Romantic Comedy

Vacuous nonsense. Not quite sure what the director had in mind here but this documentary seemed like little more than a vanity project.

This film has the feel of a glorified YouTube video mixed with a personal essay and a dash of uncited sources. The filmmaker does a good job summarizing the basic contemporary complaints about romantic comedies as a genre, and I agree with her take that rom coms are now disguising themselves in other genres (although the example of God's Own Country doesn't feel perfect because it seems like just a romance, not a rom com-having a declaration of love and a happy ending don't automatically make a film a rom com). However, I was bothered that the other voices she brought in are not given any face time or credited; there's no way to know which name from the opening credits goes with which voice. And the music throughout does not add anything. Be a video essay and explain why you're sharing each clip or be a montage that lets viewers draw their own conclusions, but this mush mash of both doesn't work.

Romantic Comedy contains many clips of films dating back from the 1930's- present day. The film maker attempts to make the point that many of these Rom Coms were heterosexual and all had happy endings, some with implausible happy endings, and the LGBTQ ones have been hidden, independent, more obscure titles. Well I believe the main point here is escape. People wanted an escape from their day to day lives so they went to the movies to see a nice film, which is why many of the 1930's-50's rom coms have the happy endings they do. People must remember that it is only a movie and not real life. If you are looking for love, a relationship, you have to find it yourself. It is not going to be a fairy tale romance like in a Julia Roberts Rom Com.

I like it how the film shows Romantic comedies from the old days and presents a few newer ones. For a rom com lover who has been thinking about the same issues, it was like talking with a friend. Unfortunately it presented only american romcoms and not so many europian/asian as I had hoped, but maybe in Romantic Comedy 2.

The assemblage of movie clips is phenomenal, but the constant droning by an affected narrator whose put-on accent indicates she thinks she stepped out of PHILADELPHIA STORY robs this documentary of watchability and interest.

A horrible shame, really: this is a worthwhile topic made boring.