When We First Met is a Netflix romantic comedy about a man who gets stuck in a time loop, and it never quite figures out what it wants to do with that premise. Adam Devine plays Noah Ashby, a guy who meets the woman of his dreams at a Halloween party and spends the next three years of the film trying to get her to love him instead of her fiancé. The movie is about as original as its title: it borrows heavily from a well-known time-loop comedy and leans on a mechanic that feels like the setup to a much better movie. It is not a good movie. It is a fine premise and a script that wastes it.
Trailer, via Netflix.
The Time Loop That Never Gets Clear
The setup is simple. Noah has a magical photo booth that sends him back in time, and he uses it to relive the night he met Avery Martin over and over. Each loop, he tries a different approach: in one version, he is a rude alpha male. In another, he pretends to be mature and dependable. The problem is that the film never explains how the loop works. It just happens. Noah falls asleep in the booth, wakes up in 2014, and goes about his business. There is no clock, no countdown, no sense of urgency. The loop feels less like a plot device and more like a character quirk, the kind of thing a writer puts in because they cannot think of a better way to get the hero back to the same point.
The film also never explains why Noah needs to keep reliving the night. He is in love with Avery, but the movie never tells us what makes her different from any other woman he could have fallen for. The script assumes the audience will care because the actors are attractive and the party is well lit. That is not enough.
The Three Attempts That Feel Like One
Noah makes three distinct attempts to win Avery over, and the film treats each one as a separate story. In one loop, he beds Avery after following his friend Max’s advice to be a rude alpha male. In another, he gets a job at Max’s company and pretends to be mature. The problem is that the film does not spend enough time in any of them to make the stakes feel real. The transitions are jarring, and the film never makes clear what Avery thinks of all of this.
The film also fails to build any tension around the loops. Noah knows he can keep reliving the night, so he never seems to worry about what happens if he fails. The result is a movie that wanders through the same night without ever making the audience feel the weight of it.
A Look at the Three Loops
- In the rude alpha male loop, Noah beds Avery after following Max’s advice.
- In the mature loop, Noah gets a job at Max’s company and pretends to be dependable.
- In the third loop, Noah ends up in 2017.
The Cast That Deserves Better
Adam Devine is the perfect leading man for a movie that wants a charming screwup. He plays Noah as a man who is always one step behind, and he commits to the character’s frustrations. Alexandra Daddario plays Avery with a steady calm that the script cannot fully use. Shelley Hennig plays Carrie Grey, Noah’s roommate, with a sharp wit that the film occasionally draws on. Robbie Amell plays Ethan, Avery’s fiancé, as a man who is always on edge. The cast is capable, and the film does not give them the material they need.
The film also tries to build a comedy around its central loop, but the jokes land as flat as the premise. There is a running gag about Noah’s hair that goes nowhere. There is a scene where Noah tries to impress Avery by pretending to be a literary expert that feels like a parody of a parody. The film is not unfunny, but it is not clever either. It is a movie that is trying to be both romantic and comedic, and it cannot decide which it wants to be.
A Conclusion That Never Arrives
The film ends with Noah and Avery engaged, but the resolution feels hollow. The audience has spent the whole movie watching Noah manipulate time and people, and the film never takes a moment to ask what any of it has cost him. There is no moment where Noah looks at Avery and sees the woman he has been trying to win for three years. There is no moment where Avery looks at Noah and sees the man she has been waiting for. The film just stops.
When We First Met is a movie that is more interested in its own cleverness than in its characters. It is a film that wants to be a love story but cannot resist the idea that a man who can relive a night has already won. It is a movie that is about a loop but never makes the loop matter. The time loop is a cool idea, but the film never gives it the weight it needs. It is a movie that is fun to watch for a few minutes and forgettable for the rest.
“All he needs is a second chance… to be her first choice.”
That is the film’s tagline, and it is the one thing about the movie that is true. Noah gets his second chance. He just never makes the most of it. The film never gives him, or the audience, a reason to care. When We First Met is a hollow exercise in a premise that deserved better.
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