Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Sounds Like Love’ On Netflix, A Spanish Rom Com Where An Old Flame Threatens To Upend Everything

Netflix seems to be adding international romances nonstop; from YA fare like Out of My League, JJ+E, and Last Summer to more mature titles like My Amanda, A Perfect Fit, and Just Say Yes, the streamer knows we all need a little more love in our lives. Sounds Like Love, now available to stream, plays like a Spanish mashup of Netflix original Someone Great and Dakota Johnson comedy How to Be Single.

SOUNDS LIKE LOVE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Maca (María Valverde) is a 29-year-old assistant to an influencer currently working on being a “bad bitch”. Pipa (Miri Pérez-Cabrero), Maca’s insufferable boss, treats her like garbage, pays very little, and expects nothing but the best, and Maca wonders how much longer she can keep doing this. Luckily, she has her two best friends by her side to help her through it: Adriana (Susana Abaitua), who works at a bridal gown store and has no interest in having sex with her husband, and Jimena (Elisabet Casanovas), who is convinced her reincarnated dead boyfriend is just around the corner, ready to fall in love with her again.

When Maca’s dreamy ex-boyfriend Leo (Alex Gonzalez) returns to Madrid after a devastating, wordless departure years earlier, she finds herself questioning everything. She still harbors resentment and fury towards Leo for the way he abandoned her, and when he begins dating one of her colleagues, a kind influencer named Raquel (Eva Ugarte), things get even more complicated. Maca just can’t seem to shake her feelings for Leo (even if they are initially very hostile), and after some confusing signals, it seems like he also can’t get Maca out of his head. With the potential for a new job on the horizon and some big revelations – romantic and otherwise – ahead, 29 may wind up being the year Maca becomes a bad bitch after all.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Sounds Like Love may remind you a bit of How to Be Single, Someone Great, and a little of Netflix international original A Perfect Fit at times.

Performance Worth Watching: Elisabet Casanovas is a zany delight as Maca’s offbeat best friend Jimena. Whether she’s stripping down to try to seduce her chiropractor (a man she initially believes to be her reincarnated boyfriend, Santi), or shoving churros in her best friend’s face after a tough night, she brings a special little sparkle to every scene, perfectly filling the kooky BFF role and tossing in some extra emotional nuance to boot.

Memorable Dialogue: The dialogue in Sounds Like Love isn’t much to write home about, but I did get a little kick out of some of Maca’s early narration when referring to her no-strings-attached situation: “I date me, and I fuck him.”

Sex and Skin: Sounds Like Love isn’t afraid to get sexy; there’s tamer, off-screen handjobs and oral, masturbation, as well as a steamy threesome and some very hot reunion sex.

Our Take: Sounds Like Love is a great example of a well-intentioned, poorly executed adaptation. Based on the best-selling Spanish book series Canciones y Recuerdos by Elísabet Benavent, the film had plenty of story to tell. The problem with trying to cram all that story into one film, however, is that it winds up feeling simultaneously rushed and overlong, an unfocused attempt at juggling three stories that the film doesn’t quite know how to prioritize.

Combined with some cheesy narration and fourth wall-breaking, Sounds Like Love often feels like a chore to watch. It’s a shame, too, because the cast is delightful and there are some interesting things happening (Adriana coming to terms with her bisexuality one of them), but the film can’t decide whether to treat Adriana and Jimena as co-leads or supporting players in Maca’s story. There’s some fun sexy stuff for all the characters and a bit of unexpected, delightful weirdness in Jimena’s storyline, but Sounds Like Love needs more than just a few entertaining points to overcome all its flaws.

Our Call: SKIP IT. While the cast does their best, Sounds Like Love suffers from an aimless script, lackluster central romance, and an overlong runtime.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines, hogging the mic at karaoke, and thirst-tweeting. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream Sounds Like Love on Netflix