REVIEW: Don’t Blame Me For Liking ‘Don’t Blame Karma!’

Don’t Blame Karma! (¿Qué culpa tiene el Karma?) is a Spanish-language Netflix Original rom-com directed by Elisa Miller and written by Fernanda Eguiarte and Marcelo Tobar. When Sara’s (Aislinn Derbez) sister Lucy (Renata Notni) comes to visit bearing news, she can’t possibly have imagined that news being she was engaged to Sara’s one-time best friend and secret crush Aaron (Gil Cerezo).

I was skeptical at first about this one. Aaron didn’t quite appeal to me; he seemed like a jerk to whom I couldn’t understand Sara’s attraction. And I was preparing to be frustrated by Lucy’s vain nature and the not particularly funny back and forth argument about an open relationship between their parents all movie long. But maybe that was the point all along. Maybe Don’t Blame Karma was just trying to get you to make harsh assumptions about its characters the same way that Sara has spent her entire life making harsh assumptions about herself.

When she was a kid, Sara blew out her sister’s birthday candles, and Lucy cursed her to take all her wishes for herself for the rest of ever. So Sara has spent her life blaming karma for her misfortunes and has let it drive a wedge between her and her sister. Only, it turns out, Lucy is incredibly kind and loves Sara endlessly, quickly becoming a character I really enjoyed. She’s not the usual stuck-up, banal social media influencer type. And the same happened quickly for Aaron. Despite being a famous musician, and while he doesn’t exhibit all that dynamic of a personality, he does come across as quite nice and thoughtful. So it’s no wonder, honestly, that Lucy and he wound up together.

Aaron being a musician, of course, also means that the movie has a few of his songs throughout. They repeat just a few times too many to me, but they’re all very catchy and fun. His musical influences don’t always match my expectations based on how he looks and dresses, but I suppose that’s on me. The costuming elsewhere is gorgeous. Sara is a designer, and some dresses she creates are unique and beautiful. I commend the movie on how creatively they thought through the designs. It would have been easy to call her a creative designer and just made the dresses look high-end, but really they are quite special.

Speaking of special, I would certainly call Don’t Blame Karma a rom-com; the romantic elements are strong, and it takes an intentionally comedic tone with a few physical comedy bits and lighthearted moments. But what’s special is the fact that it pays equal if not more attention ultimately to Sara and Lucy’s relationship. The growth they have over the course of the movie doesn’t feel like it outshines the romantic connections. Instead, it’s a plot thread that helps bolster the sweetness of the others’ conclusions. When they’re happy together, everything else about the movie gets even happier.

The one thread I didn’t adore was that of the parents. The mother came off as rather rude and the father as pretty aloof. Even though they end in a place I appreciated, I didn’t feel like they earned it the way everyone else definitely did. I don’t like watching mean mothers, and I don’t like manipulation being played off as a positive thing, both of which resounded for most of their screen time.

Don’t Blame Karma hits most of the notes just right—great relationships, characters, and communication among them. It’s a totally satisfying addition to Netflix’s summer rom-com slate.

Don’t Blame Karma! is streaming now on Netflix.

Jason Flatt

Jason is the Sr. Editor at But Why Tho? and producer of the But Why Tho? Podcast. He’s usually writing about foreign films, Jewish media, and summer camp, when he isn’t working as a music educator in his day job.