by Isabel Hodges.
Head over heels in love, our Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston or Cameron Diaz floats through the city streets, captivated and charmed, enchanted and enamoured as a catchy 90s / early 2000s love song plays along to her heartstrings. Never has she been so infatuated or lovesick, her heartbeat fluttering and her lust reaching a crescendo as her pearly white smile glimmers against her soft pink lips. But, of course, the object of her wild desire is our male protagonist, the somewhat conventional nice guy who ends up with a girl way out of his league. Our Hugh Grant, Ben Stiller or Matthew McConaughey play the womanising and bewitching male love interest, inserted into successful jobs as journalists, insurance agents, or doctors - living in the big city in swanky bachelor pads wandering around the city for their next love. Of course, these are the men all men should aspire to be, right? However, on the other side of our romantic-comedy spectrum are the charming men down on their luck, our more unlikely love interests: the awkward book shop owner, the rigid divorcee, the bored unemployed singleton, all meandering through the big city until they finally seem to bump into the women who will change the trajectory of their lives forever. The only thing is, all the women are the same; it's just the men that seem to change. The rom-com's are more interested in the men than they are the women as they become secondary props to the romantic plot.
The rom-com used to dominate our screens from the early 90s all the way into the mid 2000s, so what exactly happened? The genre began in the late 50s and bloomed into the 60s and ultimately flourished and peaked in popularity by the early 90s. Still, the genre seemed to find itself struggling by the end of the 2000s and abruptly disappeared from the cinemas altogether. It wasn’t only the genre that slowly faded away but also its leading ladies and leading men; no one seemed to want to take Hugh Grant or Meg Ryans' place. Popular Hollywood genres never usually change until it becomes a necessity to do so: The action movie always has a muscly guy with weapons, the sci-fi movie always deals with space and the extraterrestrial being, the musical always has a song and a choreographed dance, and the romantic comedy always has romance and comedy. So what went wrong? In the sad case of the rom-com, the entire genre seemed to implode into itself. With its lack of diversity within class, sexual orientation and race with its splashes of colourful misogyny, sexism and casual homophobia, it altogether made audiences unable to relate to the released films. Audiences grew tired of the white, conventionally attractive woman falling in love with the white, financially stable man. Or even seeing Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler pairing themselves up with a supermodel. For the popular rom-com, the women were good to look at, and it didn’t matter if they weren’t funny because the men cracked most of the jokes anyway. The focus on weight as a punchline, the archetype of a Latina woman to be a lowly maid and a single mother, the gay man to always be the best friend with fantastic fashion advice, and if there was anyone of colour they were accidentally walking in the background of the shot. So all we ever had for more than twenty years was the white man coming to save the day and take away any of his love-interests problems. Many have criticised and blamed the rom-com for setting high expectations for love, romanticising unhealthy relationships and promoting the idea that every woman’s purpose in life is to settle down, get married and start a family.
Soon the rom-coms became more comedy-driven, finding itself in more comedically raunchier approaches than sappy romance. It tried its hardest to replace and reboot itself for the early 2000s with the likes of Knocked Up (Judd Apatow, 2007) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. and He’s Just Not That Into You (Ken Kwapis, 2009) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. . And even though this new hybrid rom-com came to be due to comedic directors like Judd Apatow, the dedicated audience that once was never really returned for its comeback. Soon Hollywood tried to make efforts again to explore how young people dated in the early 2010’s with the releases of Friends with Benefits (Will Gluck, 2011) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. and No Strings Attached (Ivan Reitman, 2011) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. . Still you come to realise that both are really the same film and that the industry had no idea that American culture and the overall concepts of sex were drastically changing, leaving the rom-com trailing behind and unable to keep up with the shifting times. Furthermore, the rom-com was downgraded even further to sad reboots, remakes, sequels and threequels like Bridget Jones’s Baby (Sharon Maguire, 2016) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. or Overboard (Rob Greenberg, 2018) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , with cinema-goers growing tired of watching the same regurgitated movie over and over again as studios struggled to come up with anything captivatingly original. With their easily explainable plots prospering and big names and faces slewed across the promotional material, it now seems that the big screen rom-com’s finds it hard to even rely on simplicity or stardom, causing their films to wither in the cinema. The big names of the genre distanced themselves, and moved on and without any noteworthy actors filling the roles, the rom-com struggled to reach audiences. The genre began to fade away without the familiar faces lining the posters. Actors no longer want to become fixtures for the genre, moving on to different projects, unlike previous rom-com actors who spent a large portion of their careers within the rom-com hemisphere.
Again and again, the industry has tried to bring back its precious rom-com, but as box office flops begin to build up, it is only a matter of time until the genre is once again left for dead.
When someone asks you- “what is your favourite rom-com?” you may come back with an answer like this:
Notting Hill
How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days
Bridget Jones's Diary
10 Things I Hate About You
However, it seems a modern rom-com never comes to mind, but why?
Since the domination of the streaming-service-giant Netflix, we've seen three instalments of The Kissing Booth ( Vince Marcello, 2018-2021) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , and To All The Boys I've Loved Before (2018-2021) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. ; we've also received Tall Girl (Nzingha Stewart, 2019) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , Holidate (John Whitesell, 2020) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , Love Hard (Hernán Jiménez, 2021) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. and He's All That (Mark Walters, 2021) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. just to name a few the streaming service has been churning out over the past few years. It seems that only now streaming services want to take on the rom-com, as significant movie studios shy away, afraid of more box office flops as they shift their attention onto big-budget franchises that will guarantee a profit. However the global streaming giant has lost 200k subscribers in Quarter 1, and is expecting to lose more than 2 million more by the spring. Could this mark the end of the Netflix rom-com or the beginning of the blockbuster rom-com renaissance?
Being amidst the rom-com rebirth with the recent popular releases of Palm Springs (Max Barbakow, 2020, Hulu) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , The Hating Game (Peter Hutchings, 2021, Amazon) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. and Marry Me (Kat Corio, 2022) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , the rom-com can’t be dead, right? It seems as if the studios are steering their rom-com’s toward a teen audience instead, removing them from young adult culture into the halls of first loves in high school. The teen rom-com is trying desperately to take its predecessors’ place. However, the rom-com no longer connects to the modern audience, the more outrageous the story gets, the less likely people will actually want to watch it. But it’s not like the rom-com isn’t focusing on something overtly abstract; after all, stories of love seem to constantly be a trendy topic captivating audiences throughout the ages of film. As one of the oldest topics in cinemas existence, love and romance have and always will dominate our silver screens. So what’s changed? After all, in both 1998 and 1999, three of the highest-grossing films were rom-com’s - There’s Something About Mary (Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly, 1998) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , City of Angels (Brad Silberling, 1998) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , and You’ve Got Mail (Nora Ephron, 1998) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , Runaway Bride (1999) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , Notting Hill (Roger Michell, 1999) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. and Shakespeare in Love (John Madden, 1999) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. . Meg Ryan and Julia Roberts ruled the rom-com scene! With Julia Roberts recently telling the New York Times Magazine, “If I had read something that I thought was that Notting Hill level of writing or My Best Friend’s Wedding level of madcap fun, I would do it.” But don’t threat, Julia Roberts is finally filming Ticket to Paradise directed by Ol Parker alongside George Clooney, so let’s just hope it’s not another Eat Pray Love (2010) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. .
Rom-com’s in the 90s were the superhero movies of the now. And as the 2000s reached a close, rom-com’s just weren’t as important to the studios anymore. Who needs a story about two people falling in love when instead you can watch blue people run around in a forest trying to stop deforestation - Avatar (James Cameron, 2009) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. . With the technological evolution and development of cinema, rom-com’s sadly got left behind, and without trying to progress with the times, the genre grew stagnant and flat. Going to the cinema now is like going to an interactive event, now you have to get tickets to the opening night if you don’t want the world to spoil it for you and you wait for end credit scenes that connect franchises as people cheer in the cinema. With the further decline of the rom-com studios have begun splicing it into other genres such as action and adventure with films like The Lost City (Aron Nee and Adam Nee, 2022) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. to try and lure audiences back. Whilst streaming services become desperate as they introduce more book to film adaptations and Wattpad productions that will ensure a profit and following. The rom-com has also recently been shoved into the Hallmark Christmas movie with films such as The Princess Switch trilogy (2018-2021) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , Last Christmas (Paul Feig, 2019) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. and Let It Snow (Luke Snellin, 2019) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. . The rom-com has slowly become the tacky movies in the deep depths of random tv channels or in the discount bins of cheap shops. The rom-com has sadly been demoted to cheap sets, low budgets, bit-part actors trying their hardest to lead a film and failing terribly, and are left in the hands of directors who have never made a romance film ever in their career (I’m talking about you Rick Jacobson, with The Royal Treatment (Rick Jacobson, 2022) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. ). What once was the most produced genre has been whittled down to meaningless cheap rubbish you scroll past on the TV.
Nevertheless, by 2018 there seemed to be a resurgence in the industry with Crazy Rich Asians (Jon M. Chu, 2018) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. and Love, Simon (Greg Berlanti, 2018) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. as audiences were finally excited for another rom-com revival, hoping directors would bring a modern twist into the dated genre. Moreover, by 2019 rom coms like Yesterday (Danny Boyle, 2019) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , A Rainy Day in New York (Woody Allen, 2019) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. and Isn’t It Romantic (2019) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. reached the screen, only to go onto receive low ratings by audiences and critics and to never be heard of again. Sadly, the industry went silent, and with the apparent absence of any notable rom-com directors or actors, the genre seemed to fade away. How many funny love stories can one really tell before you’ve told them all? We had our Drew Barrymore's, Renee Zellweger's and Kate Hudson's, looking beautiful whilst running after some guy, but now we need something else. We’ve seen the romantic city streets littered with flowers, the lovers finally meeting, the conversations over coffees or in the rain or snow, but the plots and performances are forgettable . In the end modern rom-com’s have become a parody of themselves, relying heavily on cliches and stereotypes that no longer appeal to contemporary audiences. Maybe, the rom-com just feels cheap and forgettable, and with every new wave of romantic comedies that grace our silver screens, they seem to vanish after a few months, never to be heard of ever again.
As cultures change, so do the conventional ideas of romance and comedy. The modern rom-com no longer has the lovesick naivety it used to have, the youth of the 90s and early 200s are very different to the youth of the present and with the newfound power of technology and social media, love is now completely ingrained in our online presence. Contemporary rom-com’s have tried to dabble in online dating, but the charm of early technology has been lost in the innovation of the sterility of iPhones and laptops. The depictions of these devices also always feel unrealistic, gone are the long phone calls as you twist the cord around your fingers, absent are the simple chat rooms, forgotten are the love letters, where is the romance? As technology wipes away our personality we are left with only the translations of them into meaningless digits and words on a bright pocket sized screen. A human connection is always found between two humans being present together, not within the text messages on your phone. Technology may not be the only problem, as audiences are also tired of seeing the same premise continuously recycled on screen. No one wants to see a hunky guy driving around in a sports car picking up and using girls anymore. No one wants to see the successful woman end up with someone that will “ground her” anymore. Nobody wants to see toxic and just flat out weird relationships romanticised anymore, like in The Break Up (Peyton Reed, 2006) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , Rumor has it (Rob Reiner, 2005) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , and The Object of My Affection (Nicholas Hytner, 1998) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , which are all Jennifer Anniston movies as well! Maybe we’re sick of the makeover montages telling girls they have to change their physical appearances to actually attract any male attention or validation. Perhaps we’re sick of seeing men treating women poorly like pawns or for a punchline to a joke because of lad culture. Maybe we’re over seeing women being villainized just because they want to live their lives a specific way (I’m looking at you, The Accidental Husband (Griffin Dunne, 2008) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. ) Maybe we’re sick of seeing the girl give up everything to be with the guy. Tired of seeing the guy always get the girl and the girl always get the guy. Tired of the classic rom-com formula: As the girl meets the boy, the boy meets the girl, they both lose each other, the girl has a makeover montage, the boy chases the girl to the airport to profess his eternal love, they kiss, it's all just happily ever after. No one, and I mean no one, will ever put on a public display to announce their love for you; we saw it happen in Holidate and realised just how cringey the idea really is in practice. Everything I’ve listed has been done before and, sadly, will be done over and over again.
The only thing that makes the classics so unique is because we see them now as classics. Because a plot about a prostitute and a businessman was new, because time travel was thrown into the mix, because an unlikely relationship is formed between a well-known actress and a nobody, because these rom-com’s tried their hardest to step out of the box, they weren’t progressive by any means but they brought something romantically new to the screen. When we look at Clueless (Amy Heckerling, 1995) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , we instantly know it's from the 90s; when we look at 13 Going on 30, we know it is from the early 2000s, but when we look at something from today, it’s just a mixture of what’s already been done before in the past. The rom-com’s of today are lacking the visual character their predecessors held. We’re missing the consistent, wholesome actors who filled each rom-com up, if I were to ask you to give me a name of a modern rom-com actor I just know you’d really struggle. We’re missing the grainy film, the warm visuals, the music montages, the sudden meet-cutes (that are now a bit overdone). Maybe the new rom-coms should take a few notes from the classics and try and regress to back to that state of romantic simplicity. The times have changed, but the rom-com hasn’t. I see why Anne Hathaway said her favourite rom-com was Gone Girl (David Fincher, 2014) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. .
Since the untimely death of the rom-com the studios now only want to make either romance films or just comedy films. With the releases of The Notebook (Nick Cassavetes, 2004) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , the Before trilogy (Richard Linklater, 1995-2013) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , Call Me by Your Name (2017) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. and recently The Worst Person in the World (2021) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. , the industry is now more interested in leaving the audience in tears of sadness than in tears of laughter. Romance films have also developed into popular soft porn films like 365 Days (Barbara Białowąs and Tomasz Mandes, 2020) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. and the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (Sam Taylor-Johnson, 2015-2018) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. as the industry explores modern sexual relationships by pushing cinematic boundaries and pushing the audience. Modern relationships seem to be slipping into lust and seduction rather than wholesome “meet cutes” and dinner dates. The exploration of the human body sexually seems to be the only thing on romance directors minds lately, as sexual ‘violence’ teeters into actual physical violence and body horror in new films like Fresh (Mimi Cave, 2022) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. and X (Ti West, 2022) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. .
And as the romance genre booms and evolves, comedy films seem to be slowly slipping away from our screen. The Los Angeles Times in 2018 stated that it has been “more than 20 years in which no traditional comedy [has made] more than $100 million.” As Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler greet box office flops, make deals with streaming services or welcome early retirements from the screen entirely. As other comedians like Amy Schumer and Kevin Hart try hopelessly to take their places, the promise of any good comedy movies seems to drastically decrease year by year. As comedy descends into the realms of the unknown, Judd Apatow finally tried to make another comedy film The Bubble (2022) View on: IMDb. Lettrboxd. Wikipedia. this year that was met with harsh criticism and not too many laughs. It seems even hailed comedic director’s, writers, producers and actors are struggling to keep up and stay relevant, much like the genre itself.
So what’s left for the rom-com, you may ask? Only the culture will tell.
by Isabel Hodges, May 2022.