# When We First Met
**When We First Met** is a 2018 American romantic comedy directed by Ari Sandel and written by John Whittington, released as a Netflix original film on February 9, 2018[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met). It stars Adam Devine as Noah Ashby, a man who uses a magical photo booth to travel back in time and relive the night he first met Avery Martin ([Alexandra Daddario](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexandra-daddario)), trying again and again to make her fall for him after being relegated to the friend zone[2](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80117531).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | Netflix streaming premiere, February 9, 2018[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met) |
| Director / writer | Ari Sandel; screenplay by John Whittington[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met) |
| Lead cast | Adam Devine (Noah), Alexandra Daddario (Avery), Shelley Hennig (Carrie), Andrew Bachelor (Max), Robbie Amell (Ethan)[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5783956/fullcredits/) |
| Runtime and rating | 1h 37m (97 min); TV-14 on Netflix, PG-13 on JustWatch[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met) • [4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/when-we-first-met) |
| Critical scores | 45% Tomatometer (22 reviews), 58% Popcornmeter (1,000+ ratings), Metascore 36, IMDb 6.4 from about 58,000 votes[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/when-we-first-met/critic-reviews/) • [4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/when-we-first-met) |
| Filming | July to August 2016, on location in New Orleans[6](https://www.sensacine.com.mx/peliculas/pelicula-248964/) |
| Availability | Streaming on Netflix in 131 countries, including the US, the UK, and Canada[7](https://www.flickfinder.net/movie/when-we-first-met-2018-433310) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film opens in 2017 at the engagement party of Avery and her fiancé Ethan ([Robbie Amell](https://www.edgepedia.org/robbie-amell)). Noah, who met Avery at a [Halloween](https://www.edgepedia.org/halloween) party in New Orleans in 2014 and ended that night with only a friendly hug, has spent three years as her friend while she fell for someone else[8](https://www.urbandaddy.com/articles/41614/netflixs-when-we-first-met-is-an-interesting-rom-com-case-study). After getting sick at the party, he is taken home by Avery's best friend Carrie ([Shelley Hennig](https://www.edgepedia.org/shelley-hennig)); they stop at the same bar where he took Avery that night, and Noah stumbles into its photo booth, which sends him back to Halloween 2014[8](https://www.urbandaddy.com/articles/41614/netflixs-when-we-first-met-is-an-interesting-rom-com-case-study).
From there the film becomes a series of attempts to be the kind of man Noah believes Avery wants. In one run-through he imitates his friend Max (Andrew Bachelor), whose pick-up-artist tactics the film presents skeptically; in another he presents himself as conventional husband material and wakes three years later wealthy from a corporate job and engaged to Avery, though with no memory of how he got there[8](https://www.urbandaddy.com/articles/41614/netflixs-when-we-first-met-is-an-interesting-rom-com-case-study). Each altered night resets his present as an extension of the persona he adopted, a mechanic reviewers flagged as the film's weakest internal logic[8](https://www.urbandaddy.com/articles/41614/netflixs-when-we-first-met-is-an-interesting-rom-com-case-study). The ending, which reviewers agreed was apparent early, resolves the premise by having Noah accept that love means wanting the other person's happiness rather than engineering an outcome[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met/reviews).
## Production
The script had been written before Devine joined; in a 2016 interview promoting *Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates*, Devine said the project "wasn't fully my idea, the script had been written, but the producers asked me to get involved"[10](https://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/26638/interview-adam-devine-director-jake-szymanski-realize-mike-and-dave-need-wedding-dates?page=9). IMDb trivia adds that once he was cast as the lead, the producers asked him to look over the script and rewrite it to suit his comedy style[11](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5783956).
Sandel had previously directed *The DUFF*[12](https://www.flicks.co.uk/movie/when-we-first-met/). Producers were Adam Saunders, Mason Novick, and Mary Viola, with production companies Netflix, Wonderland Sound and Vision, Footprint Features, and MXN Entertainment[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met). David Hennings served as cinematographer and Jeffrey Wolf as editor[13](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met/cast-and-crew).
## Reception
Critical response was negative on aggregate measures. The film holds a 45% Tomatometer from 22 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, against a 58% Popcornmeter from more than 1,000 audience ratings, and a Metascore of 36 on Metacritic, which classifies the score as generally unfavorable[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/when-we-first-met/critic-reviews/). The site's critics consensus says the film "struggles in the cinematic 'friend zone'"[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met).
Reviewers split over the time-travel device. David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave it a D+, writing that it takes the viewer about five minutes to realize Noah is going about things the wrong way and Noah more than 90[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met). Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com scored it 2/4 and criticized John Whittington's script for relying so completely on its concept that it failed to write jokes or characters[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/when-we-first-met/critic-reviews/). Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times, in the review Metacritic scored highest at 60, called it a watered-down rom-com that does not fully deliver but remains a diverting twist on the genre, noting the potentially problematic premise is narrowly sidestepped because the film "zigs when you expect it to zag"[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met). More favorable critics included Louisa Moore of Screen Zealots (3.5/5), who found it fresh despite ticking every tired rom-com checkbox, and Preston Barta of Fresh Fiction (B-), who wrote that the way the movie plays with time elevates it above background-noise rom-coms[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met).
Audience scores ran well ahead of the critics': IMDb registered 6.4 from about 58,000 votes and [JustWatch](https://www.edgepedia.org/justwatch) showed an 84% user rating, against the 36 Metascore[4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/when-we-first-met). A CineGraph aggregation of independent evidence labels the film a "polarizer," with audience and critics divided[14](https://cinegraph.org/movies/when-we-first-met-2018).
## Place in the Netflix rom-com wave
The film arrived in February 2018, early in Netflix's run of original romantic comedies that also produced *Set It Up* and *To All the Boys I've Loved Before* later that year[15](https://www.thewrap.com/isnt-it-romantic-resurgence-rom-coms/). Retrospective commentary treats it as a middle-of-the-road entry in that early catalog, with a time-loop device that grows repetitive fairly quickly[16](https://filmfolly.com/review/when-we-first-met-approach-it-with-low-expectations). It belongs to the branch of time-loop romance in which the protagonist deliberately chooses to return to a single day and change events, as opposed to the involuntary loops of *Groundhog Day* or *Palm Springs*[17](https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/3b40390a-cec8-411b-827b-6537edfa00a9/content).
The film remains a Netflix exclusive and is frequently cited in "where did I see that movie" threads as the rom-com with the time-traveling photo booth[7](https://www.flickfinder.net/movie/when-we-first-met-2018-433310). As of late 2026 it streams on Netflix in 131 countries and is not available on Prime Video, Disney+, Max, Hulu, or Peacock[7](https://www.flickfinder.net/movie/when-we-first-met-2018-433310).
## References
1. [When We First Met, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met)
2. [When We First Met, Netflix Media Center](https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80117531)
3. [When We First Met (2018) full cast and crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5783956/fullcredits/)
4. [When We First Met streaming: where to watch online, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/when-we-first-met)
5. [When We First Met critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/when-we-first-met/critic-reviews/)
6. [When We First Met (2018), SensaCine México](https://www.sensacine.com.mx/peliculas/pelicula-248964/)
7. [Where to watch When We First Met (2018), FlickFinder](https://www.flickfinder.net/movie/when-we-first-met-2018-433310)
8. [Netflix's When We First Met Is an Interesting Rom-Com Case Study, UrbanDaddy](https://www.urbandaddy.com/articles/41614/netflixs-when-we-first-met-is-an-interesting-rom-com-case-study)
9. [When We First Met audience reviews, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met/reviews)
10. [Interview: Adam Devine, Director Jake Szymanski Realize 'Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates', HollywoodChicago.com](https://www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/26638/interview-adam-devine-director-jake-szymanski-realize-mike-and-dave-need-wedding-dates?page=9)
11. [When We First Met (2018), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5783956)
12. [When We First Met, Flicks UK](https://www.flicks.co.uk/movie/when-we-first-met/)
13. [When We First Met cast and crew, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/when_we_first_met/cast-and-crew)
14. [When We First Met, Cinegraph](https://cinegraph.org/movies/when-we-first-met-2018)
15. [Isn't It Romantic? Inside the Resurgence of the Beloved Rom-Com, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/isnt-it-romantic-resurgence-rom-coms/)
16. [When We First Met: Approach It With Low Expectations, Film Folly](https://filmfolly.com/review/when-we-first-met-approach-it-with-low-expectations)
17. [Time loop film thesis, University of Oregon Scholars' Bank](https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/3b40390a-cec8-411b-827b-6537edfa00a9/content)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2017 to 2018 › Titles K to W*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license