Romantic comedies have a way of reeling us in. Despite its cliche nature, there’s an underlying charisma that sparks curiosity through its journey of separation and union. It’s this guilty pleasure that makes even those of us who don’t usually gravitate towards romantic comedies, stick around for the delightful pay off in the end.
Unfortunately, director and writer Jamie Patterson’s latest rom com, Tracks, is a rather tedious ride that fails to find its center. It doesn’t possess any of the characteristics a rom com should have in order to soar. We’re left feeling clueless, as there aren’t any traits of self-discovery tangible enough for us to feel satisfied.
Having made its Los Angeles premiere at the Rom Com Festival, this film takes us through Europe with a young couple who run into a plethora of arguments and issues that test their relationship. What kind of “tracks” the story leaves behind, I have no clue, because the film fails to draw out relevant dynamics of the couple.
Slapstick Comedy Gone Wrong
Long vacations with a significant other can be fun, but can also make or break a relationship, Lucy (April Pearson) tells Chris (Chris Willoughby) in Nice, France. They’ve just nearly lost all of their travel funds over a silly brawl Chris had with one of the hotel staff. This is just one of the many uninteresting (and definitely not funny) hiccups that they encounter during their 10-day backpacking trip around Europe.
Tracks follows a seasoned relationship that’s clearly in its late and jaded stages. The film approaches, or at least tries to approach this with a slapstick formula that turns out to be excruciatingly hard to watch. It comes off as annoying and overdone, that we’re tapping our fingers waiting for it to pass. The film tries too hard to be a laughable and charming rom com when, in fact, it’s the very opposite.
Stop…You’re Just Not That Funny
You’ve got a somewhat level-headed girl with a blundering boyfriend. Lucy is a seemingly normal person with a stronger sense of moral compass than Chris. She’s often the one looking at the city maps, trying to navigate the both of them around town.
Chris is the typical goofy boyfriend archetype. He’s the guy that cracks jokes along with bringing a whole bucket load of embarrassment wherever he goes (his obnoxious fake French is one of them). So it’s no surprise that he’s the one who ultimately causes their rift during the trip.
Not only is Chris not funny, but the “humor” that he brings doesn’t provide any sort of charm that’s necessary to his character to establish a sense of pay off in the end. He’s the person that we ultimately need to root for, but his character remains stagnant. As a result, we’re left feeling indifferent.
This, along with other character and story arc elements hold numerous gaps. It’s as if Patterson, along with the other writers–Pearson, Chris Willoughby, and Finn Bruce–weren’t too sure where and how to draw out the course of their story.
Essential Questions Are Left Ignored
Upon their separation, the two leads are on their own for a good chunk of the film. It’s supposed to be their time of self-reflection, but disappointingly, many necessary questions are ignored. There isn’t any sort of progression involved, eventually turning into a rather flat story that we apathetically end up following along with.
Lucy experiences doubt towards Chris. When a new friend (Lily Donovan) asks her what she loves about him, she struggles to answer. And this question dismayingly gets abandoned along with several others. What made her first fall in love with Chris? What prompts her to make the choice that she does in the end?
Chris, a goof who often shows a lack of self-awareness, doesn’t experience any sort of realization within himself or towards Lucy for us to see him as a genuine person. Not to mention, his obnoxiousness only kills his potential to acquire any redeeming qualities to have us rooting for him.
Tracks ultimately fails to illustrate Lucy and Chris’ chemistry. Despite the odds that come their way, how do they still never fail to run out of love for one another? What’s the glue that keeps them together? It’s an integral piece of the romantic comedy formula that’s missing.
We don’t get to truly know them. We’re simply given a sparse (and quite pathetic) story of the time Chris first saw Lucy on Facebook. There isn’t any background provided on their relationship to understand the underlying reason behind all the bickering. They’re simply irrelevant arguments stitched together. As a result, there’s no sense of connectivity between our leads.
Focusing On The Bad–Fueling The Wrong Kind of Dialogue
Tracks delves us deep into their peevish arguments. It’s set up as a film focused on dialogue as a means to flesh out the characters. We most often are given the petty (and often boring) side of their relationship. Rarely are we given access to their good moments.
During scenes when they’re touring the many beautiful European cities, romantic tunes play gently in the background. We see our couple having a lovely time seeing new sites together and taking selfies. It’s all very cute, but we’re never given access to actually tune into what they’re saying to one another.
If Patterson let us into these scenes, we could at least see and hear the yin and yang to understand their whole picture. Perhaps, we could then gain a better understanding of not only who these people are, but their perspectives as a couple.
Conclusion: Tracks
Tracks fails to bring an interesting couple onto the screen who are worth rooting for. It shows glimmers of self-discovery and self-fulfillment, but it fails to see them through. What we have in the end are not just unanswered questions, but we know nothing of the characters to really care about them.
Frankly, I was waiting for the film to end. It’s a shame because with a narrative built around travel, there was definitely potential for some original and genuine storytelling.
What are some of your favorite romantic comedies and why? Please share by commenting below!
Tracks made its L.A. Premiere at the Rom Com Festival on June 21, 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQrr5oLmp80
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