Rye Lane (2023)

Jack and I loved this delightful, smart rom-com about a young British couple getting to know each other in South London. Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson are terrific as Yas and Dom, with excellent comic timing in the sparkling script written by Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia and directed by Raine Allen-Miller. I jotted down one favorite line: "I was snoozing through the alarm bells." Watch for Colin Firth's cameo selling burritos.

The locations of the Peckham and Brixton neighborhoods (I should spell it neighbourhoods) are wonderfully colorful and there is a real Rye Lane Market there. Like so many movies set abroad and even at home, it shows the viewer places we might not have seen otherwise.

Apparently the soundtrack by Kwes is due to be released in November but six songs can be streamed from this link. 

This is Oparah's second feature and Jonsson's first but with three more in post-production. It's the third feature for Bryon and first for Melia and Allen-Miller (all five have worked on TV shows). Firth was last blogged for Empire of Light.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are loafing this (sorry!) with a 98% average, while its audiences have sliced off a bit at 88. We watched it on Hulu on July 25 and kept the TV on for the blooper reel at the end.