I know, I know. In a world of Harrys and Sallys and Bridget Joneses, it’s a big call. But I really do, from the bottom of my rom-com-loving heart, believe it. Voicemails for Isabelle is one of the greatest rom-coms of all time.
It follows the story of aspiring dessert chef Jill (played by Zoey Deutch), who copes with her younger sister Izzy’s death (played by Ciara Bravo) by leaving her phone messages about her chaotic dating and work life. But Izzy’s number gets reassigned to a real estate agent named Wes (played by Nick Robinson) who starts receiving Jill’s soul-bearing voicemails.
People are calling it a modern day You’ve Got Mail, but no. It’s better.
(L-R) Nick Robinson as Wes and Zoey Deutch as Jill in ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’. Diyah Pera/Netflix © 2026
Before you object, or “as if” me Cher-from-Clueless-style, let me just say that I hear you. The rom-coms of the 90s and early 2000s definitely set the bar high. I mean, how can anything top Julia Roberts’ “I’m just a girl” scene from Notting Hill? Or Love Actually’s “To me you are perfect” scene? Or Mark Darcy confessing to Bridget, “I like you very much. Just as you are”?
The thing is, Voicemails for Isabelle, from writer and director Leah McKendrick, not only meets that bar, it exceeds it in a refreshingly different kind of way. We know exactly where the plot is going, but it’s the path getting there that makes it stand out.
Here are 5 reasons why you will Love it with a capital-L:
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1. There are TWO epic love stories
Unlike most other rom-coms, you will find your heart exploding with love, twice. Yes, TWICE.
Jill knows who she is, what she wants, and she happens to have a terrible dating life. Wes is charming, kind and slightly clueless when it comes to love. The two have a chemistry that is both hilarious and undeniably heart-melting, but it’s Jill and Izzy’s relationship that you will think about long after you’ve finished watching the film.
Right from the opening scene where we learn about the special bond between the sisters (or “brothers” as they call themselves!), their inside jokes, their mad scientist moments in the kitchen and their joyous dances, until the closing scene (no spoilers), never has a rom-com ever captured the love between sisters like this before. Jill and Izzy are total and utter soulmates.
(L-R) Iris Everly as Young Isabelle and Alice Comer as Young Jill in ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’. Diyah Pera/Netflix © 2026
2. Every single actor nails their role
Every single actor in this film nails their role, and they do it in the most spectacular way possible.
Zoey Deutch and Nick Robinson deliver stellar performances as Jill and Wes and it is honestly impossible not to fall in love with them both. Nick’s 90s rom-com charm (that smile, my God!) is undeniable, and Zoey’s ability to take grief and a shattered heart and turn it into something both meaningful and out-of-this-world joyful is award-worthy.
There are also the others. Sidekicks, they would call them in other rom-coms. But not in Voicemails for Isabelle. No. I refuse to call them sidekicks because they are so much more than that.
I’m talking about Toby Sandeman, Nick Offerman, Lukas Gage, Harry Shum Jr, and Leah McKendrick (yes, the film’s creator also plays a part!). Not since Rupert Everett in My Best Friend’s Wedding, Martin Short in Father of the Bride or Jennifer Coolidge, in pretty much anything, have we seen non-central characters give such memorable performances and make it their own.
Mark my word, we will be talking about Gage’s chef Arthur and Offerman’s Chef Bastien for many years to come. Those guys are a**holes, and a half!
Lukas Gage as Arthur in ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’. Diyah Pera/Netflix © 2026
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3. The banter is perfection
We all know a good rom-com requires good banter and there is not a moment in this film where the banter isn’t good. Plus it’s often accompanied by food stuffed in Jill’s mouth!
Every line, every look, every breath is delivered flawlessly. Especially the ones filled with grief. (“She was just the love of my life, no big.”) Leah McKendrick’s words and Zoey Deutch’s delivery is a match made in, well, heaven.
(L-R) Nick Robinson as Wes and Zoey Deutch as Jill in ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’. Diyah Pera/Netflix © 2026
4. You will feel extreme joy, and extreme grief. But it’s the joy that stays with you.
You will cry in this movie. In fact, you will cry a lot. It will be an ugly cry and you will feel totally shattered. But you will also laugh and laugh and laugh a lot. You will feel joy. And you will realise there is hope, even when your world is turned upside down by loss.
I’m not sure any rom-coms of the past have ever made viewers feel so much, so intensely. It’s usually reserved for the romance-drama genre à la Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock’s The Lake House.
But this is comedy we’re talking about.
Yes, we may’ve shed a tear or two when Henry made Lucy fall in love with him every single day in 50 First Dates and yes, we cried when Jenna and Matty could finally be together in 13 Going on 30.
Voicemails for Isabelle is a category unto itself. It is heart-wrenching and heart-warming, and it will leave you a blubbering mess – a testament to Leah McKendrick’s creation and Zoey Deutch’s portrayal of a sisterly love story that perhaps outshines the romantic one.
(L-R) Zoey Deutch as Jill and Nick Robinson as Wes in ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’. Diyah Pera/Netflix © 2026
5. The ending. Oh. My. Goodness.
Just when you’ve wiped away all your tears and think you can’t cry anymore, McKendrick has not one, but two final moves up her sleeve. Both unexpected. Both will fill your heart, and both will make you believe in love more than ever.
Voicemails for Isabelle is out now on Netflix.
Watched it already? Let me know if you agree it’s one of the best rom-coms of all time! Haven’t watched it yet? Well, what are you waiting for? Go, go, go!
(Feature Image Credit: courtesy Netflix)
