I’m a sucker for a cheesy love story as much as the next person, but Amazon Prime’s thrilling romance My Fault: London will leave you wondering – what on earth did I just watch?
Prime has cornered the market for Wattpad-style stories turned chart-topping romances to varying levels of success.
From the Harry Styles-inspired After quintet, to the royally unbelievable Red, White and Royal Blue to swooning over Anne Hathaway and Nicolas Galaitzine (again) in The Idea of You, there’s a hungry audience for far-fetched, steamy romances filled with just enough angst to keep you hooked.
And other streaming services are keeping apace, like Netflix’s slew of Christmas movies that seem to grow more absurd by the year (we’re looking at you Hot Frosty).
My Fault: London is another addition to this genre – with a shocking twist. Well, multiple twists.
The film is based on the chart-topping Spanish version (Culpa Mia) which is, in turn, based on the BookTok sensation by Mercedes Ron.
Even before watching, I had to beg the question – was a London version of a Spanish film that came out only two years ago really necessary? Especially when its sequel, Culpa Tuya, came out only in December (and quickly became one of Prime’s biggest-ever original releases).
Talk about a saturated market.
The London version, in which the capital city itself is touted as a character, follows the same plot as the movie and book that came before it, with a few slight tweaks to account for the new location.
Meet Noah (Asha Banks), a hardened senior whose life in America with her best friend and boyfriend is uprooted when her mum marries a wealthy English man and the pair move into his stately home in London.
There she meets her step-brother Nick (played by The Buccaneers star Matthew Broome) and they are instantly at each other’s throats…. you may see where I’m going with this.
As they adjust to life as reluctant siblings, Noah is introduced to another side of Nick, a traumatised guy caught up in a world of backstreet fights and car racing.
Instead of playing the shocked damsel, however, she uses her childhood knowledge of race cars from her dad (now a jailed abuser) to show there’s more to her than meets the eye.
Although this element of the plot adds a unique layer to this YA romance not often found in this genre, it does overstretch the plot which is desperately trying to sell itself as an earnest romance and a heart-pounding underground thriller at the same time.
And not quite achieving either.
When Nick’s arch-nemesis Ronnie (Sam Buchanan) is released from prison, he is given an ultimatum which puts all he loves at threat.
But just as you are trying to wrap your head around this high-stakes showdown, we flick over to Nick and Noah whose feelings for each other are rapidly spilling over from hatred to… something more?
And who better to make Noah’s cheating long-distance boyfriend jealous than a passionate, photographed, snog with her step-brother? The tonal shifts are jarring, to say the least.
Of course, My Fault is not the first film to play around with this step-sibling dynamic. We have Clueless, Cruel Intentions, heck, even Wuthering Heights.
Although, the movie does have rather a lot of fun with this taboo and, just as you are starting to grow invested in the forbidden love, there’s very pointed commentary reminding you exactly who they are supposed to be each other which knocks you out of it all over again.
There’s a scene where the long-distance boyfriend jokes about it being a kink. Another scene where Noah and Nick purposefully see how much they can fondle each other right under their parents’ noses. Needless to say, you won’t be forgetting it anytime soon.
The movie’s saving grace is our lead stars Asha and Matthew who do an admirable job adding depth to their characters and conjuring up a brilliant onscreen chemistry that makes you root for the unconventional duo even during the most confusing scenes.
And the race car scenes are suitably thrilling, with some brilliant stunt work adding a fresh pace to this tad-too-long movie (seriously, it’s two hours).
Where it eventually goes off the rails, however, is the final act where the genre-shifting is taken to a whole new level.
The romantic aesthetic from the first portion of the film is almost entirely abandoned in favour of exclusively becoming a gritty London crime drama.
As one character from Noah’s past unceremoniously rolls back onto the scene, we seem to abandon any earlier-provided nuance in favour of introducing a maniacal villain entirely there to drive the plot towards a careening end.
By the end, you’ll wonder if you accidentally stumbled over into another movie.
All before we’re quickly brought back down to earth and reminded what we’re actually all here for… a scandalous step-sibling romance… I think.
Of course, I can see the appeal of the plot – it’s got enemies to lovers, forbidden temptation, high-stakes action and an objectively good-looking cast.
It’s a bit of fun if you don’t think about it too much.
But you better buckle in for emotional, genre-bending whiplash that doesn’t always land. And a romance that, at times, will make you worriedly question – what are we trying to do here?
My Fault: London arrives on Prime Video today.
This article was first published on February 10, 2025.
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