One viewer posted: “I thought it would be a rom-com, but it ended up destroying me.”
Another viewer shared: “Thought I was signing up for a chill romantic movie with a few clichés. Instead, it wrecked me emotionally, stabbed me in the heart, and walked away like nothing happened. That ending?? RUDE. Yeah. I’m not okay. Not even a little bit.”
One particularly telling reaction came from a fan who wrote: “I thought I was watching a silly rom-com, and I just got depressed with the ending of it.”
While a fourth said: “Why did nobody warn me that it ended like that, and why am I bawling over a movie I thought would be a cute and silly rom-com?”
Yet perhaps most telling was this reaction: “Netflix needs to fire the people responsible for marketing these movies. I wanted to watch a cute rom-com to relax and ended up with an existential crisis instead…”
However, not all viewers were moved by the film’s emotional manipulation.
The critical reception has been largely negative, with the film sitting at a dismal 29% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.
Metro‘s Tori Brazier was particularly scathing in her review, warning viewers that the film was ‘just a bit crap’ and criticizing it for being ‘a painful watch for British fans not particularly interested in the film’s tourist shots of the titular city and university.’
Collider was equally harsh, criticizing the film for having the ‘plot and character development out of a Wattpad novel written by a 15-year-old One Direction fan,’ while The New York Times dismissed it as ‘a limp attempt at being this generation’s About Time.’
Despite mixed critical reception, My Oxford Year has clearly resonated with audiences who seem to appreciate its emotional authenticity.
The film stars Sofia Carson and Corey Mylchreest in what many are describing as a story that begins as a typical romantic comedy but transforms into something much deeper and more emotionally complex.
Set against the backdrop of Oxford University, it follows an American student pursuing poetry who falls in love with her literature professor, only to discover that their romance faces unexpected challenges.
For viewers looking for their next emotional watch, My Oxford Year is now streaming exclusively on Netflix, though fans might want to keep the tissues handy.
Watch the trailer for My Oxford Year below…