I love being me. Only me would follow-up a post about how the United States is beter at making romantic comedy movies than Great Britain is with a post on vulnerablitly. But that's me, pretenteous as all fuck, and ALWAYS willing go out on a limb and see how much more of fool I can become and add to my legend of infamacy.
This time kiddies I'm attempting to tackle the issue of "vunlerablity" and how it pertains to romatic comedies. Should be fun, right? Let's see what this joker has in his bag of tricks this time around. This discource will begin a definition of the word: vulnerable.
Vulnerablity: 1) Susceptable to phyiscal, emotional, or just an attack. 2) Open to cesure or criticism.
O-kay, not exactly painting the picture I intended to pain in actually looking this word up in my trusty American Heritage Dictionary which I've been known to crack from time-to-time, since I'm as versed with words as some brainacs are. So let's go more from the gut. This is how E.C. Henry, ever the romantic titan that he is, sees the word "vulnerabilty" as pertains to romatic comedy movies:
Vulernabilty: 1) The part of the romantic comedy where a member of romance confesses something intimate that previously they held guarded from the other member of the romance. 2) the part of the romatic comedy that makes the girls swoon and the guys squirm in their seats.
Vullnerablity is what women want to hear from thier guy. It is priviledged insider information that makes women feel important, valued and trusted. Guys, on the hand see vulnerablity as a sign of weakness, and are resistant to being vulnerable because of their superhero-like egos. In a crude and broader sense most guys are macho doers, whereas women tend to be emotional gossips. Hence, if you buy a form of that logic you see a recipe ripe for drama. In one corner you have women who typically wanna talk and think their talk is bigger than it actually. And in the other corner you have your silent hero type, who wants to do adventurous things and be admired for doing so. Vulnerablity is when the guard of the hero comes down and the girl's inner desire to better know her man gets fullfilled.
But here is vulnerablity, from a macho guys' perspective:
"Earn this."
Okay, so now I'm quoting lines from "Saving Private Ryan" (1998: writen by Robert Rodat, directed by Steven Speilberg, stars Tom Hanks and Matt Damon). Why? Can there be a corolation between the lean lines of dialog in a war movie, and one of the most key dynamics in a romantic comedy? Yes, in this case there is. In "Saving Private Ryan" this line is spoken between a dieing commander to the man he was sent to rescue to impress upon him the ultimate sacrifce that he made so that this man could be saved and returned to his family. The bridge to this illustration in the make-up and dynamics of a romantic comedy is that for vulnerable moments to really matter, what matters first, is what happens first. In "Saving Private Ryan" the audience is exposed to the D-day invasion from a footsoldier's point of view, disarming fortified German postions, and at the end a street-by-street tank battle. We see the horrors of war. All of this is on our minds when at last the hero of the movie, Tom Hanks' character dies--but before he does he has a vulneralbe moment with Matt Damon's character and imparts to him some moving, final words. The action engages the audience, and makes them care about what characters are saying. Study enough romantic comedies and you'll find a very similar principle in action.
It is VERY IMPORTANT that your romantic comedy makes people laugh before vulnerable moments occur. IF you fail to entertain the audience and just realy on dramatic moments to carry your rom-com, you're in BIG TROUBLE! As a guy I am really not into deep, weepy moment, they are a real turn-off for me. BUT if you can get me to care about your characters, and laugh a little along the way, I'm apt to respond favorably to a rom-com's vulnerable moments.
From my perspective the best vulnerable moment in a rom-com that I like the most is that scene between Jenna Rink (as played by Jennifer Garner) and Matt Flemmhaff (as played by Mark Ruffalo) in "13 Going on 30" (2004: written by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa) where Jenna attempts to intercept Matt and talk him out of marry Wendy from Chicago. "I Love you Matt, you're my best friend."
Why does this line work? It's a rather straight forward, boring confession. Hardly revolutionary. As compared to say the line, "I would have loved you even if we had never met" which Dermot Mulroney's character says to Debra Messing's character in a vulnerable moment from "The Wedding Date" (2005: screenplay by Dana Fox).
It all ties back to earning your romantic, vulnerable moments. I LA-OVED Jenna Rink and Matt Flemhaff's character arc. I LOATHED the absoulutely crappy characters that Dermot Mulroney and Debra Messing played in "The Wedding Date". I hated those characters so much that by the end of "The Wedding Date" I didn't even want to remember their names. A male hooker who falls in love with the woman who hired him to make herself look like a sucess in front of her family--awefull! Worse yet there are no laughs to make the ride more palitable. Not so with "13 Going on 30". That movie had some laughs in it, and it was relateble.
My point is that before you have a meaningful vulnerable moment, you really need to earn it by grafting in some comedy and getting your audience to like and root for your protagonists. "The Wedding Date" was an abysmal failure. I wouldn't give a fuck if it had the most romantic lines at the end, because it's set-up and up to that point was so forgetable. Now as for "13 Going on 30" the set-up for Jenna and Matt's confession to one another is awesome. You see that both secretly like each other a lot, but that Jenna has some hang-ups with the illusion of worldly success--and Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa use this set-up and graft in some funny stuff leading up that moment.
Now girls MAY be willing to forgive a rom-com for not being funny, and JUST accept all the sappy stuff which satisfies an inner need that they have. But I, as a guy, will not forgive such a grievous oversight. Rom-coms that really on sappy stuff to carry them are the dreck that gives the entire genre the black-eye stigma through which many condemn anything rom-com.
I can't state this loudly or enough, intersting lines of dialog are not enough to cary vulnernable moments in movies and make them memorable. What you do beforehand is critical to pulling off and making iconic moments sing.
Other "vulnerable" moments in rom-coms that E.C. Henry responded favorably to:
- When Andy FINALLY tells Trish that's he's a virgin from Judd Apatow's classic raunch-com "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005). Why this works: Big, action sequence preceeds this with Andy chasing Trish moving car with his bicylce, and the comedic responce line by Trish once Andy reluctatnly confess. "You're just a virgin. Wssshew, I thought you were trying to kill me." THAT is a underrated line. Comedic relief afer a dramic confession. Nice touch, LOVED it. And this vulnerable scene works because its build up is masterfully made in the plot. When's Andy going to fall in love and NOT be a virgin anymore. EVERYTHING plays off this central chord. Along the way guys laugh. And by the end of the movie I'm willing to tollerate a vulnerable moment.
- Amy's confession to Aarron that she wants to try and that she loves him, after her flop at trying to slam dunk a basketball at the end of "Trainwreck" (2015). This scene moves me because I bought into Amy's chararacter arc and inner need. I laughed a few times, and by the end of the movie was rooting for Aarron and Amy to get back together and be a couple. Amy Schumer and Judd Apatow got me to care, and they did so with an interesting plot, a good, well-defined, and easy to understand character arc by the lead heronine, Amy Townsend.
- Benjamin Barry and Andie Anderson's blow-up fight at the DeLower's diamond party from "How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days". This kind of a vulnerable moment in subtext form, where Andie and Ben are argueing and yelling at each other, but the tears in Andie's eyes are genuine and prove that she really did have feelings for Ben. Why this works: best street cred in the form of MULTIPLE comedic set pieces. Andie and Ben have been screwing with each other in effort to advance their careers, yet in this fateful scene it all blows up in their face, and in a way, as an audience member your glad it did.
Vulnerable moments from rom-com classics that didn't fare so well:
- The token booth marriage proposal that Jack (Bill Pulman's character) makes to Lucy Ellenor Moderatz (Sandra Bullock's character) in "While You Were Sleeping". Too smug. Too convienent. Yeah sure I was primmed for a vulnerable moment, but I thought the very last scene where Lucy's voice-over explaining how life went on for Jack, her, and Jack's brother Peter who lost out on her was WAYYY beter and more creative than that toll booth confessional.
- "I'm calling your bluff" Ben pulls over Andie's cab in "How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and gets Andie to jump on his motorcycle and resume their romance. The dialog in this callback to these lover's schemeing ways just wasn't interesting to me. This chase just seamed too unrealistic, fabricated and lazy story telling. The only part about this scene I did like was when Kate Hudson's character joking mocked Matthew McConahuey as the camera pulled back and the credits began.
In my own life I have failed miserably at most vulnerable momets. The one instance that sticks most in my craw was a time in my post-high school life where I went out with a girl from work and we went to a lazer light show in Seattle. We smoked some pot beforehand, and I FINALLY worked up the courage at one point to turn to her and say I was dying to kiss her. I will NEVER forget the look she gave me. Blank face maybe a little scared, subtle shake of the head, no; then she turned back and watched the rest of lazer light show, and it was awkward as hell for me for the rest of the night and most other times I saw (I still avoid her to this day on account of that night). I drove her and friend back their houses and it was forever wierd for me to be arorund that girl from that point going forward. For her part she was cool to me. She treated me okay. But her inside information on me, put me on shakey ground with her. What really sucked was that after I made my move and was shot down she started going out with aother guy from the restaurant we worked at--and he was a fuckin' idiot. "But that' just love, man." (referenced line that Paul Rudd says in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin". I put that reference line in "shit" brown, not because I didn't like the line, I did, but rather to emphasize how poorly my own vulneralble moment went. Still hurts my heart to this day when I recall I how I failed romantically. BUT then again my set-up wasn't all that great I never knew beforehand how this hottie felt about me, I just thought that because she was willing to out on a date with me that she HAD to have HAD similar feelings for me. Boy, was I ever wrong!
Okay, so there you have it, vulnerabilty in romatic comedies, E.C. Henry style. The only takeaway I want you to rememer is that iconic disclosures in movies are either made or not made on what preceeds them. You've got to have some good will built up before you lay vulnerable moments that take place between your two main characters, and can hope that your audience will respond favorably to them. And in your own life hoefully get you to experience a little more of this...
I'm off this week (Monday December 28th through Sunday, January 3, 2016) so HOPEFULLY I'll post several times. Gunna try to use this week to do some home improvement projects and get a fresh, momnetum building writing in as I re-edit that pesky, epic fantasy novel of mine. Talk to you again soon.
Love, the host and author of this blog:
E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA