For the Love of George may be a romantic comedy but the film is one that also reminds us that we should never have to give up on happiness in the pursuit of a significant other.

Directed by Maria Burton, the female-empowered comedy stars Nadia Jordan, Rex Lee, Kristen Johnston, Shaun Sipos, Petra Bryant, Ruth Connell, Marina Sirtis, Henry Hereford, with Rosanna Arquette, and Tate Donovan.

Poppy Wakefield (Jordan) is a woman who is obsessed with George Clooney and after catching her husband Stephen (Hereford) in the act of cheating, Poppy sets off for Los Angeles to meet the love of her life.  She tells herself that she’s “going to find George and everything will fall into place.”  At least, that’s what Poppy thinks will happen.

This film features a scene that couldn’t be more timely given everything that’s currently going on in the industry right now with a chance meeting at a bar between Poppy and Alvin (Donovan).  Nobody could have predicted that the industry would have reached this point when the film was made.  It’s an experience that’s representative of so many.

It just wouldn’t be a romantic comedy without seeing Stephen fly all the way out to Los Angeles with the mere hope of winning Poppy back.  This is where the film goes against the grain of most romantic comedy film cliches–he doesn’t even try to fight to win her back.  He goes all this way and doesn’t even make as much of an attempt?!?  Granted, Poppy brings this up to him.  All it really took was this one scene in the film to learn all viewers need to know about Stephen compared to early on in the film when Poppy discovers that he’s cheating on her with another woman.

For the Love of George features a smartly-written screenplay by Jordan and Hayley Nolan.  It’s also script that had to undergo quite a bit of rewrites when Clooney’s engagement shocked the world.  That being said, there’s only a few scenes that would fall into the cliche category but these scenes don’t hurt the film in the long-term and make it more enjoyable as such.  There’s some great interaction between Poppy, Texan friend Marcy (Adrienne Whitney), and Justin’s Russian maid, Irina (Bryant).

A film that is full of female-empowerment, For the Love of George doesn’t necessarily offer anything new for the genre but it sends the message that a woman doesn’t necessarily need a man in order to be happy.

An Audience Choice Award winner of the Chicago Comedy Film Festival, Vision Films and Fluffy Cat Productions releases For the Love of George on DVD and VOD on February 13, 2018.