Ahem...time to step up...

[Mulan]

Alright...Yahve gave me moderator power of this forum so long ago after much protesting.  And has been telling me that I got to start doing my job.  So here's my attempt to control and cultivate.  

 

 Being a chick, I've got an affinity towards the romantic comedies.  And I know where 's stand with his Westerns.  I want to start this topic with a hopeful argument.  

 

   Tell us why you like/dislike the perverbial romantic comedy?  I know the main argument is that they are all the same.  But there's been better attempts to change the genre.  

   And lately the happily ever after does not go hand and hand with romantic comedies...it's more like a romantic tragedy.   and I were talking about how that if the tragedies really sell.  Noone would watch Romeo and Juliet if it wasn't for the tragedy...let alone movies like the one I saw last night (SPOILER)  ahemm  ....a walk to remember.  My question is why is there this need for the tragedy?  Are you all that tired of happy endings?  or are they just not that memorable?

   Personally movies like Everafter and Never been Kissed are some of my favorites.  But not really that noticeable.  I know that what women want was a relly interesting take on the romance genre.  A movie that actually caters somewhat to the men.  That Frank Sinatra Dance was really cool.  

 

So apart from that...that's my chick point of view.  Feel free to argue, bitch, support or whatever.  I hope this topic doesn't end at the bottom with my other attempts.

[The NZA]

Havin finally seen "It Happened One Night" with Clark Gable, i see where the romantic comedy formula comes from, and it was well done here in its innovation.  

But after that, yes, it is a limited genre, as is Westerns.  The ones that stand out do so either due to A) Great, great acting & plot or B) A good twist (ie, based on a Kurosawa samurai tale like "Yojimbo/Fistfull of Dollars", or "Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven", etc) or an anti-hero piece like Unforgiven, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, etc.

So, a few shine.  "As good as it gets" comes to mind for me 'cause the acting was just amazin.  Yes, "What Women Want" also had Helen Hunt, who I like, and William Wal...Mel Gibson with his cool ass Sinatra dance number.  That's another good trick used in that early flick with "Gone with the Wind"'s Clark Gable: get a good male actor that guys will watch to lure em in.

Inevitably, the plot'll be formulaic, 2 people will meet by accident, prolly not get along, end up together & do so forever or end in tragedy, the latter of which interests me more, but often tries to hard for the audience's tears.  Again, smart variations like "High Fidelity" & "Jerry Maguire" can pull this off & the viewer wont be as aware if the writing & performances are good.  

I guess im sayin the reason i dont go for romantic comedies is that this usually isnt the case.  Often, the movie will mildly entertain me at some point down its predictable road, but nothin memorable will happen, just the same effect many of my westerns would have on most folks.

[JunkerSeed]

Yeah, good call on all of those movies, those are just about the only romantic comedies I can stomach.  Problem with most romantic comedies is that they are mostly formulaic.  90% of the time in those movies there's about two or three words the characters could say that would clear up the entire situacion and end all of their problems, but they don't say them untill the end, because they are being dragged kicking and screaming through a script.  Almost feels like they wrote the plot first and the characters later.  So, instead of the characters doing what they would actually do, Idiot Plot devices predictably keep them away from each other for a good hour and a half till the filmmakers feel we've had enough.  And it's not that I don't like stuff without guns, In the Bedroom and Monster's Ball were two o' my favorite movies this year, and while not comedies by any stretch of the imagination, still examples of damned fine writing that them romantic comedy/tragedy people should learn from.