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Acting
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Directing
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Story
Starring: Alexandra Daddario, Tyler Hoechlin, Laverne Cox
Director: Elise Duran
Running Time: 94 mins
Can You Keep A Secret? is an American film about a woman who reveals all her life’s secrets to a stranger on a plane when she thought they were going to crash, but soon finds herself embarrassed when the man turns out to be her new boss.
As light-hearted and easy-going as it is, Can You Keep A Secret? isn’t a particularly enjoyable romantic comedy, suffering with awkward humour, a predictable story and less-than-stellar performances throughout.
On the plus side, if you like your easy, formulaic romantic comedies, then you’ll most likely enjoy watching this movie. There’s nothing outstanding about it, but neither does it offer up any particularly challenging emotional drama, making it a really easy, light watch.
The film admittedly tries to bring a little more depth to the table as it delves into the psyche of a woman feeling lost in her life. However, the screenplay really struggles to capture any riveting emotional depth in that vein, with the woman’s endless soliloquies about her life coming off as more rambling than anything else.
Also, the fact that you don’t really sympathise with the main relationship or fall in love with either of the main characters makes it all the more difficult to engage with their emotions. Good romantic movies make you really fall for the characters just as they do each other, but with subpar, bland lead turns from Alexandra Daddario and Tyler Hoechlin, that’s never going to happen here.
The comedy, too, is really quite awkward, and not in the intended way. Though there’s a little bit of enjoyable cringe in the early stages when the woman realises her new boss knows all her secrets, that’s about it. From then on, the film tries but fails to inject some fluffy romantic humour in with light conflict and the odd bit of farce.
But along with a story and characters that are far from likeable, Can You Keep A Secret? really struggles to endear you with its humour, and comes off as an awkward attempt to make a generic rom-com formula work.
Overall, I wasn’t overly impressed with Can You Keep A Secret?. Yes, it’s a fluffy romantic comedy first and foremost, so it’s not really to be take seriously. That said, the film isn’t particularly enjoyable, with disappointing performances, humour and a dull plot that make it a rather awkward watch throughout. So, that’s why I’m giving the film a 6.6.
