‘Picture This’ (2025) Review: The Grand Formula of Rom-Coms
Simone Ashley is a star, period. I’ve been a fan of her since she played Olivian Hanan in Netflix’s Sex Education and the role that made her a superstar, Kate Sharma, in Bridgerton. The internet, aka Twitter (I refuse to use the other name), is convinced that she needs to be in more romantic comedies alongside her fellow Bridgerton co-star, Jonathan Bailey, who plays Anthony Bridgerton, or Dev Patel. Everyone’s prayers have been answered! Well, partially. Ashley stars as Pia in a new romantic-comedy movie, Picture This, where she plays a photographer struggling to keep her studio running, along with her best friend, Jay (Luke Peterson).
Pia is extremely focused on her career, despite her mother, Laxmi (Sindhu Vee, who plays Olivia’s mother, Mrs Hanan, in Sex Education), constantly badgering to get her married off. She tells her mother she wants to focus on her photography career, which doesn’t please Laxmi. But all the attention is on Pia’s younger sister, Sonal (Anoushka Chadha), who has planned a month-long wedding. Before the extravaganza begins, Laxmi arranges for a wedding fortune teller to read Pia’s future. He proclaims Pia’s soulmate is one of the five people she dates within the next few days. Laxmi and Sonal are determined to find Pia’s perfect match before the big wedding.
Along with Jay and Pia’s family, they set her up with four different men who take her on some adventurous and others, quite messy and hilarious dates. Pia is skeptical, but she needs to figure out a plan to get her family off her back and figure out a way to keep her studio. However, the arrival of Pia’s high school ex-boyfriend, Charlie (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), and the groom’s best man, complicates her career and, more importantly, her love life. As Pia navigates these situations, she discovers hidden romances and rekindled love that begins to shape her future.
Picture This is an average romantic comedy. It has many funny moments, and Ashley is, as always, the star of this movie. She plays a determined and clumsy character, completely different from her role in Bridgerton. Ashley definitely has what it takes to take on more roles in this genre (and hopefully, with Dev Patel).
The story brings Indian culture and traditions into the storytelling aspect without focusing on her Indian background, which could have been a greater focus on Pia’s clash with her family. It’s not the first time we’ve seen a mixture of South Asia and British cultures (Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice), where Indian characters navigate two worlds and find love interests who are *cough* *cough* white. It has been a long journey from Mindy Kaling’s formula of having Brown characters and white characters as love interests, and, unfortunately, this keeps following into today’s romantic comedies. Maybe this is what the studios think audiences want! But honestly, it’s tiring to see the same formula happen over and over again to appease certain viewers.
However, there’s a catch to this aspect. Picture This, instead of repeating the Kaling formula, puts a spin on it by exploring the societal expectations of South Asian culture. Pia’s father is married to a white woman, and he doesn’t want his family back in India to know about it. There’s a bit of tension and comedic moments, which highlight the secrecy of the relationship. They do, eventually, overcome this situation.
On the other hand, Pia’s mother has a romantic relationship with a much younger man, which is also looked down upon in most societies. But the story is set in the United Kingdom! So, it’s fine. Pia and her family may seem like caricatures to Indian and South Asian audiences, but the focus on the family’s relationship with each other is the heart of the story.
Picture This isn’t perfect. It’s alright. The dialogue isn’t the best, and the chemistry between Ashley and Fiennes Tiffin is lacking. But Ashley’s charm is the highlight of the movie, and that’s all that matters. It focuses on the tired-old cultural aspect of eldest daughters trying to escape from conservative cultures and aiming to achieve their goals. Sometimes, these kinds of portrayals are overdone, and that’s fine! As a lifetime fan of romantic comedies, I think Picture This is a decent movie. It’s not the best, and it’s a shame that the movie doesn’t offer anything special.
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