Romantic Comedies: A Dead Genre?
This rant has been long in the works. Like many, I have grown completely exasperated with the state of romantic comedies. Aside from last year’s delightful (500) Days of Summer, the genre has been dying a slow rotting death punctuated by the likes of absolutely putrid movies like The Ugly Truth, Four Christmases, Leap Year (WTF Amy Adams!??! You did not need that!), Couples Retreat, Love Happens, or the upcoming When In Rome which should be the epitome of atrocious. All of those movies have it all: glamorous leads, big budgets, nice fancy sets and locations. Everything but the most important aspect of any movie: a good story and multidimensional characters! Worst of all, there is actually people flocking to these horrendous piece of garbage!
What exactly is wrong with these movies? It’s not that they are predictable because it comes with the territory. No, the problem is that those movies almost always have utterly ridiculous and unrealistic premises. Let’s start with uni-dimensional main characters which can usually be defined by one or two adjectives: ambitious, neurotic, bubbly, gloomy, mean-spirited and what not. Those superficial characters also tend to serve the plot instead of driving it. You see all kind of incongruous situation appear out of nowhere to impact the character as if he or she is a victim of external events. Additionally, movie-makers and writers think that they have to go out of their way to make the audience laugh, affixing implausible plot devices, situations and cringe-worthy cliches out of nowhere to extract some cheap laughs or tears from the viewer. A good story doesn’t need to do that, everything is coiled together tightly and everything just fits, resulting in an unforced and natural flow of emotions.
Great characters are multi-layered, complex, and drive the story: They are in control of their life, not victims of fate. They are memorable because of what they do, not what they “appear” to be like. The movie doesn’t need to rely on premises of cheap, raunchy and cringe-worthy comedy to tell the story. No dear reader! Once upon a time, the characters of the movie would tell the story by their actions and most of the laughs would come from authentic dialogues and genuine situations. I’m not talking about babies throwing up on one’s face, jokes about one’s penis size, or having the main character wear vibrating panties (seriously???). No!
A week ago, I read a surprisingly good script called Executive Search, for a romantic drama/comedy that would make for a breath of fresh air in the right hands. This script was actually bought for $2 million by 20th Century Fox in 1999 and has been collecting dust on a shelf ever since. ScriptShadow has an excellent review of the script that I highly recommend for reading. It sums up everything I want to say about Executive Search so I am not going to reinvent the wheel here but this script goes to show you that it’s not a lack of material that is behind the dearth of quality romantic comedies. That script got me wondering why we are not seeing more gritty, honest-to-goodness romantic comedies made instead of the usual pretentious, glitzy and superficial crap regurgitated by Hollywood every few months. ScriptShadow says it best:
That’s why I love this script. It’s that rare screenplay puzzle where every single piece fits. You can feel the care that went into this, particularly after being exposed to a decade of rom-coms that stink of being slapped together over a couple of Saturday afternoons. I liked this so much that I’m putting it in my Top 25. And I’m asking whoever owns it (I think 20th Century Fox?) to pull this one out of the vault and give it another shot. Give us a romantic comedy with depth again. Revive the genre. And don’t use any shitty rewrites either. Use the spec draft. It only needs a couple of technology updates and you’re set. Seriously, why the fuck are you wasting money on all this shit when you have something that’s actually good? I don’t care about the politics of this ridiculous business. Make a great movie and watch the money and accolades role in.
Why is a movie not made off a very promising script whose rights have already been acquired? Reading the script, I knew it had no chance of being made in today’s environment. Even if by luck, it was to get to the pre-production phase, the script would probably lose most of its charm through numerous re-write to “accommodate” the target audience. The problem is somewhere farther down the pipeline and lies with movie studios who are dumbing down America and the world. They favor all the heinous movies we have seen over the years over intelligent and more genuine stories. Fortunately for you dear reader, Anomalous Material was able to secure an exclusive interview with a studio exec over this pressing matter and here is the transcript of our meeting:
Castor: You bought a script called “Executive Search” for $2 million ten years ago, is there any plans to make it into a movie?
Studio Exec: No, the script would not make for a marketable and successful movie at this time. Did you guys see Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez? Now that was a fantastic script and a movie that the mass loves!
Red: uh???
Castor: Ok… uh would you be able to elaborate on why it would not make a successful movie. I read the script and think it has a lot of potential and would not require major modifications.
Studio Exec: Well I will tell you what’s wrong with it. Chase Banner, an independent, strong spirited, successful 35-yr old women CEO? That’s laughable and unrealistic, there is no such thing in real life! Between us, we all know that women are completely dependent on men and are worthless all by themselves. Our target audience would have a hard time relating to an older heroine like Chase who is still single at 35. Look at the script, she slowly warms up to an even older man in his forties, that doesn’t make sense. People are supposed to fall in love at first sight, preferably in their teens or early twenties. Now picture this, a wealthy and attractive 19-yr old daddy’s girl who is clumsy and stuck up until she suddenly meets the guy of her dreams and instantly become smitten at the first encounter. Now that’s a character people can relate to!
Castor: I’m not sure I follow your logic. You are joking right?
Studio Exec: Speaking of jokes. The script is not laugh-out-loud funny! Where are the funny situations like the vibrating panties in The Ugly Truth. I personally “recommended” the director to add this scene into the movie. Now that was great comedy and made for fundamentally sound movie making! Don’t you think? People don’t want to think too much about their movies, they just want to see a guy trip over a banana peel and grab a breast, now that’s really funny! Let me jot this one down. Anyone can speak to a friend and naturally get a laugh out of each other, that’s so common in real life. Who wants that in movies?
Castor: (facepalm)
Red: Speaking hypothetically, assuming you would make a movie off Executive Search. What actresses do you think would be able to play the lead character? I would definitely love to see Marion Cottilard in that role!
Studio Exec: Ah great question Red! I can definitely see hot young up-and-coming talent with great acting chops like Megan Fox, Kristen Bell or even Jessica Simpson as Chase Banner. They would bring a credibility and intelligence to the character that would be hard to match by other actresses in the industry.
Castor: But the character is 35-yr old and the CEO of a successful company!
Studio Exec: It doesn’t matter. We can have another draft of the script written so that she is 20-yr old and the horny daughter of the CEO. We can also make her… what’s that word… oh multilayered by having her cry on screen a couple times. Now that’s genius film making! I need to write this down before I forget!
Castor: uh??!? but…
Red: Would you at least consider the wonderful Marion Cottilard for a role such as this? She was mesmerizing in La Vie en Rose among other movies.
Studio Exec: Marion Who? I’ve never heard of her.
Red: (shaking uncontrollably)
Castor: I think we are done here…
Studio Exec: Don’t forget to check out When In Rome! I think it has Oscars written all over it!
12 Comments
LMAO. I love it! But I would have to agree with you. (500) Days of Summer was such a breath of fresh air. For as much hate Zooey gets for “playing the same character”, she does choose her scripts rather well. Granted, “The Happening” was bloody awful, but then you have small little indie rom-coms like “Flakes” that are actually entertaining. Some of here movies may be busts, but even Nicole Kidman has a “Be-withced” in there, and that’s coming from an actress trying to re-invent herself with every role.
And a main problem here is that script being owned by Fox. Besides “Avatar”, when was the last time they released anything decent(not including the Searchlight section). They take over anything that their directors make and absolutely ruin it. The only reason Avatar worked because Cameron was at the helm. Who in bloody hell is going to tell James Cameron the change something? I certainly wouldn’t. Oh, and guess what? It worked.
FOX is a disaster everywhere. They’ve done the same thing with anything good on television. The brutally murdered Firefly, terminated Sarah Connor, and tore down the Dollhouse. Fox is on my ultimate shitlist for anything. They poop in your cheerios by getting your mouth wet and only delivering sand.
I’ve had a problem with Rom Com’s for the past decade or two. Once in a blue moon you catch something worthwhile, but I’ve found I’ve given mediocre ones more credit than they’ve deserved simply because I’ve been shocked that they haven’t sucked as bad as most of them. It’s undue praise that most don’t deserve or haven’t earned.
Great article. Now, we both now I’m far from being the one talking about the quality of romcoms, since I really have no interest in them whatsoever. But it’s not only that romcom quality is degrading, but comedy in general.
The only ones keeping good humor alive are the Brits because they mostly prefer intelligence over cheap laughs, which is why, I guess, the best comedies of the last decade are so obscure. I’m referring to “Hot Fuzz” and “Shaun of the Dead”, or TV series like “The League of Gentlemen”, “Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace”, “Spaced”, etc.
As for romcoms in particular, truth to be told I can name only two I enjoyed and saw more than once. The first would be “Just Friends” with Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart, and the second “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” with Jason Segel and Mila Kunis.
The reason? You said it yourself in the 5th paragraph. Because the audiences are getting dumber and the studios alter the films accordingly. We’re the only one to blame. Everyone will get the “joke” of someone slipping on a banana peal or being hit in the head with an object, but to understand, let’s say, good satire requires some brain activity which is apparently too much strain for most modern audiences.
@ Red: Great point on Fox and sadly, most big studios meddle too much with the original scripts that they are barely recognizable once they have been made into screenplays
@ Shaft: Totally with you on the fact that the quality of comedies in general have been degrading. I am not against the most simplistic forms of comedy but it’s alarming that they comprise 80 or 90% of everything that is coming out.
GREAT ARTICLE! and funny too.
Another thing that RomCom’s haven’t managed to do is evolve past the gender specific roles of men and women. They can put a woman in charge but at the end of the day as you said all she needs is a man to make it all better. They pretentiously indulge the idea that it’s okay for women to act like Bridezilla’s and men to be jerks. The obvious stereotyping on each side is boring and insulting, to both sexes. What is wrong with the idea of accepting the fact that the lines between the sexes and relationships have been grayed in the past decade and have someone make an intelligent romantic comedy about that?
Thanks Heather! Dead on with the male and female stereotypes. Those only reinforce the unrealistic expectations that many young people (women especially since they tend to flock to those “chick flicks”) have about relationships. People are supposed to fall in love at first glance, females can do their own thing only up until they meet “the one” then they are supposed to become submissive girlfriends/wives etc…
I’ll even take that a step further and explore the idea that it’s plays a role in the reasoning the divorce rate is so high. People have these unrealistic ideals about what love is and how it’s supposed to happen, and these movies only show a happily ever after. Though Australia dragged for me, I liked the idea of a love story that showed even love when it’s meant to be and passionate doesn’t always work out, or if it does it takes a lot of work and compromise. It managed to do that and still be romantic. This is a topic I could go bonkers on.
These movies don’t represent anyone “real” and the fantasy is created in “real” settings giving people the ideals that this stuff really happens and that people are so cut and dry. The world is far more complex than that.
Okay, I’ll stop my ranting.
So you’re implying that we can’t get everything we want without working, as well as giving into compromise? That’s just plain silly!!
I don’t know if I’m bias because I’ve never been a fan of the genre but I think it’s been dead for a long time. Long gone are the days of Annie Hall and When Harry Met Sally. Now we get the same boy-meets-girl movie regurgitated over and over with average star name actors. Every time I see Jennifer Aniston’s name I think – crap romantic comedy.
I do agree with Heather about this idea of an unrealistic optimism placed upon relationships. Yes, we do have to have escapist entertainment but every film about romance agrees that it always ends in happiness, we’re going to have a youth (mainly young girls I should imagine) growing up with far too high expectations of their male friends.
It’s a genre that seems to satisfy itself – it plays for a very distinct audience, and creates a product that is always based on a very distinct set of conventions. We do need more (500) Days of Summer, I agree. We need less…erm…what was that rubbish with McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker..?
Amen on this. Your studio executive was right, sadly, it’s all about money – which is what leads them to headscratching conclusions like you observed. They’ll keep making them and people will keep seeing ‘em. Which is arguably even more depressing than the “they keep makin’ ‘em” part.
Best thing ever. And, I completely agree with you, romcoms are, if not dead, have taken very, very ill. 500 Days of Summer might’ve been an exception, a smart and mildly successful thing with fairly low-key actors. I miss the days of Annie Hall.
I’m late here, but you know I’m new Castor! This makes me so sad. Some of my all time favs are romantic comedies. Say Anything, When Harry Met Sally, and even Bridget Jones Diary (only the first one) were great films. 500 Days of Summer was brilliant and it’s on my short list of all time favorites. No one I know saw it or they watched it on DVD and didn’t seem to “get it.” I showed it to my brother-in-law just a couple of months ago and he LOVED it! It seems like people don’t want to think anymore. It’s funny because when I see a lot of these movies (and I just mean the trailers cuz I won’t see them) I constantly say, “Wow, someone pitched this and got the money to make it?” I can’t believe how stupid these films have become. It’s the same as the sitcom. So much there is crap too, but with new shows like Modern Family, Parks and Recreation and Community, they may be coming back. Hopefully, films will be close behind!
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