Jun 20, 2026 10:00pm IST
‘Voicemails for Isabelle’ Review: Zoey Deutch, Nick Robinson Film is a Heart-Warming, Full-Course Rom-Com Meal
Netflix’s latest romantic comedy, “Voicemails for Isabelle”, is one of those films whose trailer will tell you pretty much all there’s to know about the story. So it is up to its leads, Zoey Deutch (“Set It Up”) and Nick Robinson (“Love, Simon”), and director Leah McKendrick (“Scrambled”) to serve up a treat that could still surprise and satiate the audiences. And boy, do they!
The film is warm and funny, balancing the sensitivities of a heavy theme like grief over losing a soulmate with the levity of a charming rom-com. There are smiles and tears, giggles and butterflies and every comforting trope of the genre: running in the rain to chase one’s true love down, a great track list and a coordinating dance moment in the final scene to an iconic pop number. A full-course rom-com meal, if you will, that tips its hat to genre greats like “You’ve Got Mail,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Notting Hill” and more, but has a few surprises up its chef’s hat.
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From the trailer, the plot seems rather straightforward. “Voicemails to Isabelle” follows Jill, an aspiring baker in San Francisco, grappling with the grief of losing her younger sister, Isabelle, to cystic fibrosis-related complications. Her copium is leaving voicemails on her dead sister’s phone number about everything, from missing her parents back in Austin to bad dates and her demanding job as a measly prep-cook at a fancy French patisserie under an emotionally abusive and misogynistic boss, Chef Bastien.
Unknown to her, Isabelle’s phone number now belongs to Austin-based real estate agent Wes, who is charmed by the lively and funny Jill, who drops nerdy pop-culture references and lives a passionate life. So, of course, he shows up in San Francisco as the guy of Jill’s dreams, without telling her the truth. The rest seems pretty standard: She finds out, they break up. She heals, and he repents. And ultimately, it’s happily ever after. Easy peasy, right?
And yet, “Voicemails for Isabelle” understands the value of patience and slow-cooking to arrive at the perfect dish. For example, the trailer made it seem like Isabelle’s death could be revealed to both Wes and the audience at the same time, much later. Instead, the heartbreak happens first, giving the film an almost second-chance love story vibe. Because Isabelle was Jill’s soul mate, and Wes is a close second.
The film takes just as much time to establish Jill and Isabelle’s soul-sister bond as it does building up the attraction between Jill and Wes, and who they are as individuals outside of their relationships. The tropes aren’t just blindly followed for the heck of it, because the groundwork laid for these characters only elevates the emotional moments.
Like when Wes reveals that, despite his cool demeanor, he is a nerd obsessed with “Magic: The Gathering” cards, and it’s how he feels connected to his deceased mother, a parallel to Jill and Isabelle’s relationship. Or when Jill ends up dating a British podcast bro who offers dating advice to women, and is the exact opposite IRL. To some, these might seem too on the nose, but they really are a representation of the lives of young people today, who are juggling, apart from other emotions, a profound sense of grief and loneliness.
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The supporting acts are perfectly measured accompaniments. Ciara Bravo elevates the small but central role of Isabelle, and her conversations with Deutch’s Jill will feel like a warm hug to sisters and girlfriends everywhere. Lukas Gage as the jilted coworker sabotaging Jill’s attempts to succeed at work, and Nick Offerman as a faux-French chef who promotes mediocre men over deserving women in the workplace, adds a touch of relatability. When Jill gives it back to them, Jerry Maguire-style, the writer actually cheered! Leah McKendrick plays a sister-like friend, Breeda, to Wes, offering sage advice and comfort at the most opportune times, alongside Harry Shum Jr.’s Andy.
There’s electric chemistry between the immensely watchable Deutch and Robinson, who’ve both starred in some of the best and beloved rom-coms of the new age, “Set It Up” and “Love, Simon”. The montage of their slowly developing relationship, the way Robinson delivers Wes’ “look of love” when he sees Jill being Jill, and their date in Jill’s apartment that gets emotional before getting steamy - all of it gives butterflies.
However, there is the matter of Wes’ actions, and his prolonging the lie until Jill finds it out herself, being super creepy. It might take some compromise to get over it, which thankfully, the film allows time for. Jill heals from her grief on her own, and Wes must suffer the consequences for his actions, including getting called out by his friends for it, even if he gets the girl in the end.
“Voicemails for Isabelle” is a solid, well-rounded entry into the rom-com genre. And its ending, a full-circle moment involving a voicemail, a dance and Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” is just *chef’s kiss*.
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