Love on Iceland (2020)

Weird corner of the Arrowverse.

    We open on, sigh, the New York City skyline [actually Chicago], but at least The B-52’s “Roam” is playing. Interior of an office within which they’re recording something called ‘Racket Podcast.’ Is vlogging/podcasting the new architect or magazine editor? Our lead character is apparently a producer despite being pushed by her coworkers to host but is hesitant. Oh, will someone be pushed out of their comfort zone by love? The podcast is undefined but the guest goes on about ‘finding herself’ or somesuch in Iceland with our lead acting all enraptured by the non-specifics. What else has this actress done? Huh, some actual shows, ok.

    Apparently ‘ratings’ are down, as in this universe podcasting operates like tv networks with boardrooms and presidents and pitch meetings. Didn’t know it was so hard to grab MeUndies sponsorships. She’s complaining over lunch about how overworked she is and deadlines and, um, is this a thing when you run what is apparently a single audio podcast [it is later clarified to be a podcast network]? Her friend says she could take a vacation just after her boss put a time crunch on her, let’s see how they square this circle. Also I’m curious what her love interest is going to be doing in Iceland as he’s clearly not going to be a native.

    Ah, they’re getting the old gang back together to take the trip and he’s clearly one of them. Holy crap, Tommy Merlyn from ‘Arrow?’ We’re in trouble, I like this actor. He’s apparently a travel photographer and is constantly traveling worldwide, which nicely explains that. The rest of their friends can also apparently drop everything and go to Iceland at a moment’s notice, which must be nice.

    Our male lead must have a separate introduction later because after arriving in Iceland they take in a few sights and set up shop in their chalet. We’re also up to I think four jokes about the local language which you can cut that out any time you like, movie. Oh, speak of the devil, here’s that male lead showing up out of nowhere. Very clearly they were exes and he wasn’t supposed to be invited but the other friends didn’t know and I think I’m going to start digging out my vinyl collection to see how many B-52’s albums I have.

    During a spa trip it turns out they dated for three years and their careers took them apart. I can see how that would end up leaving lingering feelings. Less understandable is why they’re acting like awkward 16 years old about it but none of these movies are particularly emotionally mature. Their hosts at the chalet tell a nice little story about how they met and they trade Significant Glances.

    The ongoing theme is she is obsessed with planning while he’s more spontaneous. Not a bad contrast. She outplans the tour guide, he keeps wandering off to take pictures. This would get my highest recommendation if they accidentally fell in a crevasse or something and it turned into a hardcore survival tale.

    They start setting up their tour guide as a fake love interest and he seems nice so I hope he doesn’t get hurt in all this nonsense. She also starts reading about Icelandic mythology which I’m assuming is not going to get into necropants, which treat yourself to a quick internet search there, all sorts of edifying.

    We’re halfway through and he’s urging her to host the podcast idea she’s come up with, she’s urging him to take this teaching job in Chicago, they’re getting along and being all flirty, I look forward to the conflict that’s going to keep them apart for the next half hour or so. Ah, here it is: a job that he has to leave for in three days, cutting the Iceland trip short. He doesn’t immediately agree so I’m assuming he’s going to not tell her, she’ll start falling for him, find out about the job, and get all mad at him.

    ‘Roam’ is from the 1989 album ‘Cosmic Thing,’ which means I don’t have it on vinyl. I have a loose rule about only getting vinyl from the mid-80’s and earlier since by the time the 90’s rolled around everything was being mastered digitally for cd’s and it doesn’t make that much of a difference to my ears. I also much prefer their earlier work, as although I like ‘Love Shack’ as much as anyone ‘Dance This Mess Around’ is my jam.

    Her boss likes her podcast idea but doesn’t think she should host so our male lead decides they need to have her do some interviews to prove her chops. So they track down this random couple to interview because I guess people in Iceland have nothing better to do? They seem nice and it will shock you to learn there are parallels between their love story and that of our two leads. Then there’s a whole montage of interviews of couples and I apparently wasn’t joking about them having nothing better to do.

    Ah, he’s now telling her about the job offer. Good, I like when the movies aren’t completely stupid. Meanwhile the tour guide has asked to have a talk with her away from the group, I assume to ask about her friend with whom he’s been spending time, and apparently we’re going to just be doing a different stupid thing by having him misunderstand when he sees them together while he’s out taking photos. Maybe half right? I nailed the tour guide but when she gets back to the chalet the two leads smooch.

    Oh god, it’s a new, third kind of stupid. Our male lead overhears our female lead assuring her friend she doesn’t have any feelings for the tour guide, assumes it’s about him, and rushes off to go accept the job offer. You have nine minutes left, movie, you’re not fooling anyone. And instead of any kind of resolution to the misunderstanding he just changes his mind, comes back to her, and they smooch into the credits. C’mon, movie, if you’re going to pull stupid shit at least have the courage to follow though.

    Iceland is a pretty country and the leads were not annoying but basically the plot was a couple who reluctantly broke up in the first place getting back together when their careers finally align again. I’m torn between having entertainingly stupid love obstacles and having basically none at all. In a serious movie I’d love a set of mature conversations between adults about their trust issues but this has magic podcast networks and people who can jet to Iceland on like two days notice. The thing certainly seems like it was shot in Iceland so if you’re into scenery porn you should eat this up with a spoon but there’s very little there there, just basically waiting for two people to get back together who never really wanted to break up in the first place. Oh, and if you can get your hands on a decent vinyl edition of ‘Wild Planet’ jump on that, it’s an underrated classic.