Blue Eyed Girl Film Review: Too Much Romcom

Blue Eyed Girl is an occasionally moving story about accepting an unsatisfactory life, but it hinges the catharsis on a poorly handled romcom plot.

The film is about Jane (Marisa Coughlan), a married mother in her forties whose father Jack (Beau Bridges, One Night in Miami) has recently survived a suicide attempt. She flies to him in her hometown, joined by her sisters Alex (Eliza Coupe) and Ceci (Bridey Elliot). As the situation plays out, Jane is forced to confront the regrets of her life and find out how to achieve the happiness that eludes her, especially when she’s reunited with her old high school flame Harrison (Sam Trammell, The Fault in Our Stars). 

None of the faults in this movie lie with the actors. Beau Bridges gives easily the best performance with his gruff but warmhearted presence, imparting sincere wisdom to those in his life while also showing the vulnerability that put him here in the first place. The actors playing the sisters are all consistently good. You buy the connection between them even with their very distinct personalities, which themselves manage escape borderline cartoonish writing thanks to how they deliver their lines.

Blue Eyed Girl is a story about accepting and loving what you have. Jane believes her sisters have achieved success where she’s failed, only to realize the troubles they face and the reality behind her own desires. The film features a wonderful monologue from Jack about how something can seem glamorous until it’s permanently yours, and how the things that are real in life have more value than what we fantasize over. This is also a decently shot movie that has its rare moments of flair for what’s obviously a tiny production, especially in its final shot.

The problem? Instead of delving deeply into multiple facets of Jane’s life, the story mainly hinges its catharsis on a love triangle between her, her husband Cal (Freddy Rodriguez, V/H/S/85), and Harrison. These two men and their relationships with Jane are woefully underdeveloped. Cal is on screen for maybe five minutes until the halfway point, and he seems like a perfectly good, supportive husband that Jane’s content with until the script says she’s not. Her lack of appreciation for him is part of the idea, sure, but we don’t connect with it because it’s only backed up by what she says she feels.

On the other side, her chemistry with Cal is nowhere near romantic enough to have us believe she’d consider throwing away her marriage for him. We’re again told how they were so close back in the day, but it doesn’t ring true when they’re shown together. This makes Jane look less relatable and more selfishly shallow. It’s a misguided idea even in concept, honestly. Putting a love triangle this front-and-center does a huge disservice to the much richer themes, and it gives Blue Eyed Girl the sheen of a Lifetime movie it really didn’t need.

This may be partially why other subplots in the movie get underserved, including Jack’s suicide attempt. Yeah, remember that? It has almost nothing to do with anything else other than getting Jane to her old home. In fact, Jack spends most of his time with his nurse Kathryn (LisaGay Hamilton, Ad Astra). Their connection is touching on its own, but it’s completely superfluous in the long run. Even when the film dares to hit upon some uncomfortable subject matter, it almost always undercuts itself with humor. People use humor to cope with stress and sadness, sure, but the timing here is off. For example, there’s a major revelation by Alex that leaves her sisters stunned silent, only for them to start cracking wise less than thirty seconds later.

Other little problems include some distractingly cheesy soundtrack choices and a few off-putting edits, my favorite of which being a time jump where I genuinely couldn’t tell whether it was supposed to be a match cut or just poorly thought out. Blue Eyed Girl was never on the verge of being some small, overlooked masterpiece to begin with, but it had set itself up nicely for a heartwarming look at the unappreciated beauty of a woman’s seemingly mundane life. Instead, it bends itself around a contrived and hollow romcom plot that, in turn, leaves the rest of its material underserved.

Blue Eyed Girl will be released in US theatres on November 21, 2025.