The venerable romcom. It’s been a part of our cultural fabric forever, hasn’t it? I got to thinking about that because a modern version of Much Ado About Nothing—based on Shakespeare’s play that many consider to be the original romantic comedy—just hit the store shelves in video form.
When I mull over today’s comedies, though, I can’t help but think that something’s changed. Doesn’t it feel like the old Sleepless in Seattle days of good, relatively clean romantic fun has faded into the sunset? I mean, think back over this past year. Is there any winning romcom that comes to mind?
Yeah, we’ve had comedies. This year witnessed the release of laughers about dysfunctional families (The Big Wedding), dysfunctional Mafia families (The Family), dysfunctional men (The Hangover Part III, Grown Ups 2), dysfunctional old spies (Red 2), dysfunctional supernatural cops (R.I.P.D.) and we’ve even had a few flat-out dysfunctional movies in general. You remember The Lone Ranger, of course. (That was a comedy, right?)
Anyway, the point is, for all of the spoofs and foul gaggers I’ve reviewed this year, I can’t come up with much in the way of a mainstream, traditional romantic comedy other than the recent Enough Said. That independent pic about dating divorcees, however, has only had a limited release at best.
Don Jon you say? Well … that’s more of an anti-romance boy-meets-porn-addiction comedy than it is a boy-meets-girl rib-tickler. It earned a pretty solid R for graphic sexual content and language. I recently spotted a Christian Science Monitor commentary that suggested that Don Jon is evidence that Hollywood is shifting away from the stuff that usually appeals to a traditional woman’s sensibilities.
“Rom-coms are not disappearing altogether,” film writer Lucas Shaw told the Monitor. “But there is a need for a novel approach … where the story-telling structure is different and doesn’t end with a woman and a man just being happy.” Shaw went on to say, “Studios don’t seem to be courting female viewers as they should be. Too many of the movies this year are aimed at a younger male audience like (December’s) Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.”
“But why?” you may be asking. And that’s a pretty good question. Maybe it’s all based on a statistical equation that points to which type of comedy gets the most backsides in the most theater seats. Or maybe the experts figure that we, as a society, are just a whole lot less romantic. We’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’, you might say. Could it be, then, that the romcom is dead? That we, as a society, would rather see crude and crass over a cute kiss, we’d rather watch Bridesmaids vomit than fight over a bouquet? Could be. I hope not, but could be.
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