Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Good on Paper’ On Netflix, A Semi-Autobiographical Anti-Rom-Com Written By & Starring Iliza Shlesinger

A few lies in a rom-com aren’t unheard of; favorites like 10 Things I Hate About You, While You Were Sleeping, Never Been Kissed, and You’ve Got Mail all feature a fib or two, but they all see our couples come clean and give in to the power of love. In Good on Paper, now streaming on Netflix, however, the lies might be a little too big for our central couple to ever get their happily ever after.

GOOD ON PAPER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Andrea Singer (Iliza Shlesinger) has it pretty good. She’s a moderately successful comedian with steady gigs, but she dreams of breaking through into the scripted world – a dream that her rival Serrena Halstead (Rebecca Rittenhouse) seems to have achieved without much effort at all. (She’s even got her face on a billboard). After another failed audition, she winds up next to a man Dennis Kelly (Ryan Hansen) on her flight back to LA. A Yale graduate who works in hedge funds, Dennis comes from a different world – but he seems kind and funny, putting Andrea at ease.

While Andrea is initially determined to keep things in the friend zone, she agrees to be Dennis’s girlfriend after a booze-and-mushrooms fueled night out. She allows herself to be happy, even if she feels like she’s settling for someone she’s not particularly attracted to, and ignores the red flags her friend Margot (Margaret Cho) calls her attention to. A few more strange incidents and suspicious stories later, Andrea realizes that Dennis may indeed be too good to be true after all.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Good on Paper definitely falls into the category of ‘anti rom-coms’ like My Best Friend’s Wedding, Chasing Amy, and (500) Days of Summer, though tonally it veers towards A Simple Favor at some moments and B-tier comedies at others.

Performance Worth Watching: Ryan Hansen, usually so charming, delivers a top-notch secret sleazeball performance here, playing against type in a genuinely compelling manner. With the help of those veneers, that side part, and, well, the whole thing going on here, Hansen really makes Dennis the perfect con man, one not nearly charming enough to achieve all he does but whose everyman appeal drives the whole thing home. I felt myself physically recoiling at his performance on occasion, because we all know some version of Dennis. Hansen should be in more stuff. (Margaret Cho also steals allllll of her scenes as Margot, Andrea’s ride-or-die BFF).

Memorable Dialogue: There were some great little biting one-liners sprinkled throughout Good on Paper, but Margaret Cho’s delivery of “Don’t say it’s feminism just because you’re doing something I don’t agree with!” is my favorite.

Sex and Skin: There’s some talk of sex and some making out, but things fade to black before there’s any real action.

Our Take: Iliza Shlesinger has become something of a mainstay for Netflix; with a handful of standup specials like War Paint, Confirmed Kills, and Unveiled, she’s proven to be a force time and time again. Now, she’s penned her own feature-length flick, based on a lying ex-boyfriend from her past. Shlesinger is utterly charming as this dramatized version of herself, carrying Good on Paper with ease (even when the film itself is struggling). Clocking in at a lean 92 minutes, Good on Paper flies by, sweeping us off our feet with its whirlwind romance and knocking us out of the fantasy all as quickly. What I like most about the flick is that Dennis isn’t some dreamboat; he’s the man so many of us are tricked into falling for, the unpretentious nice guy who makes you feel safe and special. And Andrea isn’t charmed by him from the get go; it takes time for her to give in and open herself up to this relationship, and when she finally does, it’s too late to go back. She’s bought into the lie, even though he’s essentially wearing a suit made of red flags.

That Good on Paper is pulled from Shlesinger’s real life makes it all the more interesting; I found myself a bit more engaged than I might have been had it all been fictional. The stakes feel high, and thanks to the strength of our leading lady’s performance (and Cho’s – she is so much fun in this), it’s easy to fall into step with this story and group of people. There are quite a few balls in the air in this anti rom-com, from things like female friendship and the way women pit themselves against each other to what we settle for and the painful power of lies. Good on Paper doesn’t land every move it tries to make, but it is entertaining nonetheless.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Good on Paper may not master every theme it tries to tackle, but a solid premise and Shlesinger and Hansen’s unconventional chemistry make it more than worth your while.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines, hogging the mic at karaoke, and thirst-tweeting. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream Good on Paper on Netflix