Ever looked at the entire body of the romantic comedy genre as a vast field of flowers? Fields in which us rom-com aficionados fly about like butterflies perusing the offerings of these fields? I do. Okay, I might lose my man card for admitting as much, but such is life. I gotta be me! And more and more I'm view that as a vast field of daisies with less and less beautiful roses in the mix. Today it feels like Hollywood has forgotten how to make a "good" romantic comedy.
Even with recent releases of "Don Juan" , "Enough Said" , "Thanks for Sharing" , and "The Spectacular Now" , I feel very uninspired about where the genre is headed. "Don Juan" and "Thanks for Sharing"have subject matter that DON'T appeal to me in a rom-com setting: porn and sex addiction. SURE a great script/execution CAN sometime overcome a less than inspired premise, but in all honesty neither of these has much going for them in my book. They are misfires at the premise level. "Enough Said" has James Gandolfini in a rom-com. Honestly, do YOU want to see James Gandofini as the main lead in a romantic comedy? Serious stretch. Sure MAYBE with a great script and great execution a lot can be overcome. But getting me to buy in that James Gandofini is going to be a worthwhile follow in a romantic comedy is a MAJOR stretch. Of all the movies I've mentioned I hold out the highest hope for "The Spectacular Now". Unfortunately, I also have a fear that this movie is going to end up being too teen and not painted with a broad enough brush stroke for me really get into. As I think too many of Hollywood's teen comedies try to hard to mimic teen life, rather then set the ideal for which teens to emulate, which is what I prefer.
So many rom-coms I've seen just feel so uninspired: "Good Luck Chuck" (2007: Jessica Alba, Dane Cook), "The Bounty Hunter"(2010: Jennifer Aniston, Gerald Butler), "One for the Money"(2012: Katherine Heigl), "Just Like Heaven"(2005: Reece Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo), "Fool's Gold"(2008: Matthew McConahuey, Kate Hudson). All these are "daisy" rom-coms; clutter that makes the entire field look ordinary. Now I don't like bashing people, as all the participants in this group have been in other movies that were great. But at the same time you hafta be honest. These movies were all very uninspired. Perhaps the immortal words of Jon Bon Jovi sums it up best:
"Shot to the heart / and you're to blame / you give love / a bad name"
But occasionally out the pack I'll find one rose, a true gem of glorious creation worth celebrating. Most recently, for me, that came in the form of re-watching "Dan in Real Life". A romantic comedy I was so impressed with that I actually put it in my 10 top 5 of all-time, which is no small feat. When a rom-com is done right it is so delightful, and "Dan in Real Life" was done well, I'm still marveling at how good it is. And then there's of course, "Silver Lining's Playbook" that was so good that Jennifer Lawrence won an Oscar, AND this rom-com was up for best movie of the year.
So going forward is there hope for this beleaguered genre? YES! I'm the hope! I've written some excellent rom-coms that are ready to be filmed right now. And as always Hollywood is ripe with hyper talented people. It's just the material HAS TO be better. Right now I feel like we're in a phase where the gross out material from the raunch-coms erathat Judd Apatow made happen in the mid to late 2000s is now being instilled in an adult themed rom-com: by this I'm implying the premises I earlier rejected in "Don Juan" and "Thanks for Sharing".
Sure we all want to put butts in seats, but do we always hafta shoot for the low-brow stuff? Does Hollywood hafta be the driving force behind the dumbing down of the word? I long for the days of sophistication and rom-coms that made you want to be a better person so as to have a romance like the one on the silver screen. What about inspiring the masses to have a greater life? What about creating beauty? Doesn't legacy count for anything?
Ah, the beautiful rose. When it is found in the land of the rom-com it is to be treasured indeed. Because the forces that be are following the whims of society and not challenging us to strive for the higher ideals, and when you do that you create a field beguiled by uninspired daisies, when you should be filling the land with beautiful roses.
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
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