Review Beautiful Disaster (2023)

XXI will have a new film in the romance genre. If you are a big fan of romantic drama films Afterthen it is certain that you will like this latest film entitled Beautiful Disaster.

Directed by Roger Kumble from a screenplay co-written by Kumble and Julia Hart, this film is an adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by Jamie McGuire. Roger Kumble himself has previously directed similar films such as Cruel Intentions, Cruel Intentions 2, College Road Trip, Falling Inn Love, and After We Collided.

Beautiful Disaster (2023) Synopsis

On a bus from Vegas bound for Sacramento, California, sits teenager Abby Abernathy (Virginia Gardner). He wrote a farewell letter to his father that he wanted to go to college.

Abby now wants to continue her studies in Sacramento. He then meets his best friend, America Mason (Libe Barer) and wants to live an ordinary life during his college days. He ends up living in the circle of America and her boyfriend, Shepley Maddox (Austin North). America then invites him to watch an underground boxing fight where Travis Maddox (Dylan Sprouse) fights there. Abby was impressed with Travis at first sight, and so was Travis.

Travis has everything a girl her age could want. Handsome, has an athletic body, and brave. But Abby is not easily tempted by Travis, because she avoids one night stands, and she is very careful about that. Travis reminds Abby of her father in a number of ways, mostly with the bad things he’s been through. Now Abby just wants a man who is much more normal and ordinary.

Travis often spent his nights fighting in underground boxing matches, and changing partners. Because it also makes Abby want nothing to do with Travis.

Like men who are rejected, Travis is also curious why Abby rejected him. Then Travis offered her a simple bet: if she lost her next fight, she couldn’t have sex for a month. But if you win, Abby will have to stay in her apartment for the same amount of time.

In the midst of a fierce battle between himself and Abby, Travis does not know that Abby’s dark past will come up as a surprise by accident. Instead, he was recognized by Travis’ father when he played poker and won with his family. However, Abby’s past resurfaces. Someone is here to kill her father if Abby doesn’t come to Vegas to pay off her father’s (Brian Austin Green) huge debt. Will Abby obey? How will their love story continue? Can Travis and Abby be together forever?

Beautiful Disaster (2023) Movie Review

Interesting, but very different from the novel

Cineverse tries to compare a little with its previously released novels, and there are significant differences regarding the overall narrative of this film. America and Shepley, who play a dominant role in the novel, even here only appear as a complement, and do not have an important role. The rest, many new scenes appear in the film, and of course this might disappoint many Jamie McGuire novel fans.

Now we’re not going to compare this film too far, but we’re going to look at this film as a free-wheeling vehicle that stands on its own script. As a romcom genre film, Beautiful Disaster broadly speaking, it is not much different from the After franchise, of course with a deepening of the exposition of each of the main characters. Travis Maddox has a background as an underground fighter, who grew up in an all-male family. Fighting is common in the family and the chemistry between him and his family is friendly and fluid. Meanwhile, Abby is described as a simple woman who wants to organize her life again while studying at campus. However, his dark past with his father makes him dragged in again at the end of the story.

Entertaining even though the chemistry is a little awkward

The narrative of this film actually looks fun and entertaining. Much more entertaining than reading the novel. Although sometimes the chemistry between the two is inconsistent and only seen in a few scenes. Even after they got closer, the audience couldn’t feel this warmth like Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Josephine Langford in the After franchise. In the first half, this film can be said to be successful. The scene runs as it should, the fluctuations in Abby and Travis’ relationship go up and down with the presence of a third person which makes the conflict even hotter. The second half of the film begins to show a slight decline, the appearance of a separate subplot is not optimally executed, causing this film to tend to be forced to finish without proper resolution.

Beautiful Disaster (2023) Conclusion

Beautiful Disaster Present as an entertaining romcom film with all its winding romance scenes and the tug-of-war between the two of them really makes the audience excited to see it.

The supporting cast is no less exciting. America and Shepley often confuse us with their childlike and spoiled behavior towards each other. Even though their role is much reduced compared to the novel, both of them still provide significant support for the two main characters. Watch Beautiful Disaster only in the XXI cinema network.