The Rom Com Re-Revival
September 14, 2018 7:50 PM Subscribe
I just think romcom is a genre where we only talk about the worst examples and pretend they are not only representative but a bar not worth trying to clear. I mean, it includes some of the greatest films and even a few modern classics ...
EDIT: I love romance and I love comedy, I don't need to indulge in self-loathing for going where I'll be served even when the fare tends to be middling.
posted by seraphine at 8:34 PM on September 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
EDIT: I love romance and I love comedy, I don't need to indulge in self-loathing for going where I'll be served even when the fare tends to be middling.
posted by seraphine at 8:34 PM on September 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
Nice article, I can't comment on the more recent films mentioned as I've yet to see them, but it does an admirable job in summing up the complicated enjoyment found in the genre without overstating the case. Romantic comedies are indeed a touchy subject nowadays for reasons good and not so great, mostly based on where one places the emphasis and demand for how they are expected to relate to real life.
The author captures that aspect pretty well for being such a brief overview of the genre and it makes a good starting point for further thought or conversation if taken as a more an initial sketch of romantic comedies and how we engage with them rather than a finished portrait that captures all the complexity, something that is surely beyond the reach of any single essay on the subject.
posted by gusottertrout at 8:53 PM on September 14, 2018
The author captures that aspect pretty well for being such a brief overview of the genre and it makes a good starting point for further thought or conversation if taken as a more an initial sketch of romantic comedies and how we engage with them rather than a finished portrait that captures all the complexity, something that is surely beyond the reach of any single essay on the subject.
posted by gusottertrout at 8:53 PM on September 14, 2018
I should also say thanks for the post, not just because of this article, but for it leading me to look at some of the others Haley Mlotek wrote for The Ringer, and they're quite good too. I won't link them so as not to derail this post, but she's definitely a writer I'm going to be interested in reading more from.
posted by gusottertrout at 9:24 PM on September 14, 2018
posted by gusottertrout at 9:24 PM on September 14, 2018
Love Actually has not aged well at all, which I think is a good thing (in the sense that what I and many others now dislike about it is due to truly questionable behavior on some of the characters' parts [erm, sign guy, forex]), but I also definitely remember that when it came out nobody I knew (including myself) really found it objectionable. I guess we were just dumber then? I mean, I certainly was. I wonder what this means for films in the next 20 years.
posted by axiom at 9:45 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by axiom at 9:45 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
A lot of the '30s rom coms had people starting the movie in long term relationships, sometimes already married, or at least adults with a deep history. My Favorite Wife, The Awful Truth, Love Crazy, His Girl Friday and too many others to count.
Way too many recent ones focused on the "how do the crazy kids meet" gimmick, to the extent I think it was viewed by screenwriters as a necessary element to put on screen. Which of course has later costs in terms of believability and often likability of the plot.
I've been complaining about this for ages so I was happy to see Crazy Rich Asians jettison the meet cute and do major box office. I'm hoping we get more good rom coms and more varied plots and not just a brief cluster of good ones.
posted by mark k at 10:10 PM on September 14, 2018 [10 favorites]
Way too many recent ones focused on the "how do the crazy kids meet" gimmick, to the extent I think it was viewed by screenwriters as a necessary element to put on screen. Which of course has later costs in terms of believability and often likability of the plot.
I've been complaining about this for ages so I was happy to see Crazy Rich Asians jettison the meet cute and do major box office. I'm hoping we get more good rom coms and more varied plots and not just a brief cluster of good ones.
posted by mark k at 10:10 PM on September 14, 2018 [10 favorites]
A lot of the '30s rom coms had people starting the movie in long term relationships, sometimes already married, or at least adults with a deep history. My Favorite Wife, The Awful Truth, Love Crazy, His Girl Friday and too many others to count.
these are historically refereed to as "comedies of Re-Marriage" a "name given its name by the philosopher Stanley Cavell in a series of academic articles that later became a book, Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage. Cavell argues that the genre represented Hollywood's crowning achievement, and that beneath all the slapstick and innuendo is a serious effort to create a new basis for marriage centered on mutual love – religious and economic necessity no longer applying for much of the American middle class. "
posted by The Whelk at 11:00 PM on September 14, 2018 [25 favorites]
I just came here to say that I feel sorry for everyone who isn’t friends with my friends is a wonderful thing to think and feel, and I'm glad I read this sentence right now. Let's all feel sorry for each other for the best reason for a moment.
posted by es_de_bah at 11:33 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by es_de_bah at 11:33 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
OVER INVESTED postcast- His Gal Friday
I like how they point out the dynamic is totally two kind of terrible people who can only exist with each other cause they;re kind of immoral weirdos
posted by The Whelk at 11:59 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
I like how they point out the dynamic is totally two kind of terrible people who can only exist with each other cause they;re kind of immoral weirdos
posted by The Whelk at 11:59 PM on September 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
I like how they point out the dynamic is totally two kind of terrible people who can only exist with each other cause they;re kind of immoral weirdos
They are. But who isn't in that world other than poor Mollie Malloy? The big difference is that Walter and Hildy aren't simps. It's more their awareness than their morality that makes the difference. It's something I always have some difficulty in accepting about Hawks, the in-group/out-group dynamic draws the audience to the side of the leads, but I'm not sure that's where they'd actually have us.
The Cavell rec is a good one. I hope people don't let the philosopher thing put them off from it since it's a fun read that doesn't rely on academic jargon to make its points. It does help to have at least some slight familiarity with the films talked about though.
posted by gusottertrout at 12:21 AM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
They are. But who isn't in that world other than poor Mollie Malloy? The big difference is that Walter and Hildy aren't simps. It's more their awareness than their morality that makes the difference. It's something I always have some difficulty in accepting about Hawks, the in-group/out-group dynamic draws the audience to the side of the leads, but I'm not sure that's where they'd actually have us.
The Cavell rec is a good one. I hope people don't let the philosopher thing put them off from it since it's a fun read that doesn't rely on academic jargon to make its points. It does help to have at least some slight familiarity with the films talked about though.
posted by gusottertrout at 12:21 AM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Honestly if the writing is good and the characters are believable I'm good. A lot of the recent rom-coms have just felt flat-out formulaic, like the director went to Ikea and picked up a Malm Lövmuvi flat pack and cast it by calling a bunch of actors to offer beer and pizza to help them assemble it (the one who brings their own allen wrench gets to star).
Gimme a script and a story that feels unique and real and I'll follow you anywhere.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:33 AM on September 15, 2018 [6 favorites]
Gimme a script and a story that feels unique and real and I'll follow you anywhere.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:33 AM on September 15, 2018 [6 favorites]
Favorited for "Malm Lövmuvi flat pack."
posted by Spathe Cadet at 4:52 AM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Spathe Cadet at 4:52 AM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
The summer’s breakout movies, as many critics and viewers have pointed out, suggest that the romantic comedy is unexpectedly experiencing a renaissance. Crazy Rich Asians; Juliet, Naked; and Destination Wedding have all been released in theaters in the past month,
Kind of stretch considering that Juliet bombed and Destination Wedding never got a real release and was dumped to VOD after a couple of weeks.
posted by octothorpe at 6:14 AM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Kind of stretch considering that Juliet bombed and Destination Wedding never got a real release and was dumped to VOD after a couple of weeks.
posted by octothorpe at 6:14 AM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
these are historically refereed to as "comedies of Re-Marriage"
This is so nifty to learn! Like I said I've been complaining about (the decline of) this genre for a while, I didn't realize it had a name. Apparently my knowledge of the scholarship relating to romantic comedies is lacking, but the book is now added to my goodreads list.
posted by mark k at 9:59 AM on September 15, 2018
This is so nifty to learn! Like I said I've been complaining about (the decline of) this genre for a while, I didn't realize it had a name. Apparently my knowledge of the scholarship relating to romantic comedies is lacking, but the book is now added to my goodreads list.
posted by mark k at 9:59 AM on September 15, 2018
Love Actually has not aged well at all, which I think is a good thing (in the sense that what I and many others now dislike about it is due to truly questionable behavior on some of the characters' parts [erm, sign guy, forex])
Is Love Actually supposed to be positive about the relationships it portrays? I thought that it was making a point about how a bunch of these things AREN'T actually love. Like it gives you the surface feelings because it's shot like a romantic film and the performances are mostly lovely and the performers are all charismatic and dreamy (because at one point we thought Hugh Grant was dreamy) but in the end you're supposed to realize that the conventions of the rom-com are being used to paper over some stuff that's actually not okay and that we do that in our real lives as well, excusing all sorts of gross behavior because of our notions of love. (Sign guy is a great example of that.) Like, I thought it was sort of an anti-"romantic" movie. Is it actually all supposed to be taken straight?
posted by IAmUnaware at 1:04 PM on September 15, 2018
Is Love Actually supposed to be positive about the relationships it portrays? I thought that it was making a point about how a bunch of these things AREN'T actually love. Like it gives you the surface feelings because it's shot like a romantic film and the performances are mostly lovely and the performers are all charismatic and dreamy (because at one point we thought Hugh Grant was dreamy) but in the end you're supposed to realize that the conventions of the rom-com are being used to paper over some stuff that's actually not okay and that we do that in our real lives as well, excusing all sorts of gross behavior because of our notions of love. (Sign guy is a great example of that.) Like, I thought it was sort of an anti-"romantic" movie. Is it actually all supposed to be taken straight?
posted by IAmUnaware at 1:04 PM on September 15, 2018
Like, I thought it was sort of an anti-"romantic" movie. Is it actually all supposed to be taken straight?
Yes. Yes, it is.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:20 PM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
Yes. Yes, it is.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:20 PM on September 15, 2018 [4 favorites]
Like, I thought it was sort of an anti-"romantic" movie. Is it actually all supposed to be taken straight?
Yes.
In case you're wondering where Richard Curtis stands, you can watch The Boat that Rocked where an attempted rape is played as adorable hijinks, and About Time, which is glossy and charming and incredibly awful about women.
posted by betweenthebars at 8:33 PM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yes.
In case you're wondering where Richard Curtis stands, you can watch The Boat that Rocked where an attempted rape is played as adorable hijinks, and About Time, which is glossy and charming and incredibly awful about women.
posted by betweenthebars at 8:33 PM on September 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
In case anyone is wondering, I don't go out of my way to hatewatch Richard Curtis films. What happened:
A film about 1960s music? I love 1960s music! What the fuck... checks wikipedia... goddamn richard love actually curtis (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
A film about time travel? I love time travel! What the fuck... checks wikipedia... goddamn richard love actually rapey boat movie curtis (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
posted by betweenthebars at 8:44 PM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
A film about 1960s music? I love 1960s music! What the fuck... checks wikipedia... goddamn richard love actually curtis (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
A film about time travel? I love time travel! What the fuck... checks wikipedia... goddamn richard love actually rapey boat movie curtis (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
posted by betweenthebars at 8:44 PM on September 15, 2018 [2 favorites]
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