I watched this trailer. And the second it was over I sent an email to Duana with the title “Duana. I love her”. The “her” here is Jennifer Lopez. As I mentioned yesterday, this is the first trailer for her upcoming movie Second Act. And they’re calling it a rom-com. It IS a rom-com. It has all the classic rom-com components: there’s a side-kick, there’s an adversary, there’s a makeover, and there will most definitely be a “hero” moment at the end. BUT…
Where is the romance?
The romance is the WORK.
JLo falls in love with WORK. Not AT work. But WITH work.
Second Act is a work rom-com, not a workplace rom-com. The Devil Wears Prada was also a work rom-com. I mean, there was a workplace. But ultimately it was about a young woman who’s figuring out her relationship with work, the work she’s capable of, the kind of work she wants to do, and who she wants to work with. Her boyfriend is a B plot. The boyfriend story serves the greater story which is the work story, the real love story.
And this is what JLo and Second Act are tapping into here. The exciting difference though is right in the trailer, not subtle. Because it’s important: “a woman your age”. This is a rom-com about the work of a woman who is NOT an ingénue, a woman belonging to a demo often overlooked in pop culture, especially where work is concerned. Can you tell I’m excited?
I love this trailer, everything about it. Including how it begins. With The Cranberries and a song that’s so recognisably 90s, so recognizably ROM-COM, they’re hitting that nostalgia nerve too, right?
CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THIS.
