Most recently, Amazon Prime Video began releasing many new movies and series of all sorts. Among them was a new romantic comedy, “Upgraded.”
“Upgraded” is a romantic comedy movie released on Amazon Prime Video on February 9, 2024. Prior to its release, the movie was described as “a modern-day retelling of the classic story Cinderella.” It was directed by Carlson Young and the main cast includes stars like Camila Mendes, best known for her role in “Riverdale,” and Archie Renaux, who was previously seen in “Shadow and Bone.” Other members of the cast include Marisa Tomei, Lena Olin, Rachel Matthews, and many more.
I’ll start off saying the movie wasn’t bad. It was very cliche and corny but those qualities didn’t make it any worse. It was a movie that didn’t need a lot of attention to understand what was happening. I watched it in the background and didn’t really delve into the plot, yet I still ended up understanding everything that was happening. Overall, the movie was interesting. If you’re looking for a cheesy romance or a movie to listen to in the background, this is a really good option.
The movie follows Ana, an art-lover intern at a prestigious New York gallery. After Ana corrects a mistake done during a big auction, she gets invited by her boss to be one of her assistants for an auction occurring in London. At the airport, the airport worker sees how poorly Ana is treated by her co-workers, and upgrades Ana to first class for free. On the plane, she meets William, a famous millionaire also going to London. After the two start talking, William assumes Ana works as an art director, and instead of correcting him, Ana plays along with the lie. The movie then follows Ana in London, balancing her rapid growing fib, her actual job as an assistant and relationship with William.
The movie had some aspects where you could see the creators exceeded expectations. This included the costumes, scenery, and acting. To start off with costumes, the outfits of all characters were really stylish and were definitely well matched to fit the characters’ personalities and style, which was a very nice detail to notice. The parts of the movie set in England were actually filmed in Tees Valley, England, adding more authenticity to the setting. The relationships between characters and chemistry between the actors seemed a little muddled from time to time, but it was nice to see character growth and each character’s personality on screen.
Generally, The movie has been mostly receiving either good or mixed reviews. It received ratings of 6.1/10 on IMDb, average of 77% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 59% on Metacritic as of March 13, 2024. The movie didn’t collect any box office revenue due to it not having an official movie theatre release. Many good reviews online remarked that “Upgraded” brought back “feel-good romantic comedies” from the 1990s and 2000s. A reviewer from Metacritic even claims that “Upgraded is essentially ‘What a Girl Wants’ meets ‘Devil Wears Prada’ with a dash of ‘Emily in Paris’. The combo makes it one of the easiest rom-coms to digest.” On the other hand, bad reviews mentioned how the romantic relationship was muddled and the chemistry seemed forced. One reviewer on IMDb said “Their relationship really wasn’t particularly romantic or loving, and he genuinely didn’t seem to care about her that much.” While the movie might not be everybody’s “cup of tea” it most definitely was a fun movie and enjoyable compared to many new movies released today.
