The other day my gal pal posted an interesting status update on Facebook.
She had just finished watching “Letters to Juliet,” a romantic comedy about an American girl on vacation in Italy who finds an unanswered letter to a woman named Juliet and goes on a quest to find the lovers referenced in that letter. (Read the review in Time.)
She enthusiastically endorsed the movie, saying in her post, “To my gal pals that believe in destiny, do yourselves a favor and watch this chick flick. Makes me want to go to Italy … like tomorrow.”
I haven’t seen the movie. And I’ll be honest, I’ve been a little disappointed by the romantic comedy offerings lately.
Right now the only movie resembling a romantic comedy in theaters is “You Again,” a mediocre comedy that’s more about high school rivalry than true love.
So where have all the good romantic comedies gone? I’m talking about such timeless classics as “Say Anything,” “While You Were Sleeping” and — the masterpiece — “When Harry Met Sally.”
I scoured the blogosphere last night to come up with a list of top romantic comedies and found that they’re a lot more varied than I had anticipated.
Some blogs listed strange-but-considered-romantic flicks like “So I Married an Axe Murderer” and “Chasing Amy”; others featured the embarrassingly bad “Splash” and “Mannequin.”
BoxOfficeCritic had a pretty decent list of its Top 10 Romantic Comedies:
1. “It Happened One Night” (1934)
2. “Bringing Up Baby” (1938)
3. “Some Like it Hot” (1959)
4. “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993)
5. “The Philadelphia Story” (1940)
6. “While You Were Sleeping” (1995)
7. “Moonstruck” (1987)
8. “The Goodbye Girl” (1977)
9. “When Harry Met Sally” (1989)
10. “The Wedding Singer” (1998)
I started thinking about this last night after watching “The Time Traveler’s Wife” — and was disappointed. Not so much in the movie as in the fact that I wasted about two hours of my night. It was horribly structured, filled with questions and loopholes, and confusing. It left me feeling unmoved and unchanged — or, at the very least, interested in reading the book (which I heard was better).
You got any picks on your favorite romantic comedies? And what’s the formula for a romantic comedy, anyway? Seems like you have to laugh and cry at the same time…
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23 Comments
Some of the more recent romantic comedies that I’ve enjoyed are “500 Days of Summer”, “The Back Up Plan” (both already on DVD) and “Going the Distance” (still in theaters). Some others that are older, quirky but also pretty good are “Juno” and “Nick and Nora’s Inifinite Playlist”.
Does “50 First Dates” count? It’s a comedy, kinda romantic in a funny kind of way, and it was filmed in Hawai`i.
“Harold and Maude” was a macabre kind of r-c. I liked the “There’s Something About Mary” series which was funny on its own accord.
As for the Classics, I’ll agree with your findings on a couple of films: “Sleepless in Seattle” and “When Harry Met Sally”… who can forget the orgasmic scene in Katz’s Deli (fuud link) and that one liner after the scene: “I’ll have what she’s having”.
Good morning Cat!
i consider ‘Groundhog Day’ not only a romantic comedy, but one of the best comedies ever made. i love it because it goes beyond the romantic element and deals with the growth of a human spirit inspired by love and by compassion. and then, Bill Murray struck again with ‘Lost In Translation’. to quote Ned Needlman from ‘Groundhog Day’- “bing,and bing again!”
@turkfontaine Not sure I’d agree about GD being a romantic comedy per se. To me it was more a morality tale/fable mostly about Murray’s character than about his ersatz romance. Still, one of my all-time favorite movies for sure.
I think chemistry between the male and female leads are important. I like Notting Hill and My Best Friend’s Wedding.
Some of my favorite romantic comedies:
Never Been Kissed
You’ve Got Mail
Must Love Dogs
The Proposal
I think with any movie genre, it just depends upon the person watching what interests them and what they find appealing. There are some movies I can watch over and over again while others, once is more than enough. I think I judge a good romantic comedy one that keeps me hanging on waiting for the characters to get together despite their escapes which usually keep them apart.
CAT,
I really enjoyed Moonstruck. I am not a Nicholas Cage fan and I thought he did well playing a slow witted lover. Cher was actually very good in this. My favorite scene is when she slaps him and says “Snap out of it”!!
Oh No CHICK FLICKS 🙂
I was entertained by :
Music and Lyrics ( 2007 ) starring Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant. Sweet, charming story of mousy songwriter Drew and mega pop star Hugh falling in love while composing a song.
Pretty Woman ( 1990 ) Julia Roberts’ most famous movie. Unbelievable story of Hollywood hooker winning the heart of uber rich business mogul, is tempered by Roberts’ starmaking charm, zillon watt smile, and sweet chemistry with Richard Gere.
I know, I’m a guy. But I do enjoy a solid rom-com every once in awhile!
Recently, these two were my favorite:
1. Love, Actually (probably my favorite ever)
2. My Life in Ruins
Just my two cents!
I thought Roxanne and The Princess Bride should be on that list.
I’m going to have to go back and watch some of those classics – I haven’t heard of several of them!
Do “Knocked Up” or “Wedding Crashers” count as romantic comedies? I think these movies were successful because they have the dirty humor for men and still have a cute love story.
An Italian film from around 2001, Bread and Tulips (Pane Tulipani) is wonderful. I don’t know whether the 80s teen romantic comedy genre is excluded, but I just saw John Hughes’ “Some Kind of Wonderful” for the first time. It is as good as Sixteen Candles best parts, and it doesn’t have any wierd, bad parts.
I do think “The Princess Bride” should be on that list. I’m also partial to “You’ve Got Mail” and “Love Actually.” But I dig that a lot of you like the offbeat romances — “Harold and Maude” and “500 Days of Summer.” I can feel my Netflix queue growing…
@Cat Like many here, I loved The Princess Bride. Still, I debate whether it warrants inclusion in this list. Sure, Westley’s love for Buttercup serves as the impetus, but the bulk of the story is primarily adventure, secondarily love. As for You’ve Got Mail, pass. 🙂
I liked 500 Days, but again, I would not consider this a romantic comedy at all. Maybe it’s just me, but that was more romantic tragedy in my opinion. 🙂
I kinda liked, “The Proposal” oh and I never cry at movies hahaha :p
@WeHeartHawaii Reeeeeeeeeally…? Not a single guy I know, self included, didn’t tear up during “Rudy.”
“Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy…”
Anything with John Cusack or Diane Lane, and I’m sold! Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant runs a close second to Lane and Cusack for me…
Another one missing from the list, “The Sure Thing” from the ’80s, “About A Boy,” and can “Jerry Maguire” be considered a romantic comedy?
Oh, forgot to add, “How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days.” Kate Hudson’s always a good romantic comedy lead, just like her mom Goldie was.
Bollywood… they all went to Bollywood.
Wow haven’t watched a “romcom” movie in a while…I think the last one I liked was the 2001 Korean movie “My Sassy Girl”, which was recently remade by Hollywood and went straight to video (it’s on Netflix but I don’t think I’m gonna bother watching it!). Definitely offbeat but still comes through with the romance in the end.
My two favorites are “Serendipity” (with Kate Beckinsale) and “13 Going on 30” (with Jennifer Garner).