Has anyone seen “Voicemails for Isabelle”?

If you’re the type of person who claims to care about how movies portray gender dynamics, have you applied that lens to this movie?

For the purposes of this post, we will be limiting discussion to how men are portrayed, because after a deep dive online, I didn’t find anyone else mentioning these dynamics.

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When the schoolyard fight scene transitions to the principal’s office, the joke is that the boy is crying…get it? He’s a boy and got beat up…by a girl!🥁

This only makes sense as a joke if boys aren’t supposed to cry or be incapable of self defense against a girl.

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During the sex scene that cuts back and forth between the protagonist and her coworker / the love interest and his date, the love interest is literally thrown, punched, etc.

We’re meant to laugh because men being physically assaulted in the context of a sexual encounter is funny! 🥁

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The coworker is shown making incredibly short thrusts while having missionary position sex with the protagonist, paired with her very displeased, minimally expressive facial expressions.

Later in the movie, the coworker is shown opting for an impractically large whisk to prepare a dessert…a clear nod to him overcompensating.

This is meant to be funny because body shaming men is hilarious! 🥁

Pair this with the man being incompetent at his job (his dessert is exposed as being inedible by the protagonist) and having the audacity to want tender words during sex, and he has become a joke for not abiding by the masculine gender role.

Get it? He’s worthy of mockery because he’s not obeying gender roles! 🥁

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Now, it’s not lost on me that this movie is a rom com, and yes, even I laughed at some parts of it.

However, my point is, for those of you who soapbox about gender issues and how they’re portrayed in movies, it feels like there’s a double standard here.

So either allow people to make these types of jokes unbothered, even if they’re at the expense of women in some cases, or don’t.

You can’t just fall back on “punching up” if you’re supposedly principled against holding \*boys\* and men to gender roles.