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David Arquette, Drew Barrymore, Elizabeth Fais, Gary Marshall, Leelee Sobieski, Michael Vartan, Never Been Kissed, Rom-Com, Romance, Shakespeare
Shakespeare was the first writer to popularize the Romantic Comedy (Rom-Com) with A Midsummer Night’s Dream and his other comedies. Who knew?
The invention of moving pictures brought back the Rom-Com craze, reaching new heights in the 1930’s and ’40s with such screwball comedies as Bringing Up Baby, Some Like it Hot, and It Happened One Night.
Rom-Com fever faded away for a few decades, then made a big comeback in the 90’s with Pretty Woman, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and While You Were Sleeping to name just a few.
One of My Fave Rom-Coms: Never Been Kissed
Some people wish they could go back to high school, knowing what they know as an adult. Twenty-five year-old copy editor Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) gets the chance to do just that, with the opportunity to nab a story on the state of America’s youth for her Chicago paper. The only problem is, Josie was a total geek in high school, which her brother Rob (David Arquette) reminds her of … along with her nickname: Josie Grossie.
Josie has no choice but to enroll in high school and face her nerdy demons. But she
soon learns that the seven years since her graduation didn’t bring her any closer to coolness. She quickly befriends Aldys (Leelee Sobieski) the bookish mathlete, and gets her handsome English teacher Mr. Coulson’s (Michael Vartan) attention by reciting a romantic except from Shakespeare in class. While Josie is geeking out, a rival paper scoops the underage drinking and teen promiscuity story, and Josie’s boss is livid.
To land the story that will save her job, Josie sets out to infiltrate the cool girls’ clique, only to end up making a bigger fool out of herself in front the cool kids and her English teacher at a local club. She’s left branded as a Loser. Literally.
Rob, the ultimate Cool Dude, hears of Josie’s latest escapades and intervenes by enrolling in high school. True to form, Rob instantly becomes Mr. Popular, giving Josie the street creds she needs to win over the cool girls and get Guy — the hottest boy in her class — crushing on her. Sparks start to fly between Josie and her English teacher, and as her feelings deepen for Mr. Coulson, her boss turns up the heat, demanding a defamatory article on inappropriate relationships between teachers and their students.
The path Josie takes to acing her story with integrity, and winning the guy of her dreams, is as empowering as it is satisfying.
What’s Your Favorite Rom-Com?
We all have at least one Rom-Com we love to watch (over and over). I have several. In honor of Valentine’s Day, come clean and shout it out!
Don’t be shy.
To know you (and your rom-com fave) is to love you.
Elizabeth Fais 
Hands down: When Harry Met Sally. It is my all-time fave. Second runner up? The Proposal. Ryan Reynolds has such stellar comedic timing and Sandra Bullock plays off it so well. It cracks me up every time.
I have to agree that When Harry Met Sally is the ultimate of Rom-Coms. I loved The Proposal too. Hmmm, and I don’t see it in my DVD collection either. MUST to over to Amazon right now and order it! Very fun. 😉
First, I’ll fess up and say I have all of the current-day Rom-Coms you listed in my library. I won’t confess that I have all the lines memorized. Just most of them.
Add Moonstruck, Sweet Home Alabama, Return to Me, The Wedding Planner, You’ve Got Mail, Trading Places…
Dagnabbit! My sister stole my DVD of Something’s Gotta Give when she packed for home after our last PJ party.
They are, without exception, my favorite way to relax.
Gaaah! I forgot Two Weeks Notice.
That’s it! My sister is
not getting added togetting taken out of my will.YES! Another wonderful choice. But now that we’re on a roll, I have to also mention KATE & LEOPOLD, FRENCH KISS, RUNAWAY BRIDE, 50 FIRST DATES, and MISS CONGENIALITY. Like you, I’ve only memorized “most” of the lines in the films that have been mentioned so far *and a few others that haven’t*. 😉
All of your faves are wonderful! Something’s Gotta Give has a special place in my rom-com collection because of my Keanu Reeves crush. *Sigh* How could Diane Keaton choose Jack Nicholson over Keanu? HOW?! Well, I shouldn’t complain. It’s leaves Keanu for me. 😀
I don’t have a large selection of rom-coms to draw from, since they typically lack explosions, zombies, and exploding zombies, but The Princess Bride rocks much 🙂
The Princess Bride has romance and is funny. That qualifies as romantic-comedy in my book. A true classic that does indeed rock mucho. 😉
Sweet Home Alabama, Something’s Gotta Give, Big Business, The Shop Around the Corner, That Touch of Mink, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Pajama Game, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,The Long Trailer, Shallow Hal, Hello Dolly..,I could go on, but I won’t. I have to admit I like very few of the more recent rom-coms. Too…um…everything. They’re supposed to be romantic comedies, not sleezy comedies. I wish movie makers would remember that!
Great selection! You’re a lady after my own heart. I LOVE the old Cary Grant comedies. I agree with you about sleeze factor in the majority of the contemporary comedies too.
I love RomComs and have a whole heap of them on DVD. Favourites include: Only You, Ever After, While you were sleeping, The truth about cats and dogs (although I don’t seem to own that one!), Something Borrowed, America’s Sweethearts, 27 Dresses… I could go on, but you probably get the idea. 🙂
I love your favorites! I’d forgotten about The Truth About Cats and Dogs, and it’s such a fun film. The Benny and Jets bar song in 27 Dresses was worth the price of admission alone. Another fun film. Katherine Heigel is so wonderful with physical (and subtle) comedy.
I’m not a big romantic comedy fan, but there is one that comes to mind: 50 First Dates It’s hilarious and sweet.
I’m not a big Adam Sandler fan, but I LOVED 50 First Dates. It was very sweet and totally hilarious. 😉
Pretty Woman, Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, Ever After, 50 First Dates, You’ve Got Mail, Two Weeks Notice. and probably my all-time-favourite: Love Actually. I absolutely love rom-coms. They are what I write – comedy, drama, romance. Happy Valentine’s Day everybody!
Oh, my. I’d forgotten about Love Actually, and that’s a great film (and story). Your other favorites rock too! I didn’t know you specialize in writing romantic comedies. That genre is not easy to do well. I’m impressed. 🙂
What you said:
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY everybody!!!