For a couple of years now, I've been proclaiming that the Romantic Comedy is dead. I'm like a broken record and my friends are really starting to despise me. However, I had a lot to go on when I came to this harsh conclusion.
Now, let me take you for a startling stroll down (recent) RomCom memory lane so I can prove my point.
2008
What Happens in Vegas
This shit grossed $220 million--looks like a lot of people suffered. They should have known better. The movie stars Cameron Diaz (the worst 'actress' of our time) & the equally bad and incredibly annoying Ashton Kutcher who usually ends up playing Michael Kelso in every film. Between the two of them, not much acting range. Storyline was okay but all that slapstick! They had to throw that all in just to keep the audience awake, I guess. Movies like this shouldn't be allowed to happen. We're good people--we don't deserve this kind of treatment.
My Best Friend's Girl
Starring some talentless 'comedian' named Dane Cook. He was in that abomination called 'Employee of the Month' with none other than the incomparable Jessica Simpson--she should be banned from movie sets, entirely. But, I digress.
Also stars Kate Hudson (her track record with the RomCom isn't all that bad--remember 'How To Lose A Guy..'? Not bad, right?) as 'the best friend's girl'. She'll be regretting this one for years to come. I think film critic Wesley Morris from the Boston Globe sums it up well: 'The inexplicable romantic comedy career of Dane Cook marches on.'
Made of Honor
Capitalizing on his 'mcdreamy' or 'mcsteamy' crap or whatever the hell it's called from a show I don't watch, Patrick Dempsey stumbles upon a script so bad, Dane Cook turned it down.
No, just kidding! However, Patrick should have turned this one down because he had such a hit with Enchanted. He didn't need this one. Nobody needs this. This film was a blatant (and terrible) copy of My Best Friend's Wedding.
I would like to point out though, Patrick has great RomCom potential. He was in a somewhat cheesy yet charming movie called Can't Buy Me Love back in 1987.
There was a lot more mediocre RomComs in 2008 but I could be here all day, people.
So, here we are in 2009 and this is what Hollywood has given us so far:
The Proposal
A match that should have been left on the cutting room floor: Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds.
I called this one early on. The trailer didn't look that bad (Betty White was in this film!) but what made me think, 'this movie is going to suck' was the amount of publicity it was getting. The studio was shoving this one down our throats--big time. Bad sign. If the movie was any good, you wouldn't need local morning radio shows talking about it every 20 minutes.
The Ugly Truth
Do I even need to critique this film in any way? I'm sure you've all read the less than stellar reviews recently. Or worse, you were one of the poor bastards that parted with your hard-earned dollars to sit through this monstrosity. Again, I called this piece of shit as soon as I saw the trailer for it a few months ago.
That part at the end of the trailer when Whiny Heigel says, 'sucker!' made me cringe each and every time I saw it mostly because people in the theatre actually laughed. It frightened me. AND the film used Flo Rida's 'Right Round'. He should sue.
August 14th, 2009:
I finally had the opportunity to see (500) Days of Summer. Why did I wait so long? Because this little gem is in only a handful of theatres while complete SHIT films like the ones mentioned above, are in every theatre across the city. That hardly seems fair, I know but this is Hollywood. It's ugly, isn't it?
The movie stars Zooey Deschanel & Joseph Gordon-Levitt (remember him in 3rd Rock? He's still just as adorable) as two very different people with very different outlooks on life and love. However, they end up forming a 'relationship' that Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) wants to label while Summer (Zooey Deschanel) just wants to have fun with. It's a love story with a twist, I guess you could say. The twist is that this movie is closer to real life than any other RomCom I've ever seen--it's unpredictable and extremely refreshing. Tom is a bit melodramatic but it doesn't matter--you buy it.
I can't say much more without giving the plot away so just do yourself a favour and go see it. Here's a link to the trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsD0NpFSADM
And Hollywood, if you're listening, PLEASE give us back the great Romantic Comedy. You know, the ones that were funny and had well-written characters that we actually cared about.
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