During the late 90s into the early 2000s, romantic comedies used to dominate the silver screen. Films such as She’s All That, You’ve Got Mail, The Wedding Singer, The Proposal, and many others popularized the genre. Nowadays, mainstream traditional rom-coms are hard to come by. Typically, these sorts of films reside in streaming or direct-to-video, with the majority of them not having the level of quality that rom-coms saw in the 90s and 2000s. However, Puppy Love proved to be a diamond in the rough. 

Puppy Love stars Lucy Hale and Grant Gustin as Nicole and Max, who both struggle in the dating market and match each other on a dating site. On their first date, they both bring their dogs; however, they soon realize that they are complete opposites. After a horrible experience on their first date, they both vow to never speak to the other again. This oath of silence is soon broken when Max learns his dog got pregnant on the date, forcing the two back together until the birth of the puppies. 

Revitalizing the Genre

What made some of the romantic comedies great during the 90s and 2000s was having creative and fun ways to have the couples come together. Whether one of the leads had memory loss, such as in 50 First Dates, or having a romantic lead trying to avoid deportation, such as in The Proposal, the movies found entertaining ways to tell their usually generic story. The films would also lean into the fun aspects of the story, having a fast-paced energy that keeps it moving along. In recent years, romantic comedies have forgotten to have fun with their ideas while also being entertaining at the same time.

Puppy Love leans into these aspects that made the films work decades ago. The idea of the dogs being the connective tissue for the two leads was engrossing enough to pull in an audience’s interest. Because of that, the film is able to find innovative ways to provide comedy, as well as to grow the romance between the two leads. As most romantic comedies these days tend to be more straightforward and generic with their stories, Puppy Love decided to have fun with the standard meet-cute trope. 

Pandering to Dog Lovers

Similar to this year’s dog comedy, Strays, Puppy Love has a few moments to tug on dog lovers’ heartstrings. While not having any real, dramatic moments of despair, the standard trope of the eventual fall-out between the two leads does take advantage of the sensitivity dog owners have toward their pets. It isn’t anything inventive or written exceptionally well, but it provides enough of an emotional aspect to the film that makes for a well-rounded movie overall.