Romantic Comedies Aren’t Terrible (Except for When They Are)

Bitch Flicks hosted an interesting article about the romantic comedy genre just yesterday. The original post can be found here and the Bitch Flicks link can be found here. In the article “Rom-Coms Don’t Suck,” writer Amanda Krauss defends the romantic comedy genre against the tired criticism that it’s too “predictable”:

“Romantic comedies have existed for literally thousands of years; the same historical genre, comoedia, is also responsible for today’s sitcoms. But romantic comedies, especially, have suffered a great deal in the last few decades. These supposed “chick” flicks (male-authored for millennia, and still mostly male-created) get ridiculously low scores on MetaCritic and Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, most “guy” comedies (e.g. an Apatow joint) or action flicks get decent scores, seemingly without even trying. This is pure and simple sexism. You sure as hell can’t defend action flicks on aesthetic grounds. And any reviewer who accuses a rom-com of being predictable should have their license revoked — of course it’s predictable. So was that action flick, by the way. Oh, didn’t you see it coming that the hero dude was going to save the world? I did.”

The article is spot-on and I agree with its major points. I hate the idea that romantic comedies are considered “girly” by default. Describing romantic comedies, or the romantic subplots in other movies, as “girly” is dismissive on two different levels. It turns “girly” into an insult, for one thing, but it also implies that romantic love and the desire to express romantic love is an emotion reserved for women. Krauss is entirely right that there’s really no difference between a typical action movie and a typical romantic comedy. In the first, the hero (usually a guy) will probably defuse the bomb just in time, and in the second, the leads are going to get together. They’re both formulaic, so why should one genre get a free pass for its predictability and the other criticized for it?

At the same time, even as I write this, I know that an action movie with a formulaic plot will still hold my attention and leave me relatively entertained, while an overly formulaic romantic comedy will leave me irritated and bored.

Why the double standard? Is there something else at work here in addition to sexism?

In a word: yes.

I’m not a person who seeks out action movies. They don’t usually interest me. That said, if I’m with friends who want to see an action movie, I’ll go without complaining and usually find myself entertained by car chase scenes and stuff blowing up. If I’m forced to sit through a bad romantic comedy, though, I’ll leave the theater irritated and ranting and making vague threats about the review “SO going on my blog!”

These two reactions are very typical for me. While I won’t seek out an action movie, I’m still very easy to please if I wind up watching one. I will seek out romantic comedies much more often, but if they disappoint me, I get livid. Critics hated the 2000 remake of Gone in 60 Seconds – I thought it had stuff blowing up and Timothy Olyphant, so I didn’t see the problem. Critics loved Sleepless in Seattle – I thought it was boring and stupid and a waste of time and she falls in love with this guy she hears over the radio, what the hell is her problem?!

Maybe romantic comedies suffer more in my mind because of higher expectations. I enjoy the genre more than I enjoy the action movie genre, so I have higher standards for the rom-com.

Then I hit on the real core problem with many romantic comedies. If I have one rule for fiction, it’s this: “I don’t care how many outrageous plot devices or background shenanigans the writers use as long as the human emotions ring true.” So very often, I find that the romantic comedy is the guiltiest genre of disregarding that rule.

Take Glee, for instance. I can brush off the slushies thrown in kids’ faces and kids being tossed into dumpsters without any kind of punishment from authority. I can shrug and go with it when the show wants to make me believe that the glee kids are the social pariahs of the school but still receive standing ovations after their assemblies. I can laugh about the jazz band conveniently having nothing to do but follow the glee kids around all day in the event that one of them will want to sing about their feelings, or Kurt rounding up 20 backup dancers with no notice, or Blaine running to serenade Kurt and a piano just happens to be on the patio, because why not? But throw another love triangle in my face like they did with Quinn/Rachel/Finn and I will spit blood.

Or, take Friends. Rachel didn’t realize that she had feelings for Ross until she knew about his feelings for her, and just when she was about to tell him how she felt, he met a different woman and started dating her. Well, isn’t that convenient and in no way a contrivance to draaaaaag out the characters getting together because contrivances are easier to write than actual relationships! Ted and Robin did a similar thing on How I Met Your Mother, with Robin not coming to terms with having feelings for Ted until she noticed that he liked Victoria. In that case, though, we already knew that a Ted and Robin relationship wouldn’t work out in the long run, and so the machinations to get them together in the first place were less frustrating and more bittersweet.

Yes, the machinations to keep two characters apart in order to increase the tension and delay the inevitable is really no different from a random car chase or gun fight in an action movie. But I don’t care if gun fights and car chases make no sense. Action movies as a whole are not meant to be telling us anything about the human condition. They’re pure spectacle, and if they succeed at that spectacle – good for them!

But romantic comedies deal with the most intense and precious of human emotions – love – and as someone who love and respects love, I get downright offended and annoyed when love is mistreated, or used as a mere plot device.

I would love to see more romantic comedies like (500) Days of Summer and Going the Distance, stories that explore the nature of love and what it really means to be in a relationship, rather than the typical rom-com that waits until the last five minutes to get the characters together.