While rom-coms have been on an uptick lately, it’s been a good decade at least since romantic comedies have had their heyday. With leading ladies like Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, Julia Roberts, and more gracing the screens between the 90s and 2000s, fans that grew up watching them are hard to impress. For fans of that era of films, Picture This starring Simone Ashley (Bridgerton) and Hero Fiennes Tiffin (After) could be light at the end of the tunnel. While it might not be quite as successful as those stalwarts of the rom-com genre, Picture This is a charming, enjoyable low-stakes comedy with a standout lead by Ashley that will give you a bit of that rom-com fix.
What Is ‘Picture This’ About?

Picture This stars Pia (Ashley), a photographer living her best single life in the big city alongside her business partner, Jay (Luke Fetherson). When Pia has to return to her hometown for her sister, Sonal’s (Anoushka Chadha) wedding preparations, she ends up running into her high school boyfriend, Charlie (Tiffin). In her family’s eyes, Pia, pushing 30, is painfully single. After an astrologer tells her she’ll meet her soulmate in one of the next five men she dates, she agrees to be set up on five dates. But as with any good rom-com, things inevitably go awry.
The dynamics of Pia’s family are more prevalent than the romantic comedy aspect of the film. Picture This is a breath of fresh air in that there isn’t the stereotypical animosity between Pia’s independence and her family’s more traditional wishes. Instead of relying on a difficult relationship with her family, much of the tension here relies on her lying about her saying her business is successful when it’s actually failing.
Simone Ashley Is a Millennial Comedic Genius in ‘Picture This’

Image via Prime Video

Ashley is a standout, with her bright energy and sharp humor commanding every scene she’s in, with a brand of humor reminiscent of Gilmore Girls or Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. As Pia goes on dates, finding herself in progressively stranger and stranger situations, it’s Ashley’s comedic timing that prevents the scenes from coming off as too cringe or too campy, which is a very fine line in a romantic comedy. She feels like a very well-rounded, relatable 29-year-old, who is both a hot mess and also incredibly sure of herself around people. Throughout most of the movie, there are little cracks and flakes that poke through that foreshadow the conflict and Pia’s culpability or lack thereof in it.
‘Picture This’ Could’ve Worked Without Hero Fiennes Tiffin

Image via Prime Video

Since the movie, at its core, operates more like a family-focused dramedy, Tiffin’s presence, which does add playful banter between himself and Ashley, does feel like it could’ve been removed from the movie altogether and still would’ve worked. That’s not to say Tiffin’s performance is bad, on the contrary, but Charlie feels so underdeveloped in comparison to the rest of the characters. There’s so much talk about when they were actually a couple that Charlie could’ve felt like a more developed character if the audience could actually see when they were a couple.
There’s something to be said about a romantic comedy where a woman’s focus doesn’t have to be about whether she ends up with a certain person or not. But the film shifts so much away from it that Charlie’s character is almost nearly forgettable. Their scenes together didn’t really build the necessary proper yearning that really needs to make its way back to romantic comedies. Tiffin and Ashley have one standout scene in Pia’s photography studio, and if that tension had been built into all of their other scenes, there could’ve been a much better payoff and the movie would’ve operated much more like a romantic comedy.
While the film is still enjoyable on its own terms, Picture This falls flat as a rom-com. If you go into it wanting to kill an hour or two with a low-stakes comedy, it’s gonna be great, but there’s not as much rom in this rom-com as there could’ve been. Ashley carries the movie, and her talent should be utilized in more romantic comedies. Don’t take it too seriously, and you’ll have a good time.
Picture This is available to stream now on Prime Video in the U.S.

Picture This

Simone Ashley steals the show in Picture This, a rom-com that could’ve used a bit more romance.

Release Date

March 6, 2025

Runtime

100 minutes

Director

Prarthana Mohan

Writers

Nikita Lalwani

Cast

Pros & Cons

Simone Ashley’s Pia carries the movie.
Pia’s positive dynamic with her family is refreshing.

The movie could’ve worked with Hero Fiennes Tiffin’s character.
It doesn’t operate as a romantic comedy so much as a family comedy with a romance subplot.