There was a time when romantic comedies were not just about bringing together two attractive, likable actors in front of a screen to do a predictable and unoriginal movie. There was a time when a romantic comedy was all about the dialog, the fun banter between the protagonists, the exchange between people playing a flirtatious game of cat and mouse. That was long ago, when Katharine Hepburn threw subtle glances at Spencer Tracy in such films as Woman of the Year or Adam’s Rib. When Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell made your head spin with fast paced witty dialog in His Girl Friday, or when both Grant and Hepburn accompanied by James Stewart made up a fun and intriguing love triangle in The Philadelphia Story.
Nowadays we have The Bounty Hunter. Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston trying to make something cliche sound anything less than boring. Last year The Proposal made a lot of money, pitting Sandra Bullock against Ryan Reynolds (only at first, you know how it goes) in another unoriginal plot. At least that one had a great supporting cast (thoroughly wasted as far as I am concerned). It seems there’s only one story in Hollywood these days when it comes to romantic comedies and this is the template for it:
- Throw two seemingly incompatible people together, to make them fall for each other in the end.
- Make them experience lots of zany, wacky, funny, unbelievable (and other adjectives) adventures (this is usually just dressing to disguise an otherwise cliched script)
- Throw in some weird/disgusting/obnoxious/crazy, friends that can offer the right advice only towards the end, on both sides.
- When both leads seem to fall for each other throw in a crisis of any kind (truth revealed about a lie, a mistake one of them made, something made up by the “villain”, you name it)
- Have one of the leads be stubborn enough not to let that crisis hurt the dysfunctional relationship and declare his love
- Throw in happy ending and that’s a wrap.
Case in point: The Proposal, Shes’s Out of My League, Along Came Polly, Maid in Manhattan, Knocked up, Enchanted (that one had some charm to it at least), He’s Just Not That Into You, You’ve Got Mail, Notting Hill (and I could go on and on).
Sure, some of these had their charms, and some managed to be above average, but where’s that spark the old romantic comedies used to have? That little bit of clever that seems to have been swept away as time went by (sure, there are smart bits here and there, but usually they don’t involve the actual romance, but are thrown in to justify the comedy part). This week sees the release of Date Night, starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey, both quite funny on their own. Here’s hoping they bring the same humor into the otherwise stale genre they’re using as a vehicle.
Posted on April 10th, 2010 by MrWiseguy
Filed under: Movies
Heh Gerard, such a man
i love the acting skills of Gerard Butler. he is definitely a great action star.-”
Tinay Fey is really good in impersonating Sarah Palin. Great Comedian.-”.
Gerard Butler is the favorite actor of my sister because he got this macho factor.-*`
i guess Tina Fey is pretty too aside from being a good comedian-:”
i think that gerard butler is one hell of a macho actor“”
Tinay Fey really looks a lot like Sarah Palin-”`
both Gerard Butler and Daniel Craig are my idols, they are great actors with strong personality;:*
i think Tina Fey is also pretty, she is a great comedian and i like the way she acts :~’
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