Delta Goodrem’s new Netflix movie soars up the charts as fans and film critics react
Delta Goodrem’s global Netflix movie has climbed up the charts as critics weighed in with unfavourable reviews and her fans got behind her.
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Delta Goodrem’s global Netflix smash Love Is In The Air is the classic Hallmark-style rom com critics love to hate and fans of the genre are lapping up.
The movie soared to the top of the streamer’s global movie chart and has stayed steady in the top five in Australia since its release on September 28.
The consensus among critics is that the cheesy flick is a great ad for Queensland tourism with its breaktaking locations around the Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday islands.
“Full credit to Netflix for always having a PG enemies-to-lovers romcom in their pocket for when they are approached by a regional screen fund or tourism board,” posted Trash Addict on TikTok.
The lack of chemistry between Goodrem’s sassy seapilot Dana and her love interest, British businessman William played by Kylie Minogue’s ex Joshua Sasse, has not gone unnoticed.
“Since Goodrem and Sasse wouldn’t find sparks even if they used a flamethrower, viewers can find some magic in the gorgeous Australian scenery,” noted the Digital Spy review.
The Guardian didn’t hold back in its one-star review, describing Love Is In The Air as “a galumphing heffalump of a movie.”
“Everything and everyone in it feels so very fake and contrived, as if beaming in from a bizarro synthetic world of simulated human emotions and Hallmark sentiment,” wrote critic Luke Buckmaster.
Goodrem’s ride-or-die fans are loving seeing the Innocent Eyes pop star back on acting; it’s her first leading role since 2018 when she played her mentor and friend Olivia Newton-John in the Hopelessly Devoted To You mini-series.
The reaction to her Netflix film comes after Goodrem laughed and said she is ready to “get a bit wild”.
Goodrem’s performance in the new Netflix romance Love is in the Air – her first major role since playing her friend and hero Olivia Newton-John the 2018 miniseries Olivia: Hopelessly Devoted to You – has reignited her passion for acting.
“I feel that it is an exciting time right now to step into that world in this place in my life,” she enthuses, her voice slightly hoarse from the ardours of touring in Europe.
“I have grown up on camera, now it’s time to have some fun.
“People know my heart and intention in the arts was always just to connect through different places and send love through that.
“But in this moment now, it is about having fun being creative, and finding those projects that feel exciting to do.”
Love is in the Air, a Hallmark-style sweeping romance set in a remote community in far North Queensland, sees Goodrem play Dana, a tenacious pilot who helps run the family’s not-for-profit air service.
When a rich, handsome businessman (Joshua Sasse) arrives in town from England to audit the business, sparks fly.
Best known as the star of Galavant (and as the former fiance of Kylie Minogue) British-born Sasse has lived in Byron Bay since marrying his Australian wife Louisa Ainsworth in 2018.
A longtime fan of romantic movies, Goodrem is full of praise for Sasse, gushing that she got “really lucky” to be performing alongside him in her comeback film.
“I love romance, I love rom coms. They are what I watch,” she says.
“But what attracted me initially [to Love is in the Air] was the independency of Dana.”
Goodrem says her character’s devotion to her business particularly resonated after having recently parted ways with Sony to found her own label ATLED Records.
The singer founded ATLED with her fiance Matthew Copley, the pair announcing their engagement last week.
“When I read it [the script], I was like, ‘That’s it! That’s how I feel!’” she enthuses of going out on her own with ATLED.
“I am enjoying running my business. I’m enjoying, after all these years in the entertainment industry, that we’ve taken such charge by building my record label and building my production house.
“I really loved Dana’s go-getter attitude of nothing will stop me. And also, my character’s discovery that you do have to evolve with the times.
“You have to keep moving forward. You can’t stay stagnant in one place.”
Although she had a natural kinship with Dana’s pioneering spirit, Goodrem’s skills as a pilot were a different matter altogether.
To look like she was completely at home in the cockpit, Goodrem called in a family favour.
The entertainer explains that her soon-to-be father-in-law, Bruce Copley, worked as pilot on both commercial airlines and private planes and was able to give her some tips.
“I straightaway went to Bruce and over Christmas time, because we filmed this in February, we went to the hangar and we went and we sat in a plane,” she smiles.
“So, it felt like a real family affair getting to learn about planes from him. He’d alwaysshared all these wonderful stories about flying.”
Filmed on location in Queensland, Goodrem is excited to be part of a film that will showcase Australia to the rest of the world.
She’s also thrilled to be making a return to acting, which she emphasises had always been her first love.
“My entire career started from my local acting school because I was so keen on entertaining the classroom,” she smiles.
“It’s always weaved in and out, but music has just kept me so busy for so many years. To be able to go back to my roots and go back to when I was first introduced everybody as an actress has been just really, really exciting.”
Ever since becoming a household name playing Erinsborough’s sweet songstress Nina Tucker on Neighbours, Goodrem has become the poster girl for the girl next door, on screen and off.
She made a cameo appearance in (what proved to be a short-lived) Neighbours finale last year.
And while delighted that the show has been rebooted, she was not among the stars who came back to Ramsay St when it returned last week.
“It was hard for us all to ever think that it was leaving because it was part of the furniture,” she says.
“It’s a very special show and they’ve obviously gone through a reincarnation, or a rebirth and are entering a new era. All power to creating a new era.”
Goodrem has never been one of those stars who is afraid to look backwards.
When you go to see Goodrem in concert, she’s not going to just play songs off her latest album. She’s always going to give the fans what they want to hear.
“Bruce Springsteen is a legend who never gets off stage and if I could do four hours like him, I would,” she smiles.
“But I write the songs way too high to keep it up for four hours so I definitely make sure to play all my songs that have been a part of people’s life, well, the best that you can.
“You make sure you have all the different eras in your in your career.”
That sentiment is partly why she is celebrating the 20th anniversary of her hit album,
Innocent Eyes with a national concert tour that kicked off in Sydney last week on September 23).
Goodrem was just a few weeks shy of her 18th birthday when Innocent Eyes launched.
Although her feel-good ballads were in many ways the antithesis of the sexed-up music that other pop artists like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were doing at the time, Innocent Eyes spent 29 weeks at the top of the charts.
Unfortunately, as people fell in love with Goodrem’s impressive and heartfelt vocals, she wasn’t able to bask in her success at the time.
Diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma shortly after the album’s release, Goodrem was forced to step back from her work as she underwent treatment.
“The fact that we get to play that album from top to finish and to celebrate it is something that I didn’t get to do all those years ago,” she says thoughtfully.
“So, I’m very excited to be able to take this moment and sing that album from start to finish.”
LOVE IS IN THE AIR: STREAMING SEPTEMBER 28, NETFLIX
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