The Romantic Comedy
I just started a subscription to Creative Screenwriting. My first issue arrived the other day and the main feature is about the romantic comedy. Magazines like these are driven by the bottom line: they are in business to help people like me to not only write scripts but to sell them. Therefore, the articles can be a little mercenary, with lots of helpful hints and rules to follow. In some ways this view of the movie business reminds me of the maxim that one shouldn't watch sausage being made. The same goes with movies.
As for the romantic comedy, I think it has taken a beating over recent years. There was a time when they attracted the most creative talents. Ernst Lubitsch, Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, all made exquisite films that fall into the large bin labeled romantic comedy. Perhaps the pinnacle was George Cukor's The Philadelphia Story, which was based on a play by Philip Barry. Broadway was the genesis of many sparklingly-written light romances and several were made into films. They were marked by sophisticated wit and manic energy.
Nowadays, the term romantic comedy has become something of a bad word, and I would imagine this is because of a couple or reasons--the dumbing down of the audience, and the perception by Hollywood that the audience doesn't want to be challenged. So we get the same film over and over again--boy meets girl, boy and girl have some sort of obstacle, boy ends up with girl after all. Throw in a quirky best friend (possibly gay) and a meddling parent, usually of a kooky, non-Caucasion ethnicity, and stir. Make sure the home furnishings and wardrobes are the kind that women would die for, and then cast someone like Matthew McConnaughey, Jennifer Lopez, or Kate Hudson.
The feature in Creative Screenwriting featured the writers of five upcoming romantic comedies: Leatherheads, The Accidental Husband, Run Fat Boy Run, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Smart People. I couldn't help but feel a slight depression upon reading the geneses and processes involved in writing these films. Leatherheads was written by two sportswriters, who commented that they saw lots of movies. If they were recent films, I hope they watched them to learn what not to do. The author of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, actor Jason Segal, mentions that he loves the execrable Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan films Sleeping in Seattle and You've Got Mail, low points in the recent history of romantic comedies.
The five films would seem to be quite divergent in plot and tone, which indicates the elasticity of the category. The Accidental Husband sounds like a "chick-flick," which just won't die. Films like 27 Dresses, which did well at the box office, indicates that there is an inexhaustive audience for films like this. Clearly they are targeted at women, and one can only imagine that in relationships all over the country trade-offs are being made. "This week we see 27 Dresses, and next week we'll see the Bruce Willis movie."
But romantic comedies can also be for men, Judd Apatow and his kind proved that. The outstanding success of The Wedding Crashers, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up have created a new sub-genre, the "raunchy" romantic comedy. These films also have to adhere to certain rules, though. They can be raunchy, but they also have to be sweet (the ending of Wedding Crashers was so sweet it ruined the whole movie). Apatow is behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall, so we'll see whether this trend has legs.
While romantic comedies these days are nauseatingly predictable (usually it involves the main character realizing they are with the wrong person, and need to be with that other person, and that may then involve a mad dash across town to stop a wedding or someone leaving town on an airplane) it is worth noting that they don't have to be. The best romantic comedies of the past thirty years vary from the template--in Annie Hall and Manhattan, two of Woody Allen's best films, the guy doesn't get the girl. (Well, he might in Manhattan, if he heeds his inamorata's advice and has "a little faith in people." (Sideways has a similar ambiguous ending). The Graduate, which could sort of be considered a romantic comedy, has the guy and girl ending up together, but facing an uncertain future in the back of a bus.
Meanwhile the multiplexes are littered with bad romantic comedies. Entering the phrase into a search engine turned up some notable stinkers like Must Love Dogs and Bewitched. It's getting to be that I'm surprised when a film of this genre is any good--Definitely, Maybe, which I haven't seen, got some strong reviews. From seeing the trailer I have a hard time believing it could be any good at all. I'll have to catch up with it on DVD, because I can't bring myself to going to a theater to see it.
As for the romantic comedy, I think it has taken a beating over recent years. There was a time when they attracted the most creative talents. Ernst Lubitsch, Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, all made exquisite films that fall into the large bin labeled romantic comedy. Perhaps the pinnacle was George Cukor's The Philadelphia Story, which was based on a play by Philip Barry. Broadway was the genesis of many sparklingly-written light romances and several were made into films. They were marked by sophisticated wit and manic energy.
Nowadays, the term romantic comedy has become something of a bad word, and I would imagine this is because of a couple or reasons--the dumbing down of the audience, and the perception by Hollywood that the audience doesn't want to be challenged. So we get the same film over and over again--boy meets girl, boy and girl have some sort of obstacle, boy ends up with girl after all. Throw in a quirky best friend (possibly gay) and a meddling parent, usually of a kooky, non-Caucasion ethnicity, and stir. Make sure the home furnishings and wardrobes are the kind that women would die for, and then cast someone like Matthew McConnaughey, Jennifer Lopez, or Kate Hudson.
The feature in Creative Screenwriting featured the writers of five upcoming romantic comedies: Leatherheads, The Accidental Husband, Run Fat Boy Run, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Smart People. I couldn't help but feel a slight depression upon reading the geneses and processes involved in writing these films. Leatherheads was written by two sportswriters, who commented that they saw lots of movies. If they were recent films, I hope they watched them to learn what not to do. The author of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, actor Jason Segal, mentions that he loves the execrable Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan films Sleeping in Seattle and You've Got Mail, low points in the recent history of romantic comedies.
The five films would seem to be quite divergent in plot and tone, which indicates the elasticity of the category. The Accidental Husband sounds like a "chick-flick," which just won't die. Films like 27 Dresses, which did well at the box office, indicates that there is an inexhaustive audience for films like this. Clearly they are targeted at women, and one can only imagine that in relationships all over the country trade-offs are being made. "This week we see 27 Dresses, and next week we'll see the Bruce Willis movie."
But romantic comedies can also be for men, Judd Apatow and his kind proved that. The outstanding success of The Wedding Crashers, The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up have created a new sub-genre, the "raunchy" romantic comedy. These films also have to adhere to certain rules, though. They can be raunchy, but they also have to be sweet (the ending of Wedding Crashers was so sweet it ruined the whole movie). Apatow is behind Forgetting Sarah Marshall, so we'll see whether this trend has legs.
While romantic comedies these days are nauseatingly predictable (usually it involves the main character realizing they are with the wrong person, and need to be with that other person, and that may then involve a mad dash across town to stop a wedding or someone leaving town on an airplane) it is worth noting that they don't have to be. The best romantic comedies of the past thirty years vary from the template--in Annie Hall and Manhattan, two of Woody Allen's best films, the guy doesn't get the girl. (Well, he might in Manhattan, if he heeds his inamorata's advice and has "a little faith in people." (Sideways has a similar ambiguous ending). The Graduate, which could sort of be considered a romantic comedy, has the guy and girl ending up together, but facing an uncertain future in the back of a bus.
Meanwhile the multiplexes are littered with bad romantic comedies. Entering the phrase into a search engine turned up some notable stinkers like Must Love Dogs and Bewitched. It's getting to be that I'm surprised when a film of this genre is any good--Definitely, Maybe, which I haven't seen, got some strong reviews. From seeing the trailer I have a hard time believing it could be any good at all. I'll have to catch up with it on DVD, because I can't bring myself to going to a theater to see it.
I loathe most romantic comedies. One barrier to my enjoyment of them is the fact that I usually dislike the lead characters. Another is their predictability and lack of wit. One notable exception for me is Moonstruck. I love the characters in the movie, and I can buy Nic Cage and Cher as a couple. Another bonus is that the comedy is not forgotten-there are many laugh-out-loud moments for me. One of my favorites is Loretta's comment after seeing "La Boheme." "I can't believe she died! I mean, I knew she was sick..."
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, Maybe was just OK. Better than most in the genre, but like you say, that doesn't mean much.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side, it wasn't as hideously dumb as many others in the genre. No idiotic premise (like "he's a man! But also her maid of honor! And he wears a kilt that's too small!"), and it seemed fairly sincere. Plus the actors (even Ryan Reynolds) all did pretty well.
On the other hand, it was awfully dull at times. The IMDb lists a run time of 112 minutes, but I was genuinely surprised to realize upon leaving the theater that less than 140 had gone by.
Overall, I'd peg it as a B-. Or the equivalent of one of Roger Ebert's "what the hell, I'll give it 3 stars" ratings.