It’s not that I hate all romantic comedies. I just hate terrible movies. I hate lots of horror movies, comedies, thrillers and war flicks. I just hate lots and lots of rom-coms because they're predictable and mostly terrible due to their low standards and terrible tropes. If only they would try new things more often, I'd have less anger for the genre.
For the sake of clarity, I will define the rom-com as any film that involves the lead character looking for love and getting themselves into all sorts of ‘wacky’ or uncomfortable situations. The main character is almost always a woman, and when it’s a guy he tends to have some deficient character traits that he must overcome in order to be ‘happy’ (The 40 Year-old Virgin, Yes Man). The level of humor is always different -- some are genuine comedies with a few sappy scenes. Others have about one laugh every ten minutes. They almost all end up with the happy ending, something that in itself is so predictable and boring, I automatically like a rom-com more when there isn't a happy ending involved.
Now, what can Hollywood do to make me less likely to commit myself to the burn ward whenever someone tries to get me to watch a romantic comedy?
First, change up the goddamn plot. I understand that the biggest viewers of rom-coms are women. I understand that you need to appeal to their sense of romance. But sweet zombie jeebus on a stick, why do you insist of having the exact same plot every time? Character A ends up single (divorce/break-up/freak train accident), sassy gay/black friend tells them to get back out there and keep trying, they meet Character B and fall wildly in love with each other. Some random misunderstanding occurs. Character B pours their heart out in a crowded room/elevator/mosh pit. Everyone lives happily ever after. I die a little inside. The end.
Next, mix up your cast of characters! Not everyone has the schlubby friend, the sassy gay/black friend (why the hell Hollywood decided they were interchangeable is beyond me, but you can't have both), the womanizer, the guy/girl who looks like they have it all but are actually unhappy, etc. Maybe it’s because I spent so many years of my life unmarried, which forced me to actually, you know, meet people and go on dates. Whatever the reason, I've seen a fairly large number of rom-coms, and it's to the point where I can predict every character’s ending the moment they're introduced on screen.
Now I've bitched about the terrible plots and more terrible people, please allow me to complain about the crazy misunderstandings that are so pervasive in this sub-genre. These do not need to exist. Character B does not need to be caught with his pants down in a bowling alley with his grandmother because of some 'hi-la-rious' Rube Goldbergian series of events. Character A does not need to be accused of cheating because she was talking to some dude she used to go to high school with and the womanizer saw her talking to him and immediately called his bro because y'know he's totally got his back and stuff. Or whatever.
Lest you think I'm a total crank, here are some rom-coms that I genuinely like: (500) Days of Summer, He's Just Not ThatInto You, and Friends with Benefits. The first is barely a rom-com, the second does such a great job of burying the obnoxious stereotypes and actually letting fun and funny stuff happen on screen that I enjoyed it despite myself, and the third is an example of making a movie for adults, no pandering to a younger crowd with a PG-13.
There are other movies that have good ideas buried in them but still suck giant donkey balls. The Break-Up, Yes Man, You've Got Mail and Pretty Woman all had decent ideas somewhere but left them in the morass of bad acting, bad plotting, and/or terrible predictability. (Told you I've seen a lot of these.)
My final complaint: If you're going to make a teenage rom-com, cater to the damn teenagers by making it a teen movie. Stop making PG-13 movies with adults in them. You can't have adults reacting to situations in a realistic manner if you have it PG-13. Even if your movie is still kinda crappy, I'll cut it more slack when you attempt to cater to an audience of mature people who are fully capable of thinking for themselves. Specifically, I'm calling out shit-storms like Along Came Polly and every single Adam Sandler attempt at being a leading man in a rom-com.
It can be done. A good romantic comedy can still be made. Don't rely on tried-and-true formulas. They're burned out in every genre but especially in this one. Try some new shit.
Also, by new shit, I don't mean 'steal the newest ideas out there.' That's how the world was so quickly burned out on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. She was identified as a thing, Hollywood took notice and then just absolutely flooded the marked with these...things.
There you have it. Why I pretty much hate romantic comedies and immediately assume it's terrible until proven otherwise. I haven't lost hope, because I still have to watch them and I'm always hoping I like it. I never want to hate a movie. You just make it so easy sometimes, Hollywood. Now get your shit together. You can romance the lady and still make a movie everyone can enjoy.
Most RomComs are from the U.S.A. and their humour stems from the 3 stooges, slapstick and lacks any basis of intelligence. Why does Julia Roberts falling off a chair make so many Americans laugh. I am certain that Americans don't do or like Irony and therefore assume they just don't understand what it is and would rather laugh at 'basic' slapstick.
ReplyDeleteThe other issue for me is that I read that 1 in 3 Americans is Obese and there is no representation of this. Americans in RomComs, in fact in most productions are slim and model like. Come off it we all know that half of you are FAT.
What I cannot decide is - do I hate Rom Coms or do I just hate Americans?
Looking forward to the next Jenifer Aniston Rom Com.
Judging America based on Rom-Coms would be like my judging all of Eastern Civilization based on martial arts movies. I'm not sure where you're from, but I certainly hope you don't decide to hate an entire country just because we make some terrible films.
ReplyDeleteGotta agree with you to an extent on the size thing though, but I will point out that there's a chubby person represented in almost every Romantic Comedy. Unfortunately, they're usually playing the role of obnoxious best friend.
The thing that you have to understand is that statistically speaking the majority of people (especially Americans) have IQ's around 100 (about 95%). In order to truly pickup on the garbage that is given out in these sappy films, one must be of above average intelligence (IQ 115+) which constitutes only about 2-3% of the population. Filmmakers are after the bottom line; making the most bang for the buck and getting back those bucks. This is the fundamental reason as to why these junk movies continue to be made by Hollywood. I agree with everything you say here, but the only real way that you will get what you want in these types of movies is to watch an independent film.
ReplyDeleteAmongst many other things, Romantic comedies are just sexist. They all make Men out to either be these dumb nice guy tools or perverts.
ReplyDeleteI'll just leave it at that and not go into detail on the shitty jokes or douchebag characters that get portrayed in these movies.
Yes but the women don't get any favors either. I have watched so many if them where the cousin, sister, friend or some distant female relative is getting married. This bride usually has a personality you wonder who would marry that. In fact all the married women in the movie are usually step ford type women. They often make the single woman feel like she is less than a human beings if they don't have a husband.
ReplyDeleteAnd the guy who is supposed to be the catch has little to no flaws. The most he might be is a womanizer and that is usually downplayed by the other cast but the girl character A as expressed in the blog is the only one who realizes this.
The girl if she is strong and confident is usually portrayed as a man repellant because she is not desperate and needy. So she needs to become desperate and needy by the middle of the film in order to land the guy. The guy makes no real alterations to his personality except that he is no only sleeping with Character A.