For actress Em Haine, life definitely imitates art.
The star of E!'s new original TV movie Why Can't My Life Be a Rom-Com? recently revealed the "pretty cute" way she met her current partner, and the story is just like a meet-cute out of one of your favorite films.
"The way me met was in Mexico and it was my first day here and I looked up where I could get an avocado toast—so gringo of me," Haine exclusively told E! News. "This one place in town had really good reviews and I went and there was this woman there and immediately locked eyes and she invited me out to her restaurant in town, which had live music that night. We've been seeing each other ever since that first moment."
The star added she was "immediately taken" by her now-girlfriend.
In Why Can't My Life Be a Rom-Com?, Haine plays Eliza, a 20-something single woman who drops everything to move to the Hamptons to find a rich husband using the rules of dating from a 50-year-old self-help book.
"From the beginning I loved how quirky and relatable Eliza was," she explained of what drew her to the project, "and who doesn't love a sweet happy ending? I'm a sucker for stories where they end up falling in love and it's a happily ever after thing."
Eliza even has her very own boombox scene in the film, á la the 1989 John Cusack classic Say Anything... However, the movie gives a new take on the classic '80s rom-com.
"It's something we actually address in the movie, but a lot of them in hindsight can be kind of problematic," Haine explained. "Either misogynistic or there's characters that are emotionally manipulating each other. A lot of them the formulas are totally outdated, which is another reason I'm so proud of this film."
As for her own personal favorite rom-coms, the actress gravitates towards those with a lead who has a more "tough girl attitude" like She's the Man and 10 Things I Hate About You.
Check out a sneak peek at Why Can't My Life Be a Rom-Com? above, and don't miss the film's premiere tonight, Feb. 19, at 9 p.m. on E!, followed by Royal Rendezvous Sunday, Feb. 26, at 9 p.m. and Married by Mistake Sunday, March 5 at 9 p.m.