Movie Review: '7 Days' Gives the Pandemic the Romantic Comedy Treatment

7 Days is a romantic comedy set in the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, those uncertain days when people thought the virus was everywhere and on everything. Karan Soni and Geraldine Viswanathan star as Ravi and Rita, Indian Americans navigating the traditions of arranged marriage and the American style of dating and dating and dating. When Ravi and Rita were arranged for a date by their marriage-hungry mothers, they had no plans to see each other much past the first date.

For Ravi, Rita is another in a seemingly endless series of dates with women he hopes to marry. Each date is essentially an interview for the position of his wife. They need to demonstrate companionability and be able to get the approval of his mother. Rita, on the other hand, is only dating men like Ravi to maintain her comfortable rut. Rita has an apartment in L.A that her mother pays for and a lifestyle that consists of time spent on the internet and time spent pining for a married man, referred to in the movie only as ‘Daddy.’

To get her date with Ravi, Rita lied about everything from her educational background to her drinking habits to her living situation. So, when Ravi is forced to come to her apartment when everything in the world begins shutting down, her lies are almost immediately exposed. All at once at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, hotels, ride shares and airports were closing and Ravi, being from way out of town, is trapped and reliant on Rita’s kindness to give him a place to stay.

This forced companionship will last for at least seven days which is the next time Ravi can rent a car to get home. During this time the two will spend all of their time together with only Rita’s kitchen/living room and her bedroom as their only space. The first few days are made up of recriminations from Ravi to Rita over her many, many lies, Rita calling out Ravi’s hypocrisies that he tries desperately to hide, and eventually, the two finding common ground and a genuine care for each other.

In drama, a movie like 7 Days is considered a two-hander, a movie where two actors are the only ones on screen, with little to no other characters. We do see Ravi’s mother on a video call, we do hear from ‘Daddy,’ voiced by Executive Producer Mark Duplass, in a series of awkward and heartbreaking phone calls, and there is one more character whose voice takes hold in the final act, but beyond that, it’s just Soni and Viswanathan. Thankfully, their chemistry is so good, no one else is needed.

7 Days is a rare leading role for Karan Soni who has made a splash in smaller comic supporting roles in Deadpool 1 and 2 and Pokemon Detective Pikachu. Viswanathan meanwhile, has been a rising star for a couple of years now. She broke through with me with her terrific performance as John Cena’s daughter in the otherwise underwhelming, Blockers. Viswanathan stole the show in that movie and I loved seeing her in the lead in 7 Days and really showing her comic range.

I do not want to give anything away about this wonderful film. The only thing I will say is that the final act is marvelous. Most of it surrounds only one of our lead characters and that actor is exceptional for each minute even when just alone or on the phone. It’s not an easy thing to hold the screen alone for the final act but this actor pulls it off and the final moments of the movie, are just lovely.

7 Days is a romantic comedy and yes, the early part of the pandemic era definitely dates the movie to a very specific time. That said, regardless of how you feel about going back to those anxiety riddled days when it seemed like getting sick and dying was around every corner, 7 Days isn’t riddled with anxiety. It’s energetic and nervy at times and the pandemic era gives a specificity to its drama, but it is most urgently a love story, a unique kind of rom-com made unique by two very specific and uniquely engaging characters.