Romantic comedy on Prime Video is the most adorable film of 2025 and its curiosities

Inspired by romantic comedies such as “A Loja da Esquina” and “Mensagem pra Você”, “Manutenção Necessária” has an anonymous epistolary arc and revolves around business disputes between two mechanics who flirt online without knowing each other’s identities. Written by Roo Berry and Erin Falconer and directed by Lacey Uhlemeyer, the feature film stars Madeleine Petsch as Charlie, a young mechanic who runs a small repair shop in Oakland with the help of her two best friends. Jacob Scipio plays Beau, who works at a national car repair chain and opens his branch on Charlie Street, putting the family business at risk.

The novel uses social media to bring the narrative closer to the public. The two protagonists communicate about mechanics through a forum on Reddit. Despite their many shared interests, especially cars, they never exchange photos or share their names. Charlie, who inherited the store from his father, from whom he learned everything about cars, has an automotive relic called Marge, which he has dedicated a lot of time and money to repairing. In turn, Beau has Diane, an equally charming antique car.

When Beau, a prominent repair shop manager, is assigned to the company’s new branch across from Charlie’s workshop, he ferociously tries to take over local businesses, putting Charlie’s business, which had been opened in 1988 by her father, at risk. Both live on a warpath without knowing that, online, they are secret correspondents. The story is told through their dialogues on the forum. While Beau is looking for love, Charlie doesn’t trust anyone and has no intention of opening his heart to any guy. Focused on her profession, she presents the profile of an empowered woman, who would not put aside a self-centered life.

With a clean, cute and romantic aesthetic, the film’s photography is far from conveying the feeling of a real workshop: dirty with grease, with the smell of sweat and parts accumulated in the corners. With pop songs and light themes, the soundtrack comfortably and unsurprisingly encompasses the plot. The editing also follows the traditional rhythm of romantic comedies. In other words, in technical terms, there is nothing innovative, original or surprising.

The novel tries to reach some level of depth by addressing interracial love, LGBT friends, local business versus corporate chain and empowered women, but all of this in a way that is subtle enough not to be pamphleteering, although without achieving much substance. “Necessary Maintenance” is a comfort film, forgettable, predictable and cliché, with a certain level of chemistry between the protagonists that pleases and is easy to watch.