The last time we saw Haley Lu Richardson 鈥� at least, the 鈥淲hite Lotus鈥� version of Haley Lu Richardson 鈥� her Portia was in an airport, leaving the murderous mayhem of Sicily (and one dead boss) behind and exchanging contacts on her phone with nice young Albie.
Now, in an amusing bit of symmetry, we rejoin the charming Richardson at an airport again in 鈥� with another young man, this time trying but failing to get his contact info into her phone. (Spoiler alert: one really needs to keep one鈥檚 phone charged when looking for love.)
It's this theme of missed connections 鈥� and fate, and inadequately charged iPhones 鈥� that anchors the plot of this sweet, often moving but also painfully corny rom-com that survives on the appeal of Richardson and also her co-star, Ben Hardy, a couple that could triumph over anyone鈥檚 saccharine dialogue.
The Netflix film, directed by Vanessa Caswill, is based on the popular YA novel 鈥淭he Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight鈥� 鈥� a more interesting title, but one can understand the desire to avoid anything that could potentially be shortened in conversation to 鈥淪tatistical Probability鈥� (likely the least romantic title in the history of rom-coms).
In any case, those already fans of Jennifer E. Smith鈥檚 book will need no prompting to root for this couple who meet cute at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport on December 20, which the film鈥檚 narrator tells us is the airport's busiest day of the year (the narration is full of such factoids). On this day, we learn, Hadley Ella Sullivan, American, age 20 and 65 inches tall, is traveling to London but misses her flight by four minutes.
And those four minutes will change everything, because waiting in the airport lounge is one Oliver Jones, age 22, a Brit studying statistics at at Yale, whose average phone battery life is 94 % (compared to Hadley鈥檚, which is 21 % 鈥� also the percentage of times she is late.)
The two meet when Oliver (鈥淎s in Twist?鈥� says Hadley 鈥� see what we mean by corny?) offers his phone charger. Then they head to dinner, at which point they realize that they share a hatred for mayonnaise. We also learn that Hadley is heading to London for her father鈥檚 wedding to the woman he left her mom for.
As for Oliver, he indicates he's also traveling to a wedding, but he鈥檚 actually traveling to something a lot sadder. The two end up sitting together on the plane, through yet another twist of fate, but maybe also because the flight attendant who seats them is the very same narrator (Jameela Jamil) who pops up throughout in different roles, sort of a hip fairy godmother.
In any case, the two talk all night, but get separated in the customs line the next morning. Before running off, Oliver gives Hadley his number, but it doesn鈥檛 make it into her phone before she loses juice, yet again.
If you鈥檙e like me, you might recall here Jesse and Celine, aka Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, who also fell in love, overnight, while traveling, in 鈥淏efore Sunrise鈥� and agreed to meet at the same place in six months. Celine couldn鈥檛 make it, and poor Jesse, with no phone number, had to wait nine years and write a best-selling novel in a bid to find her.
This was before social media. Now, as our narrator acknowledges, there are so many ways to find someone: Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter (or X). But even with those helpful tools, you need to know the person鈥檚 last name. Somehow, Hadley and Oliver don鈥檛.
And then, through an ingenious, yep, twist of fate again, they find each other. And then, annoyingly, they lose each other again! Still with no name and no number! Really?!
The supporting cast features a few lovely performances, namely the very moving Sally Phillips and Dexter Fletcher as Oliver鈥檚 parents, a pair of Shakespeare-loving thespians struck by tragedy. As Hadley鈥檚 father, Rob Delaney is saddled with some of the sappier lines in the script as he tries to explain his divorce to his daughter with piercing thoughts like 鈥淟ove is a lot of work.鈥�
Richardson, throughout, gives an empathetic and endearing performance, and Hardy matches her for charm, even if he doesn鈥檛 convince as a self-described 鈥渕aths nerd.鈥� Both are playing college students about a decade younger, but we鈥檒l suspend the disbelief, because darnit, we want to see these kids get together!
We won鈥檛 give the end away, but we can tell you 鈥� because the narrator told us 鈥� that 17.6 % of people walk away from the loves of their life.
Does that mean that 82.4 % walk in the opposite direction, toward love? More importantly, what percentage of sappy rom-coms end in romantic failure? The odds seem pretty good for Hadley and Oliver.
鈥淟ove at First Sight,鈥� a Netflix release, has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America 鈥渇or brief strong language and some suggestive references. 鈥� Running time: 90 minutes. Two stars out of four.
Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press
