After her rising music career falls through, Erica Wilson (played by Christina Milian) accepts a job entertaining at a resort on the island of Mauritius. One of her duties on the island is to sing for weddings. Still reeling from her failed engagement a year prior, Erica hesitates to follow through with her new position. Resort To Love is a romantic comedy that will have you believe in love again.
Here is the scoop on Resort To Love...
Someone Special - Times Two
Six months of weddings pass before Erica meets Caleb King (Sinqua Walls), a tourist on the island visiting to attend his brother’s wedding. When Caleb and Erica first meet, they do not exchange contact information even though they both have an interest in following up with each other.
Erica suggests that Caleb will “find her. '' We question whether or not she believes that or if she is avoiding starting a new relationship that could end like the last. While it should come as no surprise that Caleb manages to follow up with Erica, it elicits a feeling of relief that the anticipated couple reunites.
A Small World
Caleb reveals that his brother’s wedding is being held at the same resort where Erica entertains. He points out his brother and Erica stumbles on her words. She connects the dots telling her that she has fallen for the brother of her ex-fiance. She faces her ex, Jason King (Jay Pharoah), and his new fiance.
Erica is shell-shocked – understandably so – to be back in the presence of Jason. We feel anxious for her, knowing that Jason will likely play a part in the major conflict in Resort To Love. How will she handle being present when he weds another woman?
When Jason notices Erica, he holds his composure, for his fiance Beverly (Christiani Pitts) is within earshot. Jason’s nervousness about Erica’s presence is clear as he behaves anxiously and fumbles over his words.
Subtle Digs and Soundtrack Picks
Erica is forced to meet with Jason and his new fiance Beverly (Christiani Pitts) to discuss wedding music. She thinks about sabotaging the success of this meeting by suggesting music that is entirely inappropriate for the occasion. She suggests multiple breakup songs while shooting glares at Jason.
The music suggested during this meeting is well-known pop music. For example, Erica suggests “Un-break my heart” by Toni Braxton and “Irreplaceable” by Beyonce – both popular breakup songs. The use of mainstream pop music throughout the film draws the attention of fans who may already enjoy the music. Erica performs modern pop or RnB music. This may be due to the contribution of singer/songwriter and 15-time Grammy winner Alicia Keys who produced the film.
Both Jason and Erica remember the Alicia Keys song being a major piece of their relationship and would rather it not play a part in this wedding. Beverly on the other hand is unaware of the song's meaning to the others and pushes for it. Beverly’s cluelessness adds a humorous factor to the tense scene.
Second Guessing
On the family hike that Beverly invites Erica on, Erica helps Jason cross a bridge strung between two cliffs as she remembered he always had a fear of heights. She fearlessly and selflessly helps him across the rest of the way. We build a list of critiques of Beverly, starting with how she was about to marry a man that she didn’t know had such a serious fear.
As a result of Erica’s stride, Jason begins to think twice about his choices from a year ago. He questions his best friend Christian (Alexander Hodge) and if he made the mistake of giving up on Erica. This presents the film’s major conflict; a man in love – with two different women.
Who Do You Love?
In the meantime, Caleb questions Erica about how she is feeling knowing that Jason is getting married to another woman. Erica suggests that there is no way to describe her feelings, but just imagine them. Caleb admits that he can’t imagine it because he can’t relate. He doesn’t have experience with serious relationships to compare to. This scene sparks more interest in the romance between Caleb and Erica. Caleb’s confession shows that he is looking for a more serious relationship now that being in the military is not a factor to hinder that.
Later in Resort To Love, Caleb confronts Jason about being on the verge of calling off another wedding and not sticking to his decisions. Jason is defensive and explains how he is in a tough position because he can’t ignore his feelings for Erica.
A Brother Conflict
The brother’s banter creates an additional side conflict. Erica would not want to get in the way of the brothers' already rocky relationship, but they both have feelings for her.
During a side conversation, Erica admits to Jason that she has been hurting as she watches couples in love get married and remembers that she missed out on that moment with him. The two embrace in a hug. They come to an unspoken agreement that they are meant to stay friends. It is best that way, as it avoids further controversy with Beverly or Caleb.
Who To Root For
Through another chat with Erica, Caleb reminds her that she should be with someone who doesn’t question their love for her. It is implied that he is considering himself as a candidate to be that person, but he still has yet to state his feelings for her directly.
The progression of Caleb and Erica’s anticipated relationship is slow-moving throughout the film, leaving us confused about what ‘good guy’ we are supposed to be rooting for. While Jason previously did Erica wrong, he has admitted his reason for doing so. Caleb has never hurt Erica and has only shown respect for her. Generally, we like to have a ‘good guy’ to root for, and a ‘bad guy’ to see fail. In this case, we can’t decide which King brother to root for, or if we should expect one to win over the other at all.
Revealed Secrets
When Beverly hears the truth about Jason’s history with Erica, she calls off the wedding and makes arrangements to return home without Jason. Amidst her retreat from Janelle, Erica runs into Beverly on her way off the island.
Erica makes amends with Beverly, explaining that she previously had no closure to help her get over her relationship with Jason. Now that she was reunited with him and had the chance to understand his behavior, she felt that she could move on.
That said, Jason was reminded of his love for Beverly, and he no longer questioned whether or not he was ready to marry her. Beverly is hesitant to jump back into the wedding festivities. She eventually comes back around.
This scene of back and forth between Erica and Beverly is the most realistic and believable scene of the entire film. We begin to understand why Erica was still reeling from her relationship with Jason even though he had hurt her deeply and didn’t deserve a second thought.
Final Thoughts
The relationship between Erica and Caleb abruptly begins after it was so slowly presented beforehand. There was very little flirty interaction between them since Jason's presence and uncertainties were in the way.
While the happy ending is comforting, we are pulled in all different directions throughout the film – rooting for Jason, then Caleb, then Jason, then Caleb – before the abrupt ending where all are happy and paired with their appropriate partner.
It’s a story that’s been done time and time again, but it’s always presented using different characters with different stories of their own. While it’s not necessarily an original idea, it’s difficult to write an original romance story that hasn’t been done. The story of Erica’s music career, and Caleb’s military retirement coming together makes for a romantic comedy that is as original and inspiring as it gets.
Hope you enjoyed our take on Resort To Love!
Watch this romantic movie on Netflix!
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