My Oxford Year Review: The Otherwise Charming Sofia Carson Leads Netflix’s Schmaltzy Romantic Dramedy

A few months after Netflix’s The Life List, Sofia Carson is back with another straight-to-streaming rom-com, My Oxford Year. Shot on location in England, Remi Adefarasin’s warm-hued, picturesque cinematography is visually nice to look at that it nearly makes me feel like I’m watching a travelogue. Likewise, Carson is easy on the eyes, who plays the role of Anna De La Vega.

She travels from Queens to Oxford University in England to fulfil her dream of studying Victorian poetry. She’s a self-confessed “library fetish” who loves the smell of old books, and even read every Philip Pullman book when she was only ten. Everything seems to be well-planned for her, with a financial analyst job awaiting her at Goldman Sachs once she completes her studies.

Well, not exactly. She is soaking wet while on the way to a fish and chip shop, thanks to a passing vintage car hitting the puddle. Then, coincidentally, she meets the person who drenched her earlier after recognising his car parked just outside the fish and chip shop. That person in question is Jamie Davenport (a dashing Corey Mylchreest), whose devil-may-care personality reminds me of a young Hugh Grant would fit well to play such a role during his rom-com heyday if My Oxford Year is made in the ’90s.

So, thinking that the nightmare is over, here comes the same Jamie again, walking into the poetry class. Not as a student, but rather a stand-in for Professor Styan (Barunka O’Shaughnessy). Apparently, Styan’s teaching is the reason that Anna has been looking forward to studying poetry at Oxford, but it looks like she has to accept the fact.

The Inbetweeners director Iain Morris sticks to the usual rom-com formula that you come to expect for this type of movie: the obligatory meet-cute and, of course, the love-hate moments where it’s a matter of time before they fall for each other. At one point, the movie even threw in an embarrassingly off-key karaoke session, which in this case, Jamie singing Coldplay’s “Yellow”, and plenty of flirting added to the mix.

Not to forget, a formulaic romantic montage, even though I enjoy the feel-good song choice of Sunflower Bean’s “A Moment in the Sun” playing in the background. By half an hour, they end with a kiss after enjoying a wonderful late-night meal of kebabs. The cliché just keeps on coming, like a scene when Anna tries to make Jamie jealous during a party by dancing intimately with another male partner. The first half is dedicated to ticking every box usually seen in a rom-com genre.

Then comes the turning point, which sees the movie shifting the earlier tone in favour of something more melodramatic. What should have been a boost of opportunity for raising both dramatic and emotional stakes didn’t exactly reach the intended target since the whole movie is disappointingly perfunctory. Carson and Mylchreest are both a good-looking onscreen couple, and they do their charming best with the material given to them.

And yet, their supposedly bittersweet journey feels manufactured rather than rightfully earned. It’s just hard for me to root for their plight as the much-needed heart and soul are sorely lacking in this movie. The rest of the actors, even with the presence of Dougray Scott as Jamie’s disgruntled father and Harry Trevaldwyn as Anna’s queer classmate, Charlie Butler, can’t do much to elevate My Oxford Year from its surface-level shallowness.

It’s a pity that this is the second time Carson’s otherwise magnetic charisma and stunning beauty are hampered by an overall mediocre story and direction. She certainly deserves better than what she gets here.

My Oxford Year is currently streaming on Netflix.