In this spin on The Devil Wears Prada, we meet Ana (Camila Mendes), a down on her luck intern who is passionate about art. Always in debt and sleeping on her sister’s couch, Ana dreams of one day impressing her boss Claire (Marisa Tomei). When she is invited along on the trip of a lifetime and is upgraded on the plane, she meets Will (Archie Renaux) who ends up mistaking her for her boss. Ana doesn’t correct him and sets off a string of events in her wake.
Carlson Young of the Scream television series tries her hand at directing here. The film doesn’t necessarily break the romcom mould, but it’s still got all the ingredients needed to make for a pleasant viewing. It helps that our leading lady is extremely relatable in her misfortunes and that you can’t help but root for her as things start falling into place.
Mendes has a few feature films on her back now, and with Riverdale officially being over, I’ve appreciated the various roles that she has taken on. I wasn’t as familiar with Renaux’s previous work though I felt like his chemistry with Mendes was organic enough. Lena Olin who stars as Will’s mother Catherine was an absolute treat while Anthony Head was equally as delightful as family friend Julian Marx. And as much as I wanted to like Tomei’s Claire, a modernized version of Miranda Priestly if you will, I could not get past her accent!
This was a true rags to riches story and I had fun embarking on the rollercoaster ride. I also love when the main character goes to a new country and have all their dreams start to come true, so this was pretty much right up my alley. There were still times where its unrealistic scenarios had me rolling my eyes in disbelief making it hard to look past.
Overall, Upgraded is a cute enough romantic comedy that is perfect for this time of the year. Though it borrows ideas from other well known stories, the incorporation of the art world was fresh and exciting. This may not be one that I will revisit any time soon, but I appreciated it for what it was.
Rating: ♥️♥️♥️
Credits Rolling 