Two weeks ago, I talked about why I have such picky standards for the romantic comedy film genre. Last week, I talked about a romantic comedy movie I saw in the theaters and the way romance is presented in the TV show Community.
This weekend, an idea for a blog project was born.
Next year, I will watch no fewer than 52 romantic comedies – one for each week of the year – and review every single one on this blog.
Here’s the truth of the matter. I love romantic comedies (when they’re good. When they stink, the rom-com is my least favorite genre.) I also think that looking at romantic comedies is a worthwhile feminist project. I want to look at how men and women are represented in these films. I want to look at the way romantic expectations are presented in our popular culture. I want to look at issues of consent. I want to look at the way the comedy genre affects the romance genre and vice-versa.
I also want recommendations.
In the comments – or in an email to the.funny.feminist@gmail.com – please recommend every single romantic comedy you can think of that you would like me to review on this blog.
I mean anything. You can ask me to review your favorite romantic comedy of all time. You can ask me to review a romantic comedy that you hated and hope that I will rip to shreds. You can ask me to review a romantic comedy that you have never seen but were curious about watching.
You can be diverse in your recommendations, too. Suggest modern movies and old classics. Tell me to watch romantic comedies about high school students, twenty-somethings, middle-aged people, and retirees. Recommend me heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and polyamorous romantic comedies. Characters should come from a variety of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
I’m not picky. Tell me to watch anything. I have only one criterion: the movie has to be comedic in nature and have a romance at the center of the plot.
You can also leave me as many suggestions as you want. I won’t even mind if you suggest something that I have already seen. I’ll just watch it again and review it here.
I challenge thee, readers. Rec me a rom-com.
ETA: I have received the following film suggestions – Love Actually, 50 First Dates, 13 Going on 30, Clueless, Show Me Love (aka Fucking Amal), Together, Mansfield Park, Go Fish, Bedrooms and Hallways, Something New, Definitely Maybe, Kate and Leopold, The Princess Bride, Sleepless in Seattle, Eat Pray Love, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 10 Things I Hate About You, 27 Dresses, Elizabethtown, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hitch, Knocked Up, Chasing Amy, (500) Days of Summer, Pretty Woman, Love and Basketball, Amelie, Bridget Jones’ Diary, High Fidelity, The Real Blonde, The Unbelievable Truth, Trust, Simple Men, The Thin Man, Topper, Miami Rhapsody, Party Girl, Kicking and Screaming, Secretary, Stranger than Fiction, His Girl Friday, It Happened One Night,The Philadelphia Story, Bringing Up Baby, Some Like it Hot, What’s Up Doc?, Sabrina, The Apartment. I’ve seen half of these, but would be willing to give them a second look for blogging purposes. There’s a decent variety in here so far. If anyone has suggestions of older black-and-white romantic comedies, or rom-coms starring older characters, those would be greatly appreciated.
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How about Love Actually? 50 First Dates? Suddenly 30/13 Going On 30? Just off the top of my head. Love the blog by the way, this was the first feminist blog I ever followed, and really allowed me to connect to feminism in a big way for the first time through the conduit of pop culture which I already connect with.
Thank you so much for saying that. I really care about this issue and it’s nice to know that the posts are influencing people in a positive way.
I still haven’t seen Love Actually, so that would be a great one to start off the year, I think. I have seen the others, but ages and ages ago, before I made an active point of looking at movies through a feminist lens, so those might be worth revisiting. Thanks!
“Clueless!” “Show Me Love” (aka “Fucking Amal”): some parts are kind of grim, but it is also one of the best lesbian movies out there and a great portrait of teenage girls. “Together” (which takes place on a commune in 70s Sweden) from the director of “Show Me Love” has two couples, one straight, one not, who are happy at the end. I also loved “Mansfield Park” (based on a novel by Jane Austen and directed by Patricia Rozema). Famous lesbian film “Go Fish” needs no intro. “Bedrooms and Hallways” is more of a farce, though there is at least one couple (of the dizzying array of fluid sexual orientations) that ends up together. “Something New,” directed by a woman of color, is one of the few interracial rom coms and the leads do have chemistry. In fact, all of the directors (except the Show Me Love, Together guy) listed here are women.
Thanks! I’ve seen a few of these but some of them are completely new to me.
I love this idea! How about:
When Harry Met Sally…
Chasing Amy
Pretty Woman
Love and Basketball
I love your blog, especially your Glee recaps. 🙂
Thank you for both the compliment and the suggestions!
I am interested in seeing Love and Basketball but I’ve heard that’s more of a drama than a comedy. I’ll keep it in mind, though.
Amelié, Bridget Jone’s Diary, (500) Days of Summer, High Fidelity
Thanks! I’ll add these to the list.
Oh, and also: I think that’s a great project and I’m looking forward to see it!
Oh oh me me! The Real Blonde, the Hal Hartley trilogy: Unbelievable Truth, Trust, Simple Men, Thin Man movies, Topper, Miami Rhapsody, Party Girl, Kicking and Screaming (not the Soccer movie the Noah Baumbach one), Secretary, Stranger Than Fiction. Okay I’ll stop now.
You need more readers whose knowledge of movies extends back farther than the 1980s. My suggestions: His Girl Friday; It Happened One Night; The Philadelphia Story; Bringing Up Baby; Some Like It Hot; What’s Up, Doc?, Sabrina (the Bogart original, not the Harrison Ford remake), The Apartment.
I’m twenty six and I’ve seen (and recommend) all of these (except for Philadelphia Story, I think it’s highly overated). I would also like to add Top Hat, Shop Around the Corner, Calamity Jane (with Doris Day). I love Bringing Up Baby and Sabrina.
I have seen The Philadelphia Story. There’s some real disgusting misogyny in that movie. On the other hand, it may be the only romantic comedy I’ve seen where I thought the ending wasn’t completely telegraphed from the first scene (in terms of which man Katharine Hepburn would end up with). So it has that going for it, at least.
Would love to hear how you feel about Kissing Jessica Stein
You should watch the first rom-com ever: Tillie’s Punctured Romance.
It’s a silent film with Charlie Chaplin.
Forgot “Shampoo” from the 70s and “Law of Desire” an Almodovar film (one of his very best) from the mid-eighties.
Though now that I think of it, there aren’t a lot of laughs in “Law of Desire” more absurdity really.
Annie Hall, because it’s absurd that it hasn’t been mentioned.
Also: She’s Gotta Have It (Spike Lee’s debut)
Adam’s Rib (classic Hepburn and Tracy). It’s one of my favorite romcoms–or rather, one or the few I can stand.
How about: Sex and the Single Girl, Splash, Better Off Dead (which I love, by the way), Someone Like You, Working Girl.
For not-white films, Love on a Diet (chinese, kind of hard to find, but has some great acting and is completely ridiculous), Simply Ballroom (Australian but one of the leads and her family are hispanic), Shall We Dance? (Original Japanese, it’s not exaaaactly a romcom but it is a fantastic movie), or you could do one of those horrible horrible Tyler Perry movies. In fact you should probably do a Tyler Perry movie just because they are so terrible.
Also I have a secret love of dance movies so let me just add on any of the three Step Up movies (though Step Up 2 is my personal favorite), and Center Stage.
I’ll add Center Stage and Jane Austin Book Club. And “He’s Just Not That Into You” cuz I hate it so.
Augh just checked back, I mistyped a title, it’s STRICTLY Ballroom, not Simply.
Also omg “He’s Just Not That Into You” is SO BAD AUGH (you should probably review it)
I saw “How Do You Know” in theatres and was pleasantly surprised by the female protagonist who was a pro athlete, not wealthy (clearly because she is a woman, as despite being an Olympic softball player she is clearly not earning the multiple figures of one of her pro baseball player love interests), trying to figure out what to do with her new life in general, and trying to see how dating and compromise fit into that. OTOH, both male love interests are problematic, and the cast is pretty whitewashed, aside from one ex-girlfriend.I’d love to see a feminist reading of the film.
Oooh oooh! Latter Days! Mormon missionary boy meets LA playboy. Cuteness ensues.
Eagle Vs. Shark!!!
eagle vs. shark
You must watch Camille. It’s not a romantic comedy per se… but the cheesiness of it will make you laugh. It has James Franco, Sienna Miller, and David Carradine.
And here’s a list of actual romantic comedies I suggest:
Annie Hall
Splash (Tom Hanks)
So I Married An Ax-Murderer (Mike Myers)
Roxanne (a twist on the classic Cyrano de Bergerac)
Along Came Polly
40 Year Old Virgin
Lars and the Real Girl
Juno
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (OF COURSE!)
There were more, but I saw them mentioned above (i.e. When Harry Met Sally, High Fidelity). If I come up with any more that haven’t been mentioned, I’ll let ya know!
I’m really looking forward to your reviews!!!! I think it’s an awesome idea.
Thanks for the suggestions. I have already reviewed Lars and the Real Girl: http://funnyfeminist.com/2011/02/24/movie-rental-review-lars-and-the-real-girl/. But the others would be new to me, or at least new for me to write about. Thanks!
Old one: The Lady Eve. A woman spurned goes out for revenge and gets him back in the end.
Nontraditional One: Saving Face. Successful surgeon deals with her new girlfriend, her traditional Chinese family, and her recently disowned, pregnant-out of wedlock mother. This one is fantastic if only to show how merely swapping out the player can breath life into the standard rom-com cliches.
So Bad it’s Good: Bride Wars. Absolutely tripe that embraces every sexist, demeaning repressively hetero-normative trait in the modern rom-com formula. But! has a fascinating lesbian undertone reminiscent of Christina Rossetti’s The Goblin Market.
I like many of the suggestions already given, so I tried to come up with a variety of choices that haven’t yet been mentioned. I’m not entirely sure what the criteria are for something to be considered a romantic comedy, though, so please forgive any additions that aren’t quite right:
Jump Tomorrow
Better Than Chocolate
Better Than Sex (not related)
Before Sunrise
Before Sunset (awesome sequel)
Saawariya
The Importance of Being Earnest (w/ Rupert Everett)
Much Ado About Nothing (w/ Emma Thompson)
Shakespeare in Love
A Room With a View
84 Charing Cross Road
Arsenic and Old Lace
The Bishop’s Wife
Run Lola Run
Groundhog Day
Harold and Maude
The Court Jester
I’m Through with White Girls
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Corpse Bride
Edward Scissorhands
Heathers
A Fish Called Wanda
Imagine Me & You
Shaun of the Dead