Another day, another rom-com, but “Rye Lane” really tried. It actually tried to not take the audience’s love for the genre for granted and create something that they would stay engaged with. The writing and editing were crisp, the sets were outrageous and beautiful, and though some of the sequences, like the one in which Dom was watching Yas’ breakup as the audience in a theater, felt a bit unnecessary, it was an overall nice watch. However, as cute as we found David Johnson, who plays Dom, he had no chemistry with Vivian Oparah, who plays Yas. To put a finer point on it, their characters had chemistry because that was based on the writing, but the actors didn’t. The makers of romantic comedies seem to have forgotten how important it is for the leads to have that spark on screen. Either way, this is how Yas and Dom’s meet-cute pans out.
Spoilers Ahead
Yas And Dom Meet
It’s basic toilet etiquette that if you do not start a conversation with the person you hear crying in the stall next to you. Firstly, they are crying there because they are hiding from everyone, and secondly, it’s yucky to open your mouth in the toilet atmosphere. But Yas doesn’t care. She asks a crying Dom (she doesn’t know his identity yet) if he is okay and peeks under the stalls to check the color of his shoes before leaving. Dom’s pink shoes are a better fashion statement than Yas’ pink bag.
Dom has come to his cousin Nathan’s photography exhibition, where he has displayed pictures of the teeth of various people. Dom is momentarily angry when he finds that Nathan has gone to brunch at his ex’s place, where everyone is required to paint some part of their house. Dom is annoyed because his ex is repainting what he had painted, but Nathan brushes him off. But the exhibition is where he meets Yas, who recognizes him instantly by his shoes, though she doesn’t say anything. But soon enough, Nath coerces Dom into buying one of the paintings to encourage other buyers to start doing the same. Dom makes the investment, saying that he will sell it for a higher price when his cousin gets famous.
Yas and Dom are going the same way, on Rye Lane market, so they leave together, and for two people who just met, they are getting along really well. Dom tells her about how he got dumped by his girlfriend of six years when he caught her cheating with his best friend in an accidental screenshot and, instead of confronting her immediately, spent the next few hours crying in a movie theater. He moved back in with his parents, who have been taking care of him a little too well. As for Yas, she opens up about wanting to be a costume designer and how, right now, she is paying her dues.
Dom is going to meet Gia and Eric to talk to them so that they can all move on in their lives. Yas offers to go with him, but he refuses. However, he is clearly not happy about his meeting, and even Gia seems annoyed by an overly animated Eric. The only thing that Dom asks them is why they did what they did. Gia replies that she changed, and they had grown apart. Well, she could have just broken up instead of cheating, but Dom is unable to say that. That is when Yas comes to his rescue. She pretends to be his girlfriend, much to his surprise and Gia’s discomfort, who probably did not expect her ex to move on so quickly. Yas doesn’t really waste any time in calling out Gia for dating a guy like Eric in place of Dom. She says that Gia just got scared of what Dom was offering and chose to move on with the easiest and closest option available. Saying her piece, Yas walks out, and Dom follows her. Yas is clearly shaken up by her own words, as she should be. What she did was literally interfere with someone else’s life and situation, and somewhere, her wanting to protect Dom and speak up for him felt like she was compensating for something. Either way, Dom is very happy and says that he wants to treat her. Both of them go to a burrito place, and hello, Colin Firth. We prefer Dom’s burrito order over Yas’.
As they keep walking and sharing more of their lives with each other, Yas reveals that she broke up with her boyfriend because he was not as joyful a person as she would have liked. When they are at a bar, Yas turns down going for a costume-designing job interview because she wants to keep spending time with Dom. She tells him that she left a record at her ex’s place, Jules’, and the two come up with a plan to get it back since Yas does not want a new record but her old one itself. They go to Jules’ mom’s house for a key to his place, but Dom is caught going through one of the mother’s drawers, and they see him out. Dom and Yas have a moment where he tells her that he recognizes her as the girl who spoke to him in the bathroom. She admits that she left an interview to spend more time with him. Understanding where they stand, they exchange their numbers and decide to meet again. But Jules’ mother gives Yas her moped and asks her if she would like that. A happy Yas picks up Dom, and they resume the quest for Jules’ house keys. Their next stop is Mona, a person who runs a karaoke bar and who might have the keys. When they go there, he forces the two to participate in the karaoke, and though they seem to bomb initially, they really hit it out of the park when Yas joins Dom on stage. They get the keys from Mona and successfully break into Jukes’ apartment. But it is finally time for trouble in the paradise they have created.
Yas finds a menstrual cup in the bathroom, and it infuriates her because she was never “allowed” to do that by Jules. She also finds some of Tabby’s underwear, which irks her no end. But before they can focus back on their mission, Jules and Tabby come back. Though Yas and Dom hide, they are eventually found. That is when some of the actual truth comes out about Jules and Yas’ breakup. Jules constantly undermined Yas and her goals, and he did the same with Tabby. But contrary to what Yas had told Dom, it was Jules who had broken up with her and not the other way around.
‘Rye Lane’ Ending Explained: How Did Yas And Dom Get Over Their Fight?
Once outside Jules’ house, Dom asks Yas why she was not more honest with him when he had told her the complete truth from the beginning. Yas tells him that she did not want to bare her soul to a stranger, and Dom should learn to do the same. They part ways and spend the next few days moping over each other. Despite what they think about each other’s honesty and their personal insecurities, the time they have spent with each other has had an impact. They try to date other people, but this time, it is not their exes but their day spent together that occupies their minds.
Finally, Nathan’s next show rolls around, and this time, he has put on exhibit some more unappealing photos of a generally private part of the human body. Dom meets Gia and Eric, and they seem to be okay with their relationship. In fact, Gia asks Dom about Yas, saying that she seems perfect for him. Just then, Dom gets a call from Yas, and she asks him to turn around. When he does, he finds a boat full of people waving at him, and he waves back. Yas says that she knew he was a boat waver and asks him to come down and meet her. Dom agrees, and while they are on the call, she admits that she wasn’t honest because she wanted him to keep thinking that she was cool for breaking up with Jules instead of the other way around. Dom assures her that she is cool anyway. Poor Dom has to take a bit of a detour because Yas never checked where the boat was headed. But they meet at the port eventually, and there is no fighting their feelings. They kiss, and finally, it is the start of their own relationship.
What Doesn’t Work For ‘Rye Lane’?
“Rye Lane” would have been a much better film if the leads had better chemistry. That is our single complaint about the movie. Chemistry is not just about timing but also about how the couple’s mere presence can make the audience feel about them. How else are we supposed to believe that two people who just spent a day together are romantically connected enough to mope over each other for days and even make the audience’s hearts hurt for them? We really don’t need an otherworldly script or epic tales of enduring love for us to like a rom-com. We just want to see palpable chemistry between the actors for us to root for them. Other than that, “Rye Lane” was an okay movie that was nice to watch but fell just short of being memorable.
