“My Oxford year”, based on the novel by Julia Whelan, is about a woman who goes to Oxford for a whole year, so I suppose there is nothing to criticize the title. It is also a love story with Sofia Carson and Corey Mylchreest, two actors so conventionally attractive that they must have been bitten by radioactive questions about “US Weekly.”
But when the credits rolled, I sank into my chair and felt vaguely laid out by Netflix’s latest, flagish attempts to rip off Hallmarks by making shiny, simplified but still satisfactory romance with slightly higher production values and a soundtrack budget that can afford “yellow” by Coldplay.
Unfortunately, that is the problem. “My Oxford Year” has all the airy charm in a generic rom-com, but that’s not what this movie is. It is a movie that tries, even if it is not that difficult, to split away at your soul. This is not adorable lovey-dovey escapism. It is a bitter cute cordial tears. At least Netflix certainly seems to believe it. When choosing the movie on the Netflix app, it literally says “Bittersweet Heartfelt Tearjerker” under the title and driving time.
So why is sweetness missing in bitter? Why can’t I feel my heart right now? (I mean metaphorically. Otherwise I would write this in an ambulance.) Why did you only get one of my tears?
To answer that question, I have to discuss the mid-movie plot twist. Netflix has asked critics not to destroy that part, which is quite fun, because they destroyed it themselves. They literally say that it is a “bitter cute cordial tears” before you even press games. So even though the first half of “My Oxford Year” would like you to think it’s just an adorable romantic comedy, we have a pretty good idea of what’s coming. Although in any way we did not notice the description, the fact that every conversation is about how life and love are volatile, and that love always means something, even if it does not last forever, the Kinda game gives away. The communications representative on Titanic does not telegraphy so much.
The action, if you need to know, is about Anna de la Vega (Carson). She has a bank job lined up at Goldman Sachs, but she has been postponing her own employment for a year so that she can study Victorian poetry in Oxford. You know, as you do. Her family looks at Rob Lowe Romantic Rowing team movie “Oxford Blues” in 1984 to get some feel for what she is in, which shows that they have good taste. Maybe too good. “Oxford Blues” is not exactly a timeless classic, but it is better than “my Oxford year”, and it is annoying that you cannot watch it on Netflix immediately after that. Or instead.
Anyway, Anna is immediately splashed on the street by a quick Jaguar (the car, not the cat). The driver is Jamie Davenport (Mylchreest). A handsome young man. She hates him. Then it turns out that the handsome young man is her poetry professor, so they fall for each other fairly quickly and wave for the rest of the school year.
I looked up: Oxford did not explicitly ban romantic relationships between the faculty and students until 2023that seems to be a long time to determine that policy. Especially considering Oxford has been around for almost 1,000 years. But Julia Whelan’s book was published in 2018, so technically this romance is just extremely inappropriate in principle. The fine print strikes again!
“My Oxford Year” surrounds their lead lovers with stock-rom-com archetyp. There is the attractive and funny gay’s best friend Charlie (Harry Treldwyn), which the movie wants us to believe is unresolved. There are the attractive and fun hetero -friend Maggie (Esmé Kingdom), which the film also wants us to think is unmatched. They, along with all other attractive and like people in the main characters’ periphery, will eventually find people so far. Since no matter how much tragedy takes over the A-plot, the B-plot is always directly from a Garry Marshall movie, Tonal Dissonance condemned.
Again, “My Oxford year” is shiny and loving, and if that was the mission it would get an “a” for effor … It actually goes too far, let’s make it a respectable “B.” But that is not the assignment. We should feel that our heart breaks down during this movie, because young love is put through the ring. But the manufacturers of “My Oxford Year” cannot help themselves. This movie may only be a bit of a mute sometimes, which means the biggest dramatic moments-independent, the missed opportunities, the fear of imminent loss friends never genuinely. This is another movie where a character can withstand extreme suffering but never stops looking wonderful – a trop that we have all laughed at at least half a century, thanks to a large part “Love Story” – which only draws more fuel from the fire.
I want to like “my Oxford year”, and that’s what doesn’t work with it. The actual story is not heartwarming, it is heartbreaking. At least I guess that’s it. Otherwise, there would be no reason to tell this story. You can produce nice romantic distractions without getting into all this painful, crying territory, so if you will dredge all the unpleasant you would be willing to deal with them. “My Oxford year” never completely undertakes to his own dissertation. It can be good enough to scream at a community college, but I don’t think it’s good enough for Oxford.
