The Bright and Beautiful ‘This is Not What I Expected’ is The Perfect Netflix Rom-Com

Foodies, listen up! You’ll never find more beautiful shots of gourmet dishes than those in This Is Not What I Expected, which is streaming on Netflix now. Seriously, don’t watch this movie hungry. In my personal experience, it will make you wish you had anything better than a bag of sad microwavable popcorn on hand.

Derek Hui’s directorial debut tells the story of a stern businessman and a capricious chef who start out at odds and end up falling in love. The Chinese film does not tell an original romantic story, but it delivers these characters with so much flash and style that you’ll almost forget about the more predictable rom-com tropes at play.

Also, watching this film will completely change how you make instant noodles forever. I now feel like a gastronomic expert every time I tear into a package of fifty cent ramen.

In This Is Not What I Expected, Takeshi Kaneshiro plays Lu Jin, an uber-rich CEO who travels to Shanghai in order to acquire a rustic hotel for his company. It’s in and around this Shanghai location that Jin meets Gu Shengnan (an absolutely electric Zhou Dongyu!), the quirky sous-chef at this boutique hotel.

But! Here’s the catch! Jin doesn’t realize that Shengnan’s a chef. For the first half of the film, the germaphobic CEO only sees the scattered Shengnan as an annoying troublemaker.

It isn’t until later, when Shengnan’s true identity is revealed, that the two can actually get about the business of falling in love. These tender and silly scenes are some of the best in the film. It’s heartwarming to watch opposite personalities clash and then eventually mesh. Yes, you’ve seen this exact plot like twelve times before. Just don’t overthink it, and enjoy the cinematography.

Speaking of which, what binds this eclectic film together is director Hui’s inspired use of color and light. You won’t believe how some of these shots pop, even on a dim laptop screen. Expected is an absolute feast for the eyes that offers up glittery primary colors in a similar vein to La La Land. (Ah! Another predictably sweet love story propelled by style.) Where La La Land stops, however, Expected pushes through, giving us exciting CGI hallucinatory trips and visceral food/sex analogies. There’s no singing in Hui’s film, but it wouldn’t feel out of place among sizzling pans and a bustling kitchen.

I absolutely recommend this endearing film for your next Netflix watch. Incredibly goofy and predictably heartwarming, This Is Not What I Expected is as decorated as a meal at a five-star restaurant, but it goes down as easy as comfort food.

Cody Schmitz is a writer based in New York and Kansas. He doesn’t have a Twitter for some reason, but you can still find him at codyschmitz.com.

Watch This Is Not What I Expected on Netflix