This is installment # 1 of an on-going series I hope to sporadically deliver to my readership concerning issues that E.C. Henry see in his favorite genre of them all; that being issues pertaining to movies in the romantic comedy genre.
Today, I'm going to go into the issue of "weighting." For purpose of this discussion let me clarify what is meant by "weighting." "Weighting" refers to the treatment of the male and female romantic paring that's implied in the movie. "Weighting" is about how in depth the story goes into each individual in the romantic pairing, and how much screen time and attention is given to each member, individually, in this potential pairing.
Get where I'm going yet? No? Yes? Maybe? Well, it's my job to try to explain myself better. What I'm getting at is the idea that not all romantic comedies give their leads equal screen time. Not all romantic comedies develop their romantic pairing equally. Some movies favor the women. Some favor the man. Most people associate romantic comedies as being movies made to woo the female sensibilities. BUT, as of the past 13 years or so, I think a great effort has been made to expand the genre beyond its former boundaries and bias of JUST women's territory.
Male weighted rom-coms. Two examples leap right to mind: "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "(500) Days of Summer". Both have very different approaches at having the male be the center of attention in a romantic comedy vehicle. "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is all about Steve Carrell's "Andy" character's stumbling and bumbling foray into finding love, and getting laid successfully, durring his middle-aged years. IF you contrast this against Catherine Keener's, "Trish," character, who is Andy's main love interest in the story, you'll easily find that Andy is given far more treatment and development than Trish.
Sure the film does give Trish a little time, but not nearly the time that it gives in its development and following of Andy. Rather Trish is more of a stereotype that the audience is asked is buy into; Trish is a working mom, who has boyfriends who treated her poorly in the past, she is experienced in matters of love, and takes Andy on with idea of bringing him to maturity and grooming him into a man that can love her over the long-haul.
Wow, based on that you'd think this was an equally weighted rom-com. Buzzer! Wrong. Most of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin's" screen time is devoted to Andy and his friends. Trish comes on late. It's just the stereotype is so strong that the audience can fill in the blanks with who Trish is, and how she works for Andy in a romantic pairing. "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" IS the prototypical, goldenrod, poster child for the raunch-com: a raunchy romantic comedy. The kind laden with adolescent gags slanted towards entertaining men -- not women! That's right, you heard me, a romantic comedy built to entertain men.
To entertain the guys in a romantic comedy setting you DON'T always hafta go raunchy. Case and point: "(500) Days of Summer." "(500) Days of Summer" follows the plight of main protagonist Tom (Joseph Gordon- Levitt) as he agonizes over went went wrong in his pursuit of Summer Finn (Zoey Descancel). NOT a lot of time is spent in Summer Finn's camp getting to know the in's and outs of her. RATHER the audience is left to experience Summer as seen though the eyes and feelings of Tom's character.
Female weighted rom-coms. Two of my all-time favorites come to mind: "13 Going on 30" and "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding". Jenna (Jennifer Garner) is the focal point of "13 Going on 30". The movie is all abut Jenna making it right with her former childhood sweetheart Matt Flemhalf(Mark Ruffalo). Matt isn't given near the development or screen time that Jenna's character is. "13 Going on 30" is Jenna's story, we're in Jenna's world looking at Matt from a new perspective. We get just a couple sceenes with Matt, seeing where he is in his world. Non-equal screen time. Non-equal character development and arc. The main appeal of "13 Going on 30" is a girl realizing maturing vanities pose the risk of you never realizing the great love of your life.
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding", though some may argue it is a family comedy, does have a rom-com at its center. As we experience -- from Toula (Nia Vardalos' character) -- her trek to finding the man she will spend the rest of her life with; and that being Ian Miller (John Corbett). Once again we see Toula, and her family, dominating the screen time and the laughs. Ian Miller isn't given near the same treatment or developemnt. RATHER, as is the case with the "The 40-Year-Old Virgin's" Trish, Ian is more of a stereotype: liberal, open-minded school teacher, who comes from a conservative, uptight family.
Balanced rom-coms. In these rom-coms audience member get to experience both members of a potential romantic pairing on an equal playing field. Two that jump right to my mind being: "Sleepless in Seattle" and "How To Loose a Guy in 10 Days". In "Sleepless in Seattle" you have Sam (Tom Hanks) now living in Seattle, and Annie (Meg Ryan) living in Baltimore with the cosmic, fated romance, what I would call a destiny-com, brewing between them -- enenthough they don't have real exchange between the two of them until the last scene of the movie.
"How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days" has a MAGNIFICENT equal development of its two leads Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) and Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConahuey) in what I called in an earlier post, an ego-com. They both have agendas they're trying to advance, but we also get some time with their friends, AND then the scene with Benjamin's family in Statin Island happens with Andie being the first girl Benjamin's brought to them to see. So we're experiencing Ben's family with Andie. Pretty cool. Screentime doesn't favor either Andie or Benjamin's plight.
Okay, so I've made my case; not all rom-coms are weighted the same. If you have any thoughts to add, I'd love to hear them, as I'm ALWAYS tweaking my beliefs and ways of thinking about things.
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
P.S. Did finish the 1st draft of my latest spec. script entitled, "A Heart Built on the Sand" a couple of days ago. It came in weighing 160 pages. Still working on the refining the "cool stuff." Getting it down under 120 pages shouldn't be too hard; I've done that before. Also doing a beat-outline off my 1st draft; should help me gain clarity, trim unnecessary dialog, and help to refine the structure. I know, I'm such a writing nerd.
P.S.S. Think I found a new friend in Carson Reeves' "Scriptshaddow" blogspot. This is a real good place to go to read good posts from a good guy, AND be in a community of like-minded pre-pro screenwriters. Been looking for that for a very long time. Hopefully now I can make some friends and share some common interests. We'll see...
P.S.S.S Did see the romantic comedy release, "New Year's Eve"today. Totally forgettable movie. Sure it had some touching moments, a couple chuckles. But the mishmash of too many characters with too thin of stories to tell really dooms this picture. Too date theonly ensemble romantic comedy I really liked, that I thought worked was "Love Actually" And "New Years Eve" is no "Love Actually." Have to admit though the theatre was PACKED for "New Years Eve" and this is like a month after its release, and I actually heard a guy humming along with one of the actresses in the film as she sang "Auld Lang Syne." It never fails to amaze me the diverse -- and odd things different people relate too...