The Other Zoey is one of the horror movies that have been released in October, which provides an option for romantic comedy enthusiasts. After film series fans can watch Josephine Langford do comedy in a new film by Sara Zandieh.
The Other Zoey traces the steps of Zoey (Langford), a college young adult who denies existence of romantic love and finds herself in a pickle when her school’s star soccer player Zach (Drew Starkey) believes that she is his girlfriend while he is suffering from amnesia. In spite of herself, Zoey decides to continue being Zach’s girlfriend so she can get close to Miles, his cousin who caught her attention during an on-campus lecture.
While not utilizing typical rom-com tropes completely, there are great actor interactions here. Andie MacDowell also appears in this movie as well as Heather Graham and Patrick Fabian amongst others.
The Other Zoey is your typical romantic comedy. A young woman thinks that she is incapable of falling in love, that her true partner will come to her via an algorithm (as they repeatedly say), and uses her parents’ divorce as an excuse. This isn’t new at all for those who are ardent viewers of romantic comedies.
Yet what disappoints most about the movie is that it does not take these thoughts beyond those found in its hundreds of predecessors. Zoey’s refusal to fall for anyone becomes monotonous. The sudden attraction to someone just because they agree with her stand on romance within five minutes is absurd and abrupt without adding anything worth discussing or proving herself wrong. Then suddenly it takes us right back into this discussion about relationships and feelings; therefore creating a sense of whipping confusion around the audience.
Other such common themes like ‘he isn’t actually a dumb jock.’ still work differently throughout the movie however much they may add depth to it than serving as another moment where Zoey realizes maybe she doesn’t have it all figured out. But even then, it remains on the surface, for Zoey’s thoughts lack the depth that could make her question herself and her relationship views without someone like her best friend Elle (Mallori Johnson) or mother.
One of the unconventional things about this story is that one of its male leads is in a poly relationship. These sorts of relationships are not commonly considered in romantic comedies and it was refreshing to see them here. At the same time, it seems rushed, popping up briefly and never appearing again. Expanding on these matters and making use of them for The Other Zoey might make this film stand out from other similar movies on sale today.
Part of Zoey’s character has been that she is a believer in compatibility-based relationships rather than love and so far, she is developing an app to help her with the calculations. However, all through her attempts to get closer to Miles who she believes they are compatible in one way or another, Zoey never mentions that she wants to use him as a test for her app. She thinks that they have similar views on the subject of romantic love but why doesn’t she attempt it?
She “launched” her app with a GoFundMe, but I suppose her ideas and code and tinkering still could have been used. Her app was just thrown out there and nothing more except it served as an initial explanation of why Zoey had such a view about love and how to impact others with such views. It does not inform us if this will be useful for Zoey when deciding whether or not to proceed pursuing Miles nor is it addressed at the end of the film when things change.
What The Other Zoey lacks in depth, it almost makes up for in chemistry. In terms of relationship development both romantic and platonic ones presented here stand out throughout the movie. The way in which Zoey interacts with Zach and Miles separately demonstrates how genuine their dynamics are; while these interactions may appear subtle sometimes but other times quite direct. The usual tongue-tied conversations with him work about as well as the initial standoffishness that Zoey has toward Zach. Even though without her knowing what Zoe realizes later on; the story moves forward due to these changing states towards each person’s personality.
Zoey’s friendship with Elle ends up becoming the heart of this film. Despite their worldviews being utterly different from one another, they complement each other really nicely. When using her influence to encourage Zoe take risks however Elle isn’t pushy at all because he understands that he has no power over his own destiny let alone that of others. In addition, they both know their personal problems are not driven by ill will or contempt towards the other, regardless of what was said in haste. This is a beautiful portrayal of healthy friendship.
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