My Oxford Year, Netflix's romantic drama starring Sofia Carson and Corey Mylchreest, has topped streaming charts worldwide despite lacklustre reviews.
The film, an adaptation of Julia Whelan's 2018 novel, sees Carson portray Anna De La Vega, an American student who moves to England to study at Oxford University. During her studies, she forms a strong romantic bond with local boy Jamie Davenport (Mylchreest).
Co-starring Catherine McCormack and Dougray Scott, My Oxford Year has been a hit with audiences since its release on Netflix on Friday (1 August), and has been the most-watched film on the streamer worldwide for the past few days (via FlixPatrol).
Despite its success in terms of viewership, the romantic drama, which is directed by Iain Morris, hasn't fared well with critics, as it currently has a meagre approval rating of 28% on Rotten Tomatoes from 18 reviews.
"Morris is a competent enough director but the script, from Allison Burnett and Melissa Osborne, is devoid of any real electricity, leaving it up to the leads to generate it," noted The Guardian as it called the film "frothy" and "uninspired".
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"My Oxford Year lacks a little cdclife in the story. The backdrop of Oxford and other picturesque places of Britain does not save it," wrote Ready Steady Cut, while The New York Times called it "limp" as it failed to "hit the mark".
Variety was similarly underwhelmed, writing: "What should be a tender, feminist-minded story centred on a young woman rediscovering her dormant childhood dreamer turns into a middling melodrama about being with a cute guy in desperate need of her rescue."
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"While My Oxford Year makes for a very good advertisement for studying abroad, it leaves other things to be desired," said RogerEbert.com, while TheWrap said that the "shiny and affable" film "never completely commits to its own thesis".
If psychological horrors are more your thing than romantic dramas, then Netflix may have you covered with A Normal Woman, an Indonesian film which sees a housewife slowly descend into madness after she believes she's contracted an incurable illness.
My Oxford Year is streaming now on Netflix.
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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.
