Picking the laziest movie genre may be a fool’s errand. However, a clear winner emerges where structure and predictability are concerned. The rom-com, or romantic comedy, has been around for a very, very long time. Picture This may have good intentions. Starring two romance favorites in Simone Ashley (Bridgerton) and Hero Fiennes Tiffin (After franchise), on paper, there are many boxes being checked off a list. Unfortunately, it falls prey to being utterly generic. While unabashedly embracing its Indian flavor from a script to visual level, there can be no escaping the obvious pratfalls of a standard rom-com. A Nice Indian Boy set the level too high, leaving Prarthana Mohan’s movie feeling like the lesser of the two Bollywood-inspired romances of 2025. Picture This: a lack of emotional depth and minimal chemistry between a pair of rom-com regulars make for a seriously faded portrait of fated love.
Career-focused Pia (Ashley) remains convinced that she can pursue a career in photography to build her life free of a man. On the cusp of turning thirty, Pia maintains she does not want to have kids, in spite of much protesting from her mother and sister. As she gears up to attend her sister’s upcoming wedding, their mother pays for a spiritual guru to do a reading on the sisters. For Sonal (Anoushka Chadha, You), the man claims that she will be “blessed with a pregnancy at the first attempt.” Pia’s prediction is a bit of a different beast entirely. He tells Pia that “your life partner will be one of the next five persons you meet.”
Pia’s coworker at their failing photography studio, the queer Jay (Luke Fetherston, Flowers in the Attic: The Origin), has not been paid in nearly two months. Yet, he remains supportive of Pia, encouraging her to try out the apps or go out to meet people in the old-fashioned way. After the reading, Pia goes on several different types of dates. Will any of these men be “the one?” Taking one look at the poster, it should be rather obvious as to who Pia will most likely end up pursuing. Will it be the bald misogynist, obsessed over whether Pia has taken a poo in his upstairs toilet? How about the passionate musician, whose worldview seems at least slightly warped? Maybe her fated love will be found on a blind date? How about her ex and supposed one true love, Charlie (Tiffin), who now works at a restaurant and has a baked-in history with Pia?
With minimal onscreen development of the aforementioned love story at hand, Picture This truly expects the lone chemistry of its leads to do the heavy lifting. From purely a directorial standpoint, there are some fun flourishes here. Split screens and comic aesthetics combine with interesting editing choices to add a playful energy to the proceedings. A Bollywood influence adds cultural relevance to Pia’s plight that goes beyond the scope of a traditional American rom-com. There are also some quirky dating mishaps along the way that are charming in that amusing chuckle kind of way. However, with zero buildup to the central romance, how can audiences be expected to care, or to root for two people to come together without an ounce of tension or buildup? Nearly everything held within feels generic from top to bottom. Despite the obviously predictable love story, there are occasional glimmers of more that could provide easy laundry-folding fodder for less picky audience members.
Picture This takes a snapshot of young love when it develops globally for Prime Video subscribers on Thursday, March 6th.
