Why are modern romantic comedies so bad?

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mattiasflgrtll6's Avatar
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I seriously can't grasp it. Filmmakers clearly still know how to make romantic dramas as there are quite a few good ones, but ever since we entered the 2000's a lot of the ones that are marketed as comedies fail horribly.


Most recently I saw P.S. I Love You. The attempts at being funny are the worst kind of "lulz I'm so awkward" humor, and the supposedly emotional scenes are so cheesy and hamfisted it's jawdropping. I can't believe some of the dialogue that comes out of the actors' mouths.
Romance in real life can be quite comedic. You run into plenty of screwed up situations you can poke fun at. Woody Allen did that for example. Or if you've really got to go the predictable route, at least make the dialogue not sound like it was written for babies.

And what's with all the stuttering? Every time someone is nervous that character starts stuttering like crazy. It's ridiculous. In real life you're often more reserved and very carefully choosing words when being around someone you're crushing on. Now everybody just sounds like Sandra Bullock.


I simply want to figure out why the writing for this genre has declined so badly. Even horror manages to impress more.

About Time was a shining example of how to do it right since the dialogue isn't painfully corny and the characters aren't shallow tropes. I just wish we could have that more often.



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My wife loves P.S. I Love You and she cries at it every time. Different things strike people differently. I could say the same about the action genre now. Everything is just quick edits to hide the fact that the actors cannot fight. John Wick is a shining example of letting the camera move with the action and show the viewer what they need to see. That's a film directed by a Stunt Coordinator. He got it, he knew what needed to be done. Now it's either a CGI mess (superhero flicks) or the aforementioned editing (Taken 3).

I feel like there will always be good movies and bad movies of any given genre. Romantic Comedies have always been a predictable mess of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. That's the basic formula. We'll see some tweaks to the formula here and there, but you know what you're getting 80% of the time.

I agree with you on About Time. That's a charming and at the same time, depressing movie. As for recent romantic comedies I liked:

Crazy Stupid Love
About Time
The Big Sick
Love, Simon
Set It Up
Always Be My Maybe.


I'm not saying these are above the genre, I just enjoyed them.
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mattiasflgrtll6's Avatar
The truth is in here
You have a point that the romantic comedy genre is one of the more samey ones, but the way it's executed has changed dramatically. Old ones like Teacher's Pet, Sabrina and Breakfast At Tiffany's contain a lot of classic tropes too, but have far more compelling characters and in a way, much more intimate romances than all the bland cutesy stuff we get now.

And they do lack the hideous blaring soundtrack that dominates the worst of the newer ones, especially P.S. I Love You.



I think it's because of the scenarios. They are pretty much the same from one romantic comedy to another. Using a bit of science fiction makes the film more tech-oriented and modern-looking. I liked these actually:

Her (2013)
Superintelligence (2020)
Resident Alien (2021 TV series, a mystery comedy-drama, but I guess there will be some romance).
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I actually don't think the ratio of good/watchable Romantic Comedies to those that are completely rote and routine has spiked in the 21st Century. If one thinks of the '80s or the '90s as some sort of golden age it is likely because you are cherry-picking the great ones and ignoring/forgetting about the dull ones. For every When Harry Met Sally or Pretty Woman or whatever it is you are holding up as "the good old days" as something that is rewatchable and was successful at the box office I can throw a batch like Funny About Love, Don't Tell Her It's Me, Switch, Her Alibi, Shrimp on the Barbie, Illegally Yours, Arthur 2: On the Rocks, Casual Sex, Sibling Rivalry, Scenes from a Mall, and A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell at you from that same timeframe. OK, that last one isn't a Romantic Comedy it's a Troma "classic", but I hope that makes my point.

The formula is the formula, same as any genre. Sometimes there are clever twists and subversions of the genre, but often when a movie works it isn't at all because of how different it is in structure or archetypes but because it is simply done very well and the chemistry of the leads works. Conversely just because a film is subverting the norms doesn't automatically make it good. For me a recent example of that would be Isn't It Romantic (2019) starring Rebel Wilson. On paper it is a clever, post-modern twist on the genre but it wasn't executed very well and ultimately is as forgettable as a bad formulaic RomCom.



As with any genre, if you have an affinity for it you accept them more easily than non-fans. If you just plain love Horror movies you get something out of most any Horror movie, even if while watching it you are aware it is derivative and isn't one of the best of all time or even the best of that year. Romantic Comedies are no different. I'd argue the output the past twenty years is no better or worse than the decades that preceded it.

As for the original post's example of P.S. I Love You I would say that movie isn't even designed as a RomCom. It is a romantic dramady, heavier on the drama than the comedy. That the humor isn't especially well integrated is true, but it isn't a RomCom so its awkwardness in tone is the fault of that film and can't really be blamed on the genre to which it doesn't even truly belong. I would say it was probably marketed more as a RomCom, but bad/misleading marketing is a whole other topic.

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That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
I'm curious how access affects perception too. Back in the 80s we could rent a VHS. While there were title options, I think we were more selective on what we chose to drop a few bucks on at the time. I know I was. Before VHS, you were limited to premium cable and/or satellite options, assuming you could afford or even had access to either. Before that? Silver screen, I suppose, which was even more limiting on your viewing options.

Today I have immediate access to streaming premium channels, network, Netflix, Amazon (both Prime sub and rental options), Disney+, HULU, etc., etc.... Not saying I subscribe to all of that, btw. My point is that we all have access (even illegal access) to so many more options today than any past decade. I can watch crap movies as a past time. People are churning them out, so why not? Hallmark exists. Sadly. lol.

So what's the ratio here relative to what it was in the past? 1 good to 9 bad? Is that consistent? iderno.
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Here are over fifty Romantic Comedies from the 2000s I would classify as darn good to great.

Return to Me (2000)
High Fidelity (2000)
Keeping the Faith (2000)
Amélie (2001)
Kate & Leopold (2001)
Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)
Serendipity (2001)
About a Boy (2002)
Something’s Gotta Give (2003)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
The Girl Next Door (2004)
The Baxter (2005)
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
Wedding Crashers (2005)
The Break-Up (2006)
The Holiday (2006)
Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
Dan in Real Life (2007)
Eagle vs. Shark (2007)
Knocked Up (2007)
Music & Lyrics (2007)
No Reservations (2007)
Waitress (2007)
Definitely, Maybe (2008)
Forgetting Sarah Marhsall (2008)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)
Adventureland (2009)
Away We Go (2009)
(500) Days of Summer (2009)
Music on Hold (2009)
The Proposal (2009)
Easy A (2010)
Going the Distance (2010)
Love and Other Drugs (2010)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
She’s Out of My League (2010)
Crazy Stupid Love (2011)
No Strings Attached (2011)
The Five-Year Engagement (2012)
Ruby Sparks (2012)
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
About Time (2013)
Laggies (2014)
Obvious Child (2014)
Sleeping with Other People (2015)
Trainwreck (2015)
The Big Sick (2017)
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2018)
Juliet, Naked (2018)
Always Be My Maybe (2019)
Long Shot (2019)
Yesterday (2019)
Palm Springs (2020)

That's just my taste and I am sure I am forgetting a few. If you like Katherine Heilgl, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Allen, or Jennifer Lopez your list might be different but just as long. I don't think there is a shortage of decent to exceptional RomComs out there nor do I find the ratio of good to bad to be significantly better or worse. There are always good ones and bad ones. If you hit on a couple in a row that don't float your boat keep looking, don't decry the entire era.



Never been a fan of rom-com. Not sure I’ve ever seen one I enjoyed.

I do like romance though. The Way We Were kills me every time. Ditto Doctor Zhivago.
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I think a lot of this comes down to bad writing. These days, it's all about trying to save the cat and not nearly enough about creating memorable characters that you're rooting to find love. And without memorable characters, you won't be able to swallow the predictable situations and complications they find themselves in.

I've seen enough painful romcoms like The Bounty Hunter and The Ugly Truth to be wary of anything claiming to be in that genre. Although there are exceptions...Scott Pilgrim, Nick and Norah's Playlist, Priceless and I Give It a Year come to mind, generally speaking the lack of chemistry and the shoddy writing does lead to lackluster films that don't hold up compared to His Girl Friday and It Happened One Night.



I really enjoyed shallow hal, i found it very entertaining and the acting was good



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The last really good one I saw was 50 First Dates (2004) if that is new enough to be modern.



Insofar as this is true (I'll let others debate that), I think it'd be because it's essentially a subgenre. The more you drill down like that, the more specific you get, the more formulaic things are going to get. There's more variance and innovation with fewer constraints and classifications, and "romantic comedy" has got two big ones right off the bat.



I think that there might be some, I don't know, "refinement bias".

There are some really, really bad romantic comedies from the 30s/40s/50s. In fact, the more you delve into the less known films, the more you find total clunkers.

Romantic comedies I've enjoyed since 2000:

Palm Springs
Emma
About Time
Crazy Stupid Love
The Proposal
Secretary
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
13 Going on 30
Trainwreck
Always Be My Maybe
Warm Bodies
The Spectacular Now
Before We Go
What If
Juliet Naked
Plus One
Beginners
Man Up
I Love You Phillip Morris
It's a Boy Girl Thing
Straight Up
Alex Strangelove
Down with Love
I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay
Saving Face
The Decoy Bride
Adam
Boy Meets Girl
Happy Accidents
Take Me Home
Losing in Love


I think that, as with any subgenre, there are stronger and weaker decades.

I do think it is neat that romantic comedies are starting to be much more open to non-white and non-straight main characters. I thought that Straight Up, for example, was both really funny and a really perceptive look at two people with complicated relationships to their own sexuality.



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I think it's called getting old. I'm an old man and can't watch most of the garbage that is being thrown out these days. It's not made for me, but for a demographic that isn't me.



mattiasflgrtll6's Avatar
The truth is in here
I don't think that's the only reason. I'm only 24, and I think there's been an evergrowing problem of commercialism and overused clichés in movies as well. I have enjoyed some newer romantic comedies though, Palm Springs was a really nice surprise since it managed to avoid almost every typical trope in the book (and the ones it did follow were still executed very well) wihout becoming so immersed in its subversions it forgets to create likable characters and a believable romance. I'd say it had one of the more memorable couples of recent years.



I really enjoyed La La Land.
La la land is a musical, not a romantic comedy, this movie is comparable to:
Bohemian raphsody
A star is born
Over the moon
Thats it