agrees to take the case of Nick (Damon Wayans Jr.), a charming, high-paying client (Damon Wayans Jr.) determined to sue a dating website for fraud. He’s followed all the rules, and the fine print – going on at least 1,000 dates (“breakfast, lunch and dinner”) – but alas, no love match. He not only wants his money back – he wants damages as well. To the tune of, say, one-million dollars. Or at least a half-million. Certainly not the piddly 100k the site owner (Heather Graham) is willing to shell out to settle the case. As if you can really put a price on love anyway!
The characters are all meet-cute cliche – from Susan’s office mates who want to see her find love and happiness (and who draft her a dating profile, in the name of ‘research’!), to her pregnant sister and brother-in-law who live next door and want to see her find love and happiness, to Susan and Nick themselves, who have either shunned dating or been burned by heartbreak. Almost immediately, Susan and Nick are drawn to each other. I’d say “sparks fly” but that would be a stretch.
Can lawyer and client act on their feelings without jeopardizing their case? All will be revealed in short order, well before characters – and chemistry – can be anywhere near fully developed.
Love, Guaranteed is a dramedy that’s so light on stakes, drama and comedy that it’s hard to give it a pass as mindless fluff. There are just too many other good romcoms out there worth watching on repeat (including several on Netflix) to add this to the queue, even if it does have the surface look and feel of a feel-good romcom.
Lame predictability and a Tiffany earworm are guaranteed. Love, however, is not.