Sofia Carson's New Romantic Comedy Is Dominating Netflix's Top Charts

A new romantic comedy is taking over the Netflix charts, despite some less than stellar reviews. The new film is written and directed by Adam Brooks, whose rom-com bonafides are not in question. The director has previously written and directed 2008's "Definitely, Maybe" and co-written "Wimbledon" (2004) and "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" (2004). This time, Brooks has adapted Lori Nelson Spielman's novel "The Life List" for Netflix, and audiences seem to be loving it.

The film stars Sofia Carson, who is fast becoming a Netflix rom-com queen having starred in 2022's "Purple Hearts" and recently appeared in the "Die Hard"-like Netflix Christmas thriller "Carry On." Carson plays Alex Rose, whose mother, Elizabeth (Connie Britton), passes away. Afterwards, Alex discovers that Elizabeth changed her will so that her daughter must complete certain tasks in order to get her inheritance. While this might sound like some sort of sadistic game orchestrated from beyond the grave, it's actually all engineered so that Alex rediscovers her childhood aspirations and doesn't settle for a life that's expected of her rather than one she truly loves. Of course, romance ensues as Alex embarks on this strange journey, as extremely handsome man Brad (Kyle Allen) comes into the picture to help Alex fulfill her "true love" ambitions.

If that sounds like exactly the kind of thing that would become a streaming sensation, it absolutely is. "The Life List" is dominating on Netflix, where it may soon become known as one of the best romantic comedies on the streamer, even if the critics aren't impressed.

"The Life List" has a 46% Rotten Tomatoes score with a 5.2 out of 10 average rating and a 73% Popcornmeter score. As you might expect from a film of this sort, then, audiences are loving it while critics are less than impressed. But when you're dominating Netflix in the way that "The Life List" is, it probably doesn't matter that the AV Club called your movie "a cathartic tearjerker for those who care more about life-affirming stories than quality filmmaking."

The film was released by Netflix on March 28, 2025, and according to streaming viewership tracker FlixPatrol, as of April 2, 2025, it was number one in 54 countries — and in 50 of those countries, it was number one ever since it debuted. Overall, "The Love List" is charting in 91 countries, and its lowest position was number seven.

That's about as good a debut as you can hope for, and certainly goes some way to making up for that rough RT score. But "The Life List" will have to be careful as it faces some strong competition in the form of an A24 horror movie with a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score that's currently rising through the Netflix charts.