The Wrong Paris Review
Director: Janeen Damian
Date Created: 2025-09-13 01:56
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The Wrong Paris Review: Directed by Janeen Damian, the Netflix romantic comedy movie lasts for around one hour and forty-five minutes. The film stars Miranda Cosgrove as Dawn, Pierson Fode as Trey, Frances Fisher, Yvonne Orji, Madison Pettis, Madeleine Arthur, Torrance Coombs, and others in supporting roles. The film feels just another feel-good rom-com, with a quirky spin. Our protagonist signs up for a dating reality show, hoping that it will take her to Paris, France, only to find that she ends up lost in Paris, Texas. The rest is a series of mistaken dreams, small-town warmth, and reality TV-like drama.
The Wrong Paris Review
Firstly, being able to see Miranda Cosgrove on camera again in a lead character was enticing. There’s a warmth that she naturally conveys that she lends to Dawn as well, and makes her a very sympathetic character. Pierson Fode is an ideal for the cowboy bachelor hunk that Trey is, and he has some great on-camera chemistry with Cosgrove. The supporting actors don’t quite get as much to do, but the leads are enough to make the storyline interesting.
The movie starts with high spirits. Dawn is a hardworking, responsible young woman who takes great effort to provide for her family and yet hopes for a better life. When she can’t fund a study in art in Paris, she settles for the expedient solution of a reality TV show. Only later on does she end up in “the wrong Paris,” and that mistake forms the humour in the movie.
One thing that I enjoyed about the Netflix film The Wrong Paris was that at no point did it try to be something that it wasn’t. The movie is aware that it’s a rom-com, and it just takes on all the sappy clichés that make that category what they are. There are some comedic one-liners, some cringeworthy moments, and some sappy gazes between the two leads. There is also a dating show backdrop that allows for some leeway for lighthearted tests, goofy competition, and a little drama that goes on backstage. Despite some scenes being a little extreme, they are at least effective at holding the viewer’s attention.
The other advantage is that the film is presented wonderfully on camera. The clothing, the set pieces, and the quintessential Texas country scenery are presented in a sleek, bright light. Netflix did a great job ensuring that the film would look attractive on the surface, and that makes the film a cinch to watch, regardless of the predictability of the plot.
If The Bachelor or Love Is Blind on television is your thing, the movie seems immediately familiar. There is that campy television sensibility and blends that with a gentle romance. It would be a “guilty pleasure” movie that those who tend to enjoy seem to enjoy on a Saturday.
So, where my problem is with The Wrong Paris is that, while sometimes the movie gets a chuckle, the movie doesn’t give us anything that we haven’t seen. The movie has one of those plots that we have seen a thousand times before: the feisty hardworker, the pretty bachelor, the lady who mistakes him for another man and falls for him. Pretty much from the opening scenes, you just know outright where the movie is heading.
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The supporting characters, and particularly the other dates on the TV dating program, may have been supposed to develop the plot or for humour, yet they are primarily there to force Dawn and Trey together. That leaves the story a little one-dimensional. Also, Dawn’s emotional aspect of her battle, the obligations to her family, and her desire to study art, get set aside sooner than becomes proper for romance melodrama. The movie would have both romance and her individual journey done a better service if it had been more balanced.
Another issue is the heavy reliance on clichés. Some of the romantic gestures are too polished, almost like scenes lifted straight out of a fanfiction or an early-2000s rom-com. For viewers looking for originality, this movie will probably feel too safe and formula-driven.
Individually, for me, I was lukewarm on Netflix’s The Wrong Paris. The film is breezy, mildly humorous at times, and well-supported by the acting chops of Miranda Cosgrove. There were some times that the humour hit the spot, and the film was satirising reality television culture, which did appeal. The problem was that the unfamiliarity of the plot meant that later on, I wanted a little something more. It is the kind of movie that is seen as background viewing while one settles in to relax, yet when completed, it doesn’t quite leave a lasting impression.
I did not dislike it, yet at the same time, I can’t say I loved it either. For me, that is right down the middle, a light, airy movie that gives you just what you are hoping for and nothing extra.
Netflix The Wrong Paris Review: Summing Up
Finally, The Wrong Paris movie is a gentle romantic retelling that has comedic impact, but little else. You’ll enjoy the movie most if you are a person who has a fondness for lean romance tales, reality television melodrama, and formulaically typical romance movie plots. But if you are seeking a story that is unexpected or that has something important to say, that is probably not your cup of tea.
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