Can You Keep a Secret? (2019)

Directed by: Elise Duran | 95 minutes | comedy, romance | Actors: Alexandra Daddario, Tyler Hoechlin, Kimiko Glenn, Laverne Cox, Sunita Mani, Judah Friedlander, Ashlyn Alessi, Sam Asghari, Bobby Tisdale, Kate Easton, David Ebert, Olga N. Bogdanova, Lexa Hayes, Chris LeMonda, Austin Ferris, Robert King

When you say chicklit, you say Sophie Kinsella. The British writer – a pseudonym of Madeleine Townley – is the uncrowned queen of the genre, thanks largely to the successful ‘Shopaholic’ series centered around shopping-addicted journalist Becky Bloomwood. In between the acts, multi-writer Kinsella also produces stand-alone stories, such as ‘The domestic goddess’ (released in our country under the name ‘Approach!’). The biography on her website proudly states that her books have sold more than 40 million copies in more than 60 countries, and that her work has been published in more than 40 languages. The film world has also discovered Kinsella’s work: the first two books in the ‘Shopaholic’ series were made into the romantic comedy ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ (2009), starring Isla Fisher as Becky Bloomwood and – how could it be different? – Hugh Grant as her boss and love interest Luke Brandon. Also from the standalone novel ‘Can You Keep a Secret?’ – translated in the Netherlands as ‘Keep your mouth!’ – a romantic comedy has now been published. Were the reviews for ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ already bad, those for the second Kinsella film adaptation are possibly even more damning.

The central character in ‘Can You Keep a Secret?’ (2019) is called Emma Corrigan and is played by Alexandra Daddario, who we know from the ‘Percy Jackson’ series and the remake of ‘Baywatch’ from 2017. Emma is a rather neurotic type who works in the marketing department of a financially not very strong producer of organic food. Her good suggestions are not taken up and after a failed pitch in Chicago, she takes the plane back home disillusioned. During the rather intense turbulence, she fears her last hour has come (did we mention she’s quite neurotic?) and throws out all her secrets to the handsome but complete stranger sitting next to her on the plane. And those confessions are quite embarrassing: not only does she complain about her work and her terrible colleagues, but also her effeminate turd from boyfriend Connor (David Ebert) – and especially his appalling performance between the sheets. Emma has no shame at all; she will never see this man again. She thinks.

Because, you probably already feel it coming: the next day, the handsome stranger turns out to be none other than Jack Harper (Tyler Hoechlin), the chief executive of the company. Where she initially feels very embarrassed, he always seeks her attention, occasionally giving a teasing punch. They agree to confide in each other: if he promises to keep her confessions to himself, she won’t tell anyone that he was in Chicago one day (because for some reason no one is allowed to know) . Jack’s attention gives Emma confidence and dares to take matters into her own hands. She breaks up with Connor and when Jack asks her out, a romance blossoms. Where he knows everything about her, she barely finds out who he actually is and you can feel that this will drive a wedge between the two newlyweds.

‘Can You Keep a Secret?’ may be a romantic comedy, the chemistry between the protagonists is lacking and the humor is painfully unfunny nine times out of ten. Daddario may look like a smooth girl next door, and she’s probably doing her best to make the most of it, but she doesn’t come out well. And Hoechlin has a nice jawline and hunky sultry look, but it’s nothing more than that. This is probably (in any case partly) due to the mediocre elaboration of the characters and the flawed scenario (the script is by Peter Hutchings), because the side characters are not worth the effort either. Emma’s roommates Lissy (Sunita Mani) and Gemma (Kimiko Glenn) are allowed to show up in bizarre outfits, her colleagues and manager (Laverne Cox from ‘Orange is the New Black’) are as one-dimensional as an A4 page and ex-lover Connor only calls an uncomfortable feeling. It seems that the makers thought that by putting as many LGBTI characters together as possible, they could make the ultimate 21st-century film, but of course it doesn’t work that way if you don’t bring the characters to life. The wafer-thin story can be mapped out from A to Z even before the animated opening credits (which ironically in retrospect turned out to be the highlight of the film). Now we would like to forgive a film in exceptional cases, for example because the characters are so charming or sympathetic, the humor so nice or the approach refreshing. But ‘Can You Keep a Secret?’ has none of this.

This second Kinsella film adaptation has become a cringe-inducing exercise, which is not only predictable and embarrassing, but also comes across as old-fashioned, precisely because people try so hard to be up-to-date. Perhaps only the inveterate super fans of the British writer can take this, although it seems to us strongly.