The script, written by Hoover and Lauren Levine, was bogged down a bit by some cheesy lines, weird and very obvious product placements and mildly clunky stage directions for everyone to breathe as loudly as possible, among other things. But, the film did surprise me in several ways.
First, it was PG-13. I have nothing against the sex scene but feel things have gotten gratuitous over the years. I miss the 2000s rom-coms where the majority of the movie was spent getting to know the other person. The fact that nothing serious happens between Kenna and Ledger until deep into the second act, while still effectively communicating the storyline and emotional stakes, was refreshing.
There was also the casting diversity that didn’t feel forced. For starters, we have a Black male lead in a romantic drama, which doesn’t occur nearly as often as it should. Withers, who was featured in The Hollywood Reporter‘s NextGen Class of 2025, plays a character who is at once confident and protective, forceful but gentle, often sure he’s right but willing to admit that he’s wrong. There’s also Monika Myers, the actress and disability advocate with Down Syndrome who plays Kenna’s sassy neighbor/co-worker, Lady Diana. Lady Diana’s quirks provide comic relief but, importantly, not at her expense, and the script doesn’t center her disability as her identity.