Upgraded: A Slightly Better Seat of a Rom Com

Ana (Camila Mendes) is an ambitious intern dreaming of a career in the art world while trying to impress her demanding boss Claire (Marisa Tomei). When she’s upgraded to first class on a work trip, she meets handsome Will (Archie Renaux), who mistakes Ana for her boss–a white lie that sets off a glamorous chain of events, romance and opportunity, until her fib threatens to surface.

Review:

When it comes to streaming romcoms I tend to like the more mature R rated ones found on Amazon Prime while my wife enjoys the more teen pitched, family oriented Netflix offerings. Upgraded, streaming on Amazon Prime, is a hybrid of the two- there are actual grownups dealing with work and love problems along with a sprinkling of characters acting like adolescents in high school.

Upgraded is a Devil Wears Prada with art replacing fashion. To get to the rom there is a rich, charming,

English hunk-William (like, there is any other kind) played by Archie Renaux, the son of a party hardy widower-Catherine (Lena Olin) with an inherited estate and an art collection worth probably in the mid nine figure range. Ana (Camilla Mendes) is a lowly third assistant for a high end auction house who meets cute William on a transatlantic to London.

The com part is generated when she lies to William about being the head director of the auction house, actually lead by Claire (Marisa Tomei), a sort of clone of Meryl Streep’s character from Prada The adults acting adolescent are Claire’s two assistants, Suzette and Renee (Rachel Matthew’s and Fola Evans-Akingbola).

Mendes and Renaux have the perfect chemistry to keep Upgraded grounded in the proper sweetness. There is also a chemistry between Mendes and Olin and Tomei that makes their personal and working relationships believable— and makes the sub theme of women helping women achieve empowerment and success over men relevant to viewers. It’s nice that Upgraded aspires to be more than an effervescent romcom.