VOICEMAILS FOR ISABELLE
A beautifully made romance you'll have to sit out.
Should You Watch It?
Here's the hard part of this review: the movie is good. Zoey Deutch and Nick Robinson have real chemistry, Deutch moves between comedy and grief with impressive range, and the story balances humor and heartbreak the way the best romances do. If craft alone decided it, this would be an easy yes.
But craft alone doesn't decide it. The content piles up fast — 31 obscenities and 18 profanities, an unmarried couple in bed, brief male nudity, suggestive jokes, drinking throughout, and a worldview that keeps reaching for "fate" and things rigged "in our favor" rather than the God who actually governs our days.
A tender story about grief and sisterly love deserved a cleaner telling than this. It didn't get one. Our answer is to skip it and pick something you can enjoy without the weight.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESJill is a pastry chef undone by the death of her younger sister, Isabelle. To cope, she starts calling Isabelle's old phone and leaving voicemails — about her work, her days, her sorrow.
What Jill doesn't know is that the number now belongs to Wes, a stranger who begins listening to every message and feeling a pull toward the woman on the other end. He engineers a way to meet her, and sparks fly — but he keeps how they really connected a secret. Where that secret goes, we'll leave for you to imagine.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars, and they're deserved on the merits. This is a Netflix romcom that actually works: the tone-shifting between laughter and loss lands, and the leads carry it. Zoey Deutch is the standout, delivering both comic timing and genuine emotional depth, and Nick Robinson matches her well enough that the central relationship feels real rather than manufactured.
The film's tribute to sisterly love gives the whole thing a beating heart, and fans of the romance genre will find it satisfying on its own terms. It's a well-made movie — which is exactly what makes its content decisions so frustrating. The problem here isn't the filmmaking.
The Worldview
This is a mixed picture, and the good in it is real. The film honors strong family bonds and friendships, treats hard work as something that pays off, and lets grief be grief without cheapening it. There are even light Christian touches — a character recalls that her late sister believed in angels, and the movie returns often to the hope that the dead are in a better place.
But the story keeps drifting somewhere other than that hope. It reaches for "fate" and the comforting notion that life "rigs things in our favor" — a pagan sentiment that gestures at meaning while sidestepping the God who assigns it. When you're grieving, the difference matters enormously. "Fate" is a blind force; providence is a Father who counts your days and holds your tears.
That gap runs underneath the movie's central ache — the longing to know a lost loved one is safe and that our own scattered days add up to something. Scripture answers that longing not with luck but with a person: "My times are in your hand" (Psalm 31:15).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Mixed worldview; with moral elements, like strong family relationships and friendships, and hard work paying off, but also contains light pagan elements, such as mentions of fate and life “rig[ing] things in our favor.” Light Christian elements, for example, a character saying her late sister believed in angels, many references to a dead character being in a better place/afterlife
Foul Language
31 obscenities, including one “f” word, and 18 profanities, as well as some sexually suggestive jokes/comments and one scene showing a character showing her middle finger
Violence
A scene shows two children fighting, a character is punched in a comedic scene, two characters get in a small fight and fall into a pool
Sex
One scene depicts an unmarried couple having sex, two scenes depict couples kissing and taking clothes off, but cutting before things get more serious, one scene shows a clothed couple kissing heavily, a character jokes about another masturbating
Nudity
Two scenes of upper male nudity (one is naturalistic with a character in bed, another is during a sexual scene), as well as a scene of full male nudity, but nothing is shown. One scene shows a woman in her underwear, another shows a woman in a skirt and bra
Alcohol Use
Characters drink alcohol throughout, but not to excess
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
A character makes a joke about trying crack just to make her sister laugh, characters attend a marijuana festival to sell food;
Miscellaneous Immorality
A character’s boss and coworkers are extremely rude to her, and even sabotage her and other employees so they won’t receive a promotion, one scene depicts children speaking unkindly to each other.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Jill leaves voicemails for a sister who can't answer. What does healthy grief look like, and where does the Bible say our comfort finally comes from?
2 Corinthians 1:3–4 · Psalm 34:18The film leans on "fate" and life rigging things in our favor. How is trusting God's providence different from trusting luck?
Proverbs 16:9 · Romans 8:28Wes builds a relationship on a hidden secret. What does Scripture say about honesty as the foundation of love and trust?
Ephesians 4:25 · Proverbs 12:22A character clings to the hope that her sister is "in a better place." Where does that hope become solid ground rather than wishful thinking?
John 11:25–26 · 1 Thessalonians 4:13–14The Final Word
It's rare to call a four-star film a skip, but that's the honest verdict here. The performances shine and the heart is real — and the language, the sex scene, and the drift toward "fate" over faith are too much to wave past. So we'll say it plainly: skip it. Looking for something to enjoy together instead? Try our latest family-friendly picks.
