RomanticComedy Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Love Happens isn't just an unfortunate title because of the obvious pun I'm biting my metaphorical tongue over (okay... sh*t happens! I said it!), but because it's boring and lazy, and that pretty much sums up the movie itself.

Aaron Eckhart is as bland as pudding as Burke Ryan, a psychologist who lost his wife in a tragic accident, and for some reason turned his grief into a cottage industry for other people in mourning. Even with an incredibly successful book and seminars across the country that teach people how to be "A-OK!" instead of, say, dealing with their grief Elisabeth Kübler-Ross-style, Burke is miserable. Small details that are meant to humanize him and illustrate the grief and anxiety that is inevitable after a life-changing loss feel small and clichéd. He always takes the stairs instead of the elevator. And those lemons he tells his readers to make into lemonade? He pours a little Grey Goose into his glass when no one else is around. One of the other characters even makes a point of mentioning what a teetotaler he is.

If you are somebody who is a little 'cinematically inclined', then I'm sure one of the questions you ask any new friend or foe is "So, what are some of your favorite movies?" Now I'm going to be honest here and tell you that if I'm trying to impress someone new, I might leave out a few of the less than 'high-minded' selections in favor of earning a little cool quotient by name dropping something underground or foreign. But, we've all got our dirty little secrets, and over at The Guardian Film Blog, Ryan Gilbey has taken the first step by admitting his top five embarrassing film obsessions.

Coming in at number one for Gilbey was John Landis' The Blues Brothers. As it turns out, Gilbey's love for the blues comedy faded as soon as he passed puberty and now his beloved film is "flat and joyless". But some of his other choices might surprise you, like Conan The Barbarian (which earned him plenty of commenter heat), and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (you can read the full list over at The Guardian). A little while back, Elisabeth bravely admitted that she was the owner of a DVD copy of Baz Luhrmann's romantic epic Australia (and what a relief it was to discover I wasn't the only one who fell prey to the infamous 'bucket scene') But, as shameful as that purchase might be, I think I might have it beat. Because, for my top five embarrassing favorites, unlike Gilbey, I'm not blaming them on my youth or nostalgia. Nope, my love of these five movies is just downright mortifying, so let's begin, shall we?

After the jump; My most humiliating movie favorites...

One of the downsides of being a film critic is that we see so many movies, we get a bit hard-hearted. It can't be helped. We certainly go into every film with the hope that we'll love it ... but after seeing literally thousands of them, that emperor is buck naked, We recognize every recycled plot, every hackneyed bit of dialogue, every lazy directorial trick.

On the plus side, no one is happier to really, truly enjoy a movie than a film critic. And as jaded as I am (my husband jokes that I have a "cold, tiny, black heart" where genres like romantic comedies are concerned) I get an extra burst of pleasure when I see a film like (500) Days of Summer -- a movie so charming, so smart, so clever and well-crafted, it reminds me why I fell in love with movies in the first place.

I won't review it or recap the plot here. The film opened in select markets this weekend, and will open in the secondary markets on July 24. There are plenty of places that you can go to read what will doubtless be glowing reviews (our own Erik Davis reviewed it here, although he was far less enamored of it than I was.)

No, I'll just take a moment to say that if I could wrap my arms around (500) Days of Summer and give it a big hug, I would do so. Partly because of the film's entire tone. It's a comedy about a romance, but it's not really a romantic comedy -- and certainly not a "chick flick." It's somewhat sentimental, but not treacly. It uses an interesting, non-linear framing device, but never feels gimmicky.

Enchanted director Kevin Lima is on board to direct a new version of Mary Shelley's classic horror novel Frankenstein. Frank has a helluva twist, though; the scientist cooking up cadavers is an "antisocial" young woman in med school who decides to "create" her own friends. And... it's a romantic comedy. Can you say undead boyfriend?!

According to Variety, the writer and one of the executive producers of this potentially awesome project is Karey Kirkpatrick, the writer of The Spiderwick Chronicles, Charlotte's Web, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and James and the Giant Peach, among others. He also directed the Eddie Murphy vehicle Imagine That,

Both Lima and Kirkpatrick have a bunch of projects that are in development, although Lima's have more of a family-friendly vibe (The Spook's Apprentice, Candy Land, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, and Thumb). Kirkpatrick's optioned projects include writing, directing, and producing Captain Abdul's Pirate School, about a girl who is sent to pirate school and plans a mutiny against their evil school principal slash lead pirate, as well as the more adult-minded The Best a Man Can Get, which he is also writing, producing and directing.

Based on distributor Fox 2000's track record, Frank could be focused more on the rom-com than the potential for blood and a cool chick lead, but maybe indie production company Radar Pictures (the peeps behind Richard Kelley's The Box, and remakes of The Amityville Horror and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, among a number of other projects) will make sure that we get a dash of gore with our giggles and girly goodness.

I'm voting for Kat Dennings as our protagonist -- she's smart, snarky, and sweet, and she plays the perfect "outsider." Who would you cast?

(Thanks to Zach for noting that Kirkpatrick is a man. Oops.)

If the summer movie season wasn't originally designed for guys, it's certainly been appropriated by them, both in theaters and behind the camera. Where the hottest months of the year once served as an even playing field for films of all kinds, they now operate with one edict in mind, bigger is always better, unless you're a shrewd enough filmmaker to find an opening and exploit it with a clever bit of counter-programming. Anne Fletcher hopes to be the exception that proves this rule with the release of The Proposal (which took the number one spot at the box office this past weekend with $34 million) a romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock. And while there's only two action scenes, one involving falling off of a boat and another about surviving a face-to-crotch attack by an overeager amateur stripper, the film seems poised to capture at least as many female hearts as its competition does male ones.

Cinematical recently spoke to Fletcher via telephone to discuss her work on the film, which is her third directorial effort after the original Step Up and last year's 27 Dresses, in addition to talking about taking a film straight into summer's heart of darkness, she reflects on what if anything her gender means to the movies she makes, and speaks about an early '80s Spielberg movie that still proves inspirational (and it's none of the ones you might think).

Overture's latest smart rom-com move was to purchase Celeste and Jesse Forever, a script written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones, who will also star as Celeste. Celeste and Jesse Forever is the tale of a divorcing couple that is struggling to keep their friendship together while also seeing other people. Suzanne and Jennifer Todd will produce under their Team Todd shingle. This is the first screenplay credit for both actors; Rashida Jones was, of course, the adorable (and three-dimensional!) fiancé Zooey in this spring's I Love You, Man, and she is currently on the TV show Parks and Recreation. McCormack has been on TV shows like In Plain Sight and Brothers & Sisters, as well as in films like Syriana and Team Todd-produced Prime and Must Love Dogs. As previously reported on Cinematical, the spec script was initially picked up by Fox Atomic.

Overture is also behind another upcoming cool romantic comedy written by and starring a talented and very funny woman, Charlyne Yi's Paper Heart. And while their other non-traditional rom-com, Last Chance Harvey, didn't do all that well, it seemed to be fairly popular with its target audience and garnered Dustin Hoffman a Golden Globes nom. And it was also behind Sunshine Cleaning, which, while it obviously wasn't a romantic comedy (or even that funny, despite what the trailers led you to believe), was an interesting and entertaining movie with women behind and in front of the camera. Amy Adams and Emily Blunt were strong leading ladies, and director Christine Jeffs and first-time screenwriter Megan Holley were behind the scenes.

Is it possible that there is a studio out there willing to take a chance on unique stories and fresh talent, and fresh female talent, at that? I'm rooting for them -- and for Rashida!

There's a script to be written, hopefully by someone with talent, in which a character from the real world gets dropped into a romantic comedy. Sort of like Enchanted in reverse, or the middle part of The Last Action Hero -- a reg'lar Joe or Josephine suddenly finds themselves having to survive in the Rom-Com Universe, forced to adapt their normal-human skills and behavior to an alternate reality where almost nothing is like they know it.

Take The Proposal, for example. Ryan Reynolds' executive-assistant character makes a coffee run for his boss -- but there's no coffee in the cups! Seriously, you can tell from the way he's juggling them in one hand that, as in most movies and TV shows, they're completely empty. Unless, of course, normal physics don't apply in Rom-Com World, which is a distinct possibility. Naturally, when he gets the coffee all the way back to the office, the first thing that happens is that he slams into a co-worker, and coffee cascades from the now-full cups all over his shirt.

See, this is one way that it would be hard to live in a romantic comedy. For starters, when I buy coffee, the cup's almost always full of coffee. I like that. And if I was constantly running into people and spilling my magical drink all over myself, I'd need to keep multiple changes of clothes in my car and at my office. I imagine that people in rom-coms must have overnight bags stashed all over the place, given how often they spill stuff, fall down, and have messy things flung at them. It would be hard on the wardrobe.

OK, I don't necessarily consider myself the biggest Cameron Diaz fan around; seriously, I never really got why everyone found her so funny and lovable on screen (and yes I have seen There's Something About Mary, and yeah; still don't get it). But, comedy seems to be where audiences like her, so why not give them what they want? Variety reports that Diaz might be headed back to the world of comedy for the battle of the sexes flick, Bobbie Sue.

According to Variety, the story will center on "a hard-charging female ambulance chaser whose mindset makes her the ideal candidate to be the face of a prestigious law firm when a powerful client is sued in a sexual discrimination case." Dana Fox (What Happens in Vegas) has already been hired to start polishing the screenplay for Warner Bros, but let's just say I'm not holding my breath that Fox is hard at work turning this script into a scathing comedy about gender politics. In fact, my guess is that we will probably end up with something a little more along the lines of The Proposal.

If you are a regular reader around these parts, then it is no secret that I've got a few problems with 'Chick Flicks' and unfortunately those are usually the only roles that Diaz can score. Now, I might be in the minority, but I have always thought that Diaz's best performances were the ones that finally let her be something other than just a hot chick. Say what you want about Vanilla Sky, but Diaz's turn as a woman who thinks she is immune to the emotional pitfalls of casual sex is probably one of the best things she has ever done. Hopefully when Richard Kelly's The Box hits theaters this fall, it will remind those casting agents out there that Diaz is capable of much more than just dancing around in her underwear.

Judging from the most opaque details that Variety has run regarding writer-director Cameron Crowe's next project -- his first in four years since the much-maligned Elizabethtown -- it wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect that Crowe is perhaps hedging his bets with a more reliable genre effort.

According to the trade publication, "Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon will star in an untitled Cameron Crowe romantic comedy adventure at Columbia Pictures." Since that's quite literally the gist of it, it seems fair to infer that the film will skew closer to Crowe's similarly themed and relatively successful Say Anything..., Singles, and Jerry Maguire than anything else on the man's resume, and I say that as someone who loves Almost Famous, dug Vanilla Sky, and will give Elizabethtown a second chance once there's nothing else on television.

For all we know, it could end up being some wildly unique "romantic comedy adventure," although it's not like the bar has been set incredibly high. While I do enjoy the works of Judd Apatow, the rom-com genre appears to have boiled down to his efforts and those of whichever cast member of 'Grey's Anatomy' couldn't resist a generic pitch and an easy paycheck; as such, having Crowe return to the field might be just what we all need.

In ye olden, golden days of movies, we had great screen couples like Bogey and Bacall, Hepburn and Tracy, Myrna Loy and William Powell ... but these days, celebrities rarely seem to share top billing twice.

Every once in a while, though, two actors have the kind of chemistry that makes us want to see them together again -- and that's the case with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, who first sparred, hooked up, broke up and made up in How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Sure, it was a lightweight movie, but McConaughey and Hudson were perfectly suited to each other: They're both charismatic, funny and ridiculously good-looking, and sort of ... well, golden. And despite all that, it's almost impossible not to like them. That's a gift. Damn them.

McConaughey and Hudson are teaming up a second time in Fool's Gold, a romantic action-adventure movie in which they play a couple whose marriage is on the rocks. In something of a stretch, McConaughey's a lovable cad -- a treasure hunter looking for one big score -- and Hudson is his long-suffering wife, who's over his juvenile ways ... until McConaughey's character finds a clue that may lead to some serious booty (if you know what I mean).

The two sunny stars will be hanging out in the Moviefone studios on Jan. 26 for our next edition of Unscripted, interviewing each other using your questions. Got a question for either Hudson or dad-to-be McConaughey? Drop it here, then check back here to see if your question made the cut. Happy hunting, y'all.