The Island Cinephile

Relationship Goals: Characteristically Hollow

If you want a visual example of what a hollow film is, Relationship Goals echoes the loudest. Under the direction of Linda Mendoza and writing by Michael Elliott, Cory Tynan, and Laura Lekkos, it finds its home amongst the likes of a Lifetime or Hallmark quality production. 

Already in turbulent waters, this movie garners heavy inspiration from the previously published book, Relationship Goals, released by Michael Todd in 2020. We are introduced to Leah Caldwell who is a television producer vying for a promotion to become the first female showrunner in New York at a major broadcasting company. Though things get complicated when the promotion which was meant for her is put on hold. Another person is brought in to contend for the same spot, and it happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Jarrett Roy cheated on her, and she vowed to avoid falling for someone like him. 

Amid all their previous trauma, they are required to work together on an upcoming Valentines Day production. Roy suggests doing a segment around Michael Todd’s book because it changed his life after reading, and he now clearly understands the error of ways. With much apprehension, Leah disagrees with Roy, and somewhere in there our attention is diverted to a throwaway side story concerning Leah’s struggle with grief. Not only does Caldwell experience relationship issues, but her two best friends are also attempting to navigate through their own personal relationship challenges too.  

The presence of beautiful people who say all the right words in front of a high-definition camera is not enough to craft a successful film. Circling back to my initial statement of the film being hollow, its success or failure can almost always be traced back to dialogue. Between characters there was unending verbal sparring with minor rest for silence or a moment to form an emotional connection. Instead, everyone recited their lines with minimal thought to act them out. The cookie-cutter chatter felt unnatural, like what we have heard before, and stood in the way of the characters establishing themselves. Like Leah, devoid of emotion declaring that her mother died, and her father responds by relaying tips on overcoming grief. These were just words carried with no emotion. 

The set design also cheapened the quality of the film because it seemed as sterilized as a hospital. Sets are meant to feel lived in and functional for the characters that inhabit the spaces (i.e. A Few Good Men), but they felt like a showroom as if these people stopped by for a moment.With the constant blurred backgrounds and the lack of background characters in the shots, the set feel even more isolated; especially the scene with the club was disastrous. Kelly Rowland portrays the ambitious, stylish, and stunning Leah Caldwell who looked the part but never quite sold her performance as an actress. 

Cliff Smith, also referred to as “Method Man,” tries his hardest to actualize Jarrett Roy but chatty dialogue does not help him. Despite their attempt at producing emotionally charged enemies-to-lovers trope, we experience co-workers attempting to push through with little to no chemistry. Crafting a superficiality that I have never seen before, these characters’ actions are never quite aligned with their words. The writers utilized nearly every trope you have ever seen and reduced it to a generic and extremely formulaic production. 

The soundtrack is a war within itself as it shifts from elevator music to a trending song every three minutes to distract the audience from the lack of substance. If the challenged set design, shallow characters, and uninventive dialogue were not enough, the final and most glaring cardinal sin is introduced; the lack of immersion. The moment that Roy begins his spiel on Michael Todd, instantly the movie has cheapened to a parody of itself. When you base a story around real people and integrate it into the world you are building, it usually works because it either satirizes or manipulates the information to fit within the story. Instead, we watch how a real figure, along with his life, and his book becomes the critical solution to the troubles within this fictional story.

 If it was within their desire to create an advertisement to promote this book, a documentary would have sufficed. Competing with all these issues, it is clear to see why the film struggled commercially. They sprinkled in a little too much of everything and ended up with nothing.  

Relationship Goals is a shiny, soapy, production that lacks depth on all fronts. It side steps the basics of storytelling to function solely as a vehicle to advertise excerpts from a wildly successful book. From forsaking emotional bonds between characters to forging uninspired dialogue, the idea of a re-watch is asinine.   

Watch trailer for Relationship Goals.