There is often a lot of conversation, particularly on social media, whether romantic comedies or as they are often called “rom coms,” are good or bad. There’s also this discussion that we don’t need more because there’s an influx. Honestly, upfront I would like to say, the latter is, in the pure sense, untrue while the former could be argued either way. Though today I’m not here to debate their level of morality. No matter where we end up, I’m going to be doing a bit of defending romantic comedies. And, yes, they are difficult to come by. defending romantic comedies
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In some ways, romantic comedies are kind of – gasp – extinct. Do they still exist on a large scale? Sure. Just turn on your favorite cable channel on any given Saturday night. But I would argue, these are not the kind of romantic comedies that I’m talking about nor are they really the sort of movie I’d define as a romantic comedy. Romantic comedies are no longer what they used to be to say the least. They don’t have that likability factor in a long-term memorable kind of way. Love or loathe them, what stays with us are titles like While You Were Sleeping, You’ve Got Mail, Notting Hill or a fan favorite for many, When Harry Met Sally.
I don’t think we can say that about the genre today.
I’d like the film industry to make better ones, and am thinking about all of this because of a headline. It reads something like ‘Emma Thompson defends romantic comedies.’ As we talk right now, I haven’t read the entire article just yet. This is because I want to get down some of my own thoughts. But honestly, based on that alone, I applaud her.
The genre does have a certain formulaic quality, but what genre doesn’t? The action movie has some grand stunt that tries to one up its prequel or peer. The indie film is slow and reflective in its best effort to be the “deepest” emotional story. Period dramas thrive on, well, drama and moodiness. They all have a formula.
Even at this, there is something about the titles we mentioned that allows them to stand out.
Do they engage in cliches? Of course. But they also had good storytellers and actors to form the stories. They had something wholesome and different even with the formula. It was this combination that somehow curated a bit of cinematic magic, beckoning audiences to return. Something in the production or storytelling or the characters, or a combination of all three gave us a kind of quality we don’t find today. It’s that wholesome edge they had that I cannot describe, but was the thing that makes them memorable.
Thompson, set to star in the upcoming What’s Love Got to Do with It? defends the genre in an interview with Variety. In it they discuss themes of this film plus her talent starring successfully in films across genres. They credit her with rom-coms such as Love Actually and Sense and Sensibility, a movie I wouldn’t say is a rom-com, but I digress. When asked what the key to deploying romantic tropes is, Thompson replies, in part, saying “Romantic comedies are no more formulaic than any other kind of movie. We’re just ruder about them…” Proving my entire point of this writeup comes down to this one additional thing she says, “A really good romantic comedy is actually quite hard to come by.” The English star says many things I disagree with, but this is a yes. And I also feel a little less alone in this perspective.
Even if you think the industry is satisfied with television movies, it’s safe to say, they don’t live up to the era of films that classically define the romantic comedy genre.
What are your thoughts on this? What do you think about Thompson’s words and defending romantic comedies? Do you agree or disagree? Do you think we need (even if it means lesser numbers) good romantic comedies to return? Comment all of your thoughts. Let’s meet in the comments.
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