Romantic comedies are a tried and true genre in the film world, and those with an Amazon Prime subscription were recently treated to Madelaine Petsch’s new release Maintenance Required. The Riverdale breakout star produced and stars as protagonist Frankie, in a modern take on Parfumerie. I loved the Notting Hill and You’ve Got Mail references throughout its runtime, and Petsch shared another easter egg that I totally missed.
While it might be a new release, Maintenance Required featured a number of moments that references some of the best romantic comedies of all time. A line is quoted from Notting Hill, and it also features some obvious similarities to previous Parfumerie adaptation You’ve Got Mail. As you can see in the video above, I asked Petsch if there were any other easter eggs that I missed. She cued me into one, revealing:
There’s actually a very specific scene reference in the date scene when we’re in the restaurant to Shop Around the Corner, which is the fifties movie. And if you watch that scene, you’ll see the blocking of our scene is, you know, trying to mimic to the best of our ability that blocking in that scene.
Well, my mind is blown. It turns out that Maintenance Required featured a scene that directly references the 1940 movie The Shop Around the Corner. That title is (you guessed it) yet another take on Parfumerie, where two professional rivals end up accidentally falling in love with each other. Clearly those bringing the new Amazon Prime movie are fans of the genre, and wanted to pay respect to the source material that’s inspired so many rom-coms throughout the years. That includes harkening back to a predecessor that came decades earlier.
Parfume has inspired countless movies and plays over the years, including the Broadway musical She Loves Me. Maintenance Required is the latest project to come from this tradition, and it’s awesome seeing all the ways that this new rom-com has honored the genre’s history. It’s been trending on Amazon since its release, so it would appear that lots of folks are seeing these easter eggs for themselves.
In our same conversation, I asked Petsch about what other rom-coms she would have liked to include in the fun of Maintenance Required if she could. She answered resoundingly, telling me:
Crazy, Stupid, Love is the best movie ever made?
That’s a really solid choice, and and Crazy, Stupid, Love definitely has its place in rom-com history. That’s partly thanks to its stellar cast, including names like Kevin Bacon, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, and more. It’s too bad that Petsch wasn’t able to sneak in an easter egg for that title in Maintenance Required.
Maintenance Required is out now on Amazon Prime subscription as part of the 2025 movie release list. And with The Strangers – Chapter 2 in theaters, there’s a rare opportunity to fans to do a double feature starring Madelaine Petsch.