From writer Linda Holmes on NPR.org:
I’m not trying to brag or anything, but I’m a pretty highly trained expert on movies with banter and kissing in them.
I’m not just talking about the ones you all know about, like When Harry Met Sally. I’m talking about the fact that I used to own I.Q. on VHS. You remember I.Q.? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Let’s just say Meg Ryan plays a genius, and we’ll leave it at that. (Oh, wait: it also features Walter Matthau as Albert Einstein, whose one good line — “I’m steering ze boooat!” — could be useful in a few boat-related situations.)
I’m talking about the large sections of The Cutting Edge that I can, and do, quote from memory.
I’m talking about how many times I saw While You Were Sleeping in theaters. (The answer has been redacted in the event I am one day nominated for a Nobel Prize, because it would be instantly disqualifying.)
So when I tell you that you really, really do not need to include in your romantic comedy the shot of the guy slinging the woman over his shoulder and dragging her out of the room like a sack of potatoes tied around the neck of a recalcitrant toddler, you should believe me. Here, in fact, are ten things to please omit from your film. Please.
Here is her list:
1. I love you so much that I enjoy hauling you around. 2. Throwing like a girl. 3. Punches in the crotch.4. Anyone, in any situation, using the words “listen up, ladies.”
5. Rain-soaked fights.
6. Wicked, scheming other women.
7. Inapt comparisons to Mr. Darcy.
8. Cats that stand for loneliness.
9. Best friends of ill repute.
10. Makeovers.
Seems to me that if you cut out those moments, then rom-coms will clock in at about 60 minutes. Moreover the first five seem like a shot across the bow of potential male viewers, i.e., these are precisely the type of thing that guys need in order to put with being dragged to a rom-com by their significant other.
What do you think? Dump any / all of these 10? Any others to dump? Or do you like any / all of these 10? Rom-com fans speak up!
Cliche is only cliche when used improperly and produces the groans of disdain. However, as soon as we label a list of things not to include in filmmaking in general, let alone specific genre tropes — suddenly, there will come a writer or director (perhaps both) who not only utilizes each and every cliche, invariably it is done with gusto, bravado, and enough panache that such cliches are a breath of fresh air, despite how unlikely that would sound.
Therefore, take the worst movie cliches, reexamine them and find a means to deliver the entrenched maxim "familiar, but fresh", and suddenly, voila… it's what the audiences want.
So what may be cliche in one filmmakers hands, is the very basis of nailing an audiences genre expectations for another.
Witty gay best friend of protag.
Or witty best friend who acts like gay guy. (Think Judy Greer.)
The ones I agree with are 1, 6, 10, mostly because those are annoying sexist tropes that I think are long overdue to be banned from "chick-flicks." Number 1, unfortunately, also sometimes tends toward humorous light depictions of borderline domestic abuse.
As for the rain-soaked fights, I don't know whether she means lover's quarrels, or fist fights of opposing male suitors or something.
I agree with what you're saying on some of them being the aspects that are included to attract male viewers. I do think that these lures could be more creative however, and that often times a strong male friendship of fun guys will be all that is required as that itself should spring fun situations. For example, I definitely include 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall as romantic comedies, despite being geared toward the male audience. The only difference is that the main character is a man instead of a woman, and with that a bunch non-funny crap that is included in many romcoms (although Knocked Up still managed most of the annoying tropes the other two skirted around more effectively). Somehow, there's this impression that women not only aren't funny, but don't care for humor in "their" movies so everything is watered down. Not that sex jokes and slapstick that dominate "man" movies are the only forms of comedy, but rather that they are used with gusto, rather than kind of half-assing it for fear of not appealing to everyone in the audience.
In addition, I agree with the above 2 comments.
Also, on a sillier note I was kind of annoyed and took issue with her "expertise" in rom-coms, suggesting that IQ and Cutting Edge and While You Were Sleeping aren't main-stream or well known. I know she was trying to be funny, but 2 of those star rom-com sweethearts, and Cutting Edge is well loved as well. In fact, ABC Family has made numbers 2,3,& 4 of Cutting Edge, and I watched all of them last week. 2 was pretty bad, 3 was actually kind of suspenseful (in that the main male character seemed like some kind of serial partner abuser – causing cut faces and broken limbs – I kept waiting for a dark turn) but the 4th was actually pretty good. Clearly my expertise far exceeds hers *hmph*. I've watched more Hallmark channel movies than I care to mention.
HUGE fan of the rom-com. So what if one lady didn't like "The Bounty Hunter?"
I'm always more interested in what makes a good rom-com tick, then bashing misfires. Writers are by nature story BUILDERS, not destructors. The Simon Cowell factor needs to go; I do not like being arround people who's only contribution is taking shots at someone else's work.
I have absolutely NO PROBLEM watching a cliche play out in a rom-com. You WANT the audience to identify with a character or a situation. Sometimes cliche are good starting points, and you build off that. I think a lot of people have an overactive sensetivity to cliches. Sure you never want to be boring.
I hold to the opinion that a good writer can work of a cliche, twist it, and make something fresh and fun out of it.
Sigh.
I just get so sick of reading articles from people who are just bashing critics. For me; it gets old quick.
One good thing Linda Holmes pointed out was "While You Were Sleeping." Not THAT'S a GOOD rom-com. Love it.
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
I think the item "wicked scheming other women" is too broad and useful to be abolished from rom-coms. All the other items are pretty tiresome and I wouldn't miss them.