Reason for Metropolitan being the way its wit is infused into an ennui that feels very 90s and very particular yet, in every moment, like something I've felt.
When I look at the cinematography of When Harry Met Sally I think “warm cozy rom com”, and when I look at Anyone But You I think it looks like a Capital One comercial
thats such a deal-breaker for me to get to actually like a movie. sure, anyone but you was pretty entertaining, but it just wasn't captivating, and certainly didn't make me wanna be a part of it (unlike when harry met sally)
digital, bad color grade, cheaply and quickly made (netflix model), boring, creepy director focused on hot cast instead of exploring a relationship, low emphasis on distinct stye, partly because of overbearing studio influence
This is the hill I am willing to die on: WE NEED TO BRING BACK “OLDER” PROTAGONISTS!!! Enough with the teenagers and early 20s nonsense, I beg. Bring back the 30+/40+ protagonists!! It’s more mature, more charming, more charismatic, more romantic, more “warm and fuzzy and cozy”.
It's basic story telling I would say, why would we care about a 20 something finding love when in actuallity we'd rather say "don't settle, discover yourself first" (espacially since most recent younger love interests are really toxic) but in later years you usually have an accomplished woman with traumas and backstories and despair of thinking that love doesn't really exist and that maybe she should have lowered her expectations. I think it sends a better message than "that guy who's obsessed with and borderline possessive and violent is probably the lvoe of your life".
Yeah, I would even feel like people in their 20’s would also relate to older protagonists too, like how a kid would relate more to a teen/adult, rather than someone their own age because it’s who they aspire to be.
And it’s why it appeals to people in their teens and 20s. It was nice to watch what I thought my life could be when I’m older or some sense of what my parent’s lives were like when I wasn’t around. There are teenagers who watch Sex and the City, a show about people in their late 30s and early 40s. And then they like to return to it when they are older to realize how relatable it is.
“It doesn’t feel like two people falling in love, it feels like Chad and Stacy from your hs got together because they’re the hottest people in the room” THIS EXACTLY. Romcoms are not about the girlies that hop from relationship to relationship okay, they are about hot messes ONLY
"rom-coms sell the fantasy that men will fall in love with your personality" I'm just-- how could you...? I just... Give me a minute Like, i know that happens all the time in real life but hearing it put so bluntly when you haven't personally experienced something like that??? I need-- I need to sit...
I am just a random guy here passing through... do you think that the 70% or so of men who are very lonely and lack self-esteem and charisma would also refuse a girl who earnestly sought a romantic relationship with them? Because I really doubt that. I will just say that in this day and age, we ought to be pursuing equality, and that means that girls have a lot more power than they realise at times. Go and take a chance initiating a conversation with guys, and try to be open to different experiences you might not normally consider... that is what I would give as advice (I also say this to guys of course)... I mean, maybe even consider dating a guy shorter than you!
ladies, if you are young DO NOT LISTEN to this!! I USED to be the girl who asked out every guy I liked. and what happened is that every guy would always say yes (sometimes we were already friends so they knew my personality, sometimes strangers I had a passing interaction with) EVEN THOUGH they did not like me romantically because they wanted ANYONE to fill their loneliness, sexual desires, and do chores like cooking for them. I was cute * enough * for them to put the bare minimum into, or even worse tell me lies about our future and how much they cared about me only to leave when my support helped them build up their life enough that they felt confident enough to chase after another person/another life. Of course the guy who takes initiative can be a bad guy and I've had those experiences too. I guess what I'm really saying is make sure you *really* know that this guy has the emotional intelligence and empathy to say no before asking him out. rejection is protection... which brings me to my next point, IF I was older and knew what I wanted I wouldn't have put up with that mistreatment. I would have known that "work" in a relationship should feel like tending to a garden, not being in the trenches of war with explosions around you. I would have had the courage to quickly end it when I was taken advantage of physically and financially. so I would only take this advice if you are an OLDER WOMAN and have developed the self love and intuition to know how you want to be treated and believe their actions, not just words. @@scythermantis
Women purusue all the time, they just dont pursue average men. If you've ever been around a hot male friend its wild to see how girls behave around em@@scythermantis
@@scythermantis do we want to be in relationships with those kinds of guys? Why don’t we deserve confident, well dressed, clean partners like ourselves? It’s honestly the bare minimum. When you give an insecure guy a chance they try to humble you. There's so many statistics and video essays about it. We don’t owe men anything. I will happily stay single if it means not having my mental health depleted. And men are lonely because they don’t respect themselves or others. It’s a choice, however much that hurts to hear. I don’t mind asking a guy out, but a good guy is few and far between. You come at this thinking all women are desperate to be with a man, but anyone who should be in a relationship is not desperate. Desperate people are settlers, taking what they can get: crumbs.
Bridget Jones wasn't supposed to be fat. She was supposed to be the average British woman's size at the time who didn't have a weight problem, but struggled with gaining and losing the same 20-ish pounds depending on her mood and how successful she perceived herself. That's why it was so upsetting when the girl Daniel was cheating with made a dig about her weight. She was in a good place, she didn't feel bad about her weight, and then she's blindsided by these two "perfect" people making her feel like she wouldn't ever be good enough. Daniel's apology wasn't that he was sorry, it was like "well what do you expect?" The turning point of the movie was that she would stop obsessing about her supposed flaws, and expect better for herself.
Yes yes yes! This is also made so obvious in the book because on the chapters she's doing good, she stops obsessively keeping track of her weight. They do this in the movie narration too, but people keep forgetting it for some reason.
thank you yes!!! i thought it was obvious but i guess i just find it very relatable as someone who gets concerned about my weight when i feel like i have no control. its a very realistic aspect of such a real character
It was also made explicit by the text (don't remember whether it was in book 1 or 2): at one party when she finally achieves her goal weight and she's so proud of herself, her friends keep asking if she's okay and feeling well, because she looks sickly. Ie. the target weight she set for herself is too strict.
This! When you read the book, Bridget writes her weight every day and she's on tbe slim side. It's HER belief that she's overweight. When I was slim I was mostly the same way, there's the sense that you need to lose 6 to 10 pounds foe absolute perfection. Fat people- of which I am one, now- don't feel that way because tbe amount to lose is so much more.
I also think one of the reasons why there was so much hype for Anyone But You was because of Gelnn being in Set It Up and ppl loving his performance. Sad that Anyone But You is not as good.
Set it Up also expressed the characters desires/ what was missing from their lives and each piece of dialogue/Interaction added layers of development and character. I cannot recall any moments in which anyone but you felt....charming.
When you explained: language is at the heart of romance, I swear to God I had an epiphany. The more recent romcoms are not good because they are 'dumb'. The intellectual work done in the background is missing!
The thing I love about When Harry Met Sally the most is that they were friends first. That's the way their romance worked, because it was built on a really solid foundation of friendship. You see them spending a lot of time together and through that falling in love. That's something I think a lot of rom-coms that followed lost. People meet and fall in love instantly and those relationships to me feel like they have a real lack of depth and connection. Also When Harry Met Sally is so smartly written and the chemistry between the two leads is off the charts ❤
Yes, that's true. Speaking for myself. I am not that fond of rom-coms but the ones I do like, or even love, tend to have at least an element of "friends-to-lovers" in them.
the chemistry section is exactly why i think people are campaigning for a rom com between ayo edebiri and paul mescal, beside the obvious ayo is irish jokes
YES!!! THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN !!! Also, I need either sudcarmy for the bear to be Canon or for Jeremy Allan White and Ayo Edebiri to be in a Roscommon cause they also have chemistry!!
Whenever I watch Bridget Jones's Diary, I just go into a love spiral every time. Sometimes when I feel too “single” (for lack of a better word) I rewatch it and be reminded of how sweet to just fall in love. Rom-com’s deserved more praise and accolades than ppl give it credit for (i.e, award shows) and although this trope can be overdone and a little distasteful, when it’s done rightly, it can instantly be a classic film.
Wow. Sounds like someone can't just be happy for two disgusting gargoyles like Glenn and Sydney finding each other and defying the odds that they would likely die alone. Sad.
Right?! And after their characters dealt with so much adversity, struggling against issues like finances and racial inequity to find themselves and fall in love with themselves before they could truly develop a beautiful, fleshed-out romance with one another.
I think my favourite Rom Com is probably 10 things I hate about you, I don’t cry every time I watch it but that Karaoke scene on the football field is iconic and the speech! It’s a great Shakespeare re-telling and I love how smart and bitchy Kat is, it reminds me of being 17. Plus seeing a baby Joseph Gordon Levitt is fun
I only saw it for the first time a couple of years ago and I was amazed at just how good it was. I could guess the formula but I didn't care because it was done so well. I normally hate a 'liar revealed' scene but that one was genuinely devastating
@@LimeyLassen Well, at the end you know she's leaving for Sarah Lawrence and it's more likely that Patrick just stayed her highschool sweetheart and didn't hold her back. With that being said I think this is just the personal preference of the essayist about getting more rom coms with adult protagonists and the fact that it's implied that they will stay together.
tbh my big fat Greek wedding is a romcom that didn’t follow the Sam meets Harry rule and I love it sm. There’s no forced proximity, they like each other from the start and are working on being together even though Toulas family is conservative. The family doesn’t feel like background characters, they have their own life’s and personality, while also keeping a balance of not being the focus of the movie. Ian is literally the perfect romcom man imo. He was always respectful and interested in learning about Toulas culture and open about her chaotic family. (Also I loved the casting for Toula because yes even tho Greeks are white, often times in Hollywood they get represented as pale, blonde and blue eyed. Which there are Greeks who look like that, but still it was nice to see someone who looked like the women I grew up with being the main character) there’s also a Turkish romcom that I absolutely adore, “Olanlar Oldu” if you have access to the movie I’d highly recommend it, though it’s more funny and endearing if you know Turkish culture and language. Romcoms today are so much based on the enemies to lovers trope with the forced proximity. No chemistry, everything about the characters to the dialogue to the background feels sterile and lifeless. Like it was said in the video, modern romcoms are based on relatability and not the characters and their stories.
That movie was so amazing I knew from a young age it wasn’t to much to want a guy as respectful as Ian is. I would say ahead of its time but I think it was just underrated.
I have to say that I never thought of MBFGW as a rom-com, precisely because the question wasn't whether Ian and Toula end up together (they clearly are going to) - the question was whether her family can accept Ian and whether Toula can embrace the culture she comes from while maintaining her independence. The centre of the story was Toula's relation to her family, not her romance with Ian, which was just a catalyser. To me, it was just a "com", or a "culture com", if you will. And a fantastic one at that! I'm from Poland, and not an immigrant here, and my family is strewn around the country and not as close-knit as Toula's, but so many family behaviours and dynamics were recognisable to me on such a deep level! It's a fantastic movie with so much soul to it!
Romance novels are self published a lot of the time and many avid readers are disappointed with the current romance novels we've been getting from what I’ve seen :/ many readers are easily pleased which is fine of course but it doesn’t mean the book isn’t bad.
I think the reason I have been so drawn to KDramas in the last couple of years is because the embody this late 80s/90s tension that I have been missing! They know how to build the story and the background characters to really ruin you emotionally. It's never just about romance!
Thissss! I wish someone would talk about the rise in global popularity of Kdrama compared the to decline of Hollywood rom com. It’s not totally apples and oranges, and I think kdrama is delivering that heartfelt funny romance story that Hollywood gave up.
i'm a mid 30s mature age student at uni and i think one of my lecturers overheard me saying how much i'm in love with him last week. never been a fan of romcoms but i think my time has arrived
When Harry Met Sally is exactly the kind of relatable, but ideal romance. More than a lover, it's the partner who truly SEE you in all forms that makes you say "This is what I want my relationship to be". Their relationship will always make me feel hopeful. Another enchanting romcom for me was Chungking Romance.
Far more than Anyone But You, it's Rye Lane that gives me hope for romcoms. Yes, it's much smaller, but it has more of a chance at exciting budding creatives into making the next great romcoms.
I Love Rye Lane! I loved that it showed a side of London that you never see in Richard Curtis films but was equally charming -and that for once the manic pixie dream girl character wasn't a skinny white girl with a fringe
16:01 Everything, from the costumes to the set, is also super neutral and white except for some cool colours here and there. Her clothes are all mostly white and light blue. His are darker but also blue. They ‘four quadrant’-ed all the specificity out of the characters to make it just two generic hot people that you could theoretically project yourself on to. But blandness is not relatable, specificity, even if it is not *your* specificity, is relatable.
The overabundance of neutrals is probably a by product of how the mainststream of decoration and with the quiet luxury trend, fashion too, have become weirdly allergic to colour.
@@saramoreira9847 also probably because they didn't bother with any sort of production design and all of the budget went towards shooting in Australia tbh
i think the more you look at him the more attractive he becomes. also the expressiveness in his eyes. If anyone looked at me the way he did Sally i'd be putty in his hands.
Fave romcoms: "How to lose a guy in 10 days" because Kate Hudson is brilliant in it, and "The Holiday", BUT ONLY the storyline about Kate Winslet and Jack Black.
Agreed on both. I don't think either are my fave of all time, but I rewatch them a fair bit. They are comfortable and easy for me to watch. Especially when I'm tired and just need to feel good about life when life is so goddamn difficult. I rewatched How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days last night, actually. It was wonderful. I also often phase out for the Cameron Diaz storyline in The Holiday. The moments with his kids are sweet, though, mainly because the little actresses are frankly wonderful.
One romcom I think is highly underrated as one is actually Nancy Meyers's first film The Parent Trap Now it starts out as a child centric comedy about twin sisters swapping lives to get to know their respective parents better, but in that classic Nancy Meyers way, it shifts to instead shed a light on the parents' lives, why they didn't work out, and why they are now better suited to each other. The divorce was because they were extremely young when they got together - 23 for Elizabeth and 24 for Nick - and their communication problems led to them falling apart when they didn't need to. Now both in their late 30s, they've had time to think about what they loved about each other, and can communicate their issues, first being able to talk to each other like civil functioning adults before they can reconcile What's interesting about their characters is that both of them had great, fulfilling lives after divorcing, both achieving their dream careers and both having a great relationship with their respective daughter, as well as their hired help being like family to them - but neither of them ever remarried or had another relationship because without that love, their lives are incomplete. The movie also shines a light on Nick with the evil fiancée Meredith - she's an attractive vamp ten years his junior, considered way out of his league, and on paper the ideal status symbol for a shallow guy. But Meredith is a laundry list of red flags, not just being a gold digger, but how she treats Chessie like a skivvy to be summoned with a bell and intimidates an 11-year-old when she gets savvy to her plan. And when Nick discovers the ultimate deal breaker of all - making him choose between her and his daughters - he kicks her to the curb in an instant. Who does he choose? The older (still only late 30s but definitely not 26) single mother who the audience has seen get so drunk she makes a spectacle of herself in front of him and messed up royally in the past, but still carried a torch for her. Granted we the audience saw more of her as a mess than Nick did but that just allows us to feel like we know her The stakes are also suitably high for the reconciliation - their daughters obviously having to be separated, a custody arrangement that would be all sorts of awkward, one parent possibly having to give up their respective daughter completely and even Martin and Chessie not getting the chance to be together. The movie's universe spells it out for the two that ignoring their feelings and not taking that risk would have all sorts of consequences, so that when Nick and Hallie fly all the way out to London to surprise Elizabeth and Annie...that's my Hannah tears moment lol
Oh, the first half structurally mirrors a romcom, except the romance is instead a sisterly relationship between Hallie and Annie. They meet, they hate each other, hijinks ensue, they are forced together (in this case, in the isolation cabin as punishment), they actually get to know each other and end up loving each other. The love in question is just sisterly instead of romantic.
Rye Lane and the Big Sick we’re some of my favorite romcoms of the past decade (I also loved set it up). I think part of the problem is that these movies often don’t get the wide theatrical release and get pushed to streaming with little promotion. We also really need more queer rom coms (aka not just best friend roles).
@K.C-2049 "Because the character writing is shallow and all feel fake!" OK, but what is "shallow writing", and what defines a "real character"? If you were speaking to the writer and said, "I don't like how bad the writing is, the setting is off, and the motivations are wrong" and bugged off, the writer wouldn't know what to fix because you didn't tell them *why* their writing is bad, what was off about the setting, and why the motivations feel wrong. That's like if a cop pulled you over, gave you a ticket, and drove off without telling you what you did.
Note that Broey is an essayist not a reviewer. This kind of in-depth analysis is suitable for a long-form essay of the kind we're watching here, it's not the best way to write a review - those are supposed to be short, and for good reason.
@KillahMate Essayist is the word I was looking for. Her "reviews" are a lot more constructed, with proper intros, thesis, and conclusions. Much better than the unprofessional rants all over social media.
My favorite Rom-Com from the last years is Dash & Lily. It's a Netflix Mini-Series, but you can watch it in one sitting. Dash & Lily is a christmas-teenie romance, very predictable and a bit cliche. But it makes you actually care for the characters; I like the setting and costume and I think it has good writing.
It's also probably one of the most visually interesting examples of the genre that I've seen, I love the way they depicted the implosions of the main characters' previous relationships, it was so creative
Loved this video, but kinda shocked it didn't mention "Always Be My Maybe", which really brought back the formula, did quite well on Netflix, and absolutely nailed the final confession/get back together speech. But loved the attention given to 27 Dresses, which is one of my all time favorites. Also some of these comments make me think a lot of people arent clear on what a romcom entrails...(no offense y'all, but the romance genre has rules! Otherwise it's just a love story)
I’ve always loved My Best Friends Wedding: I love Julia’s effervescence, Paul Hogan’s ability to juggle camp and sincerity, its inversion of rom com tropes (what if the other girl was the protagonist?), and its message that love might mean that you have to accept you won’t get what you want.
Deliver Us from Eva is essentially a POC modern adaptation of Taming of The Shrew. 2003 If you've never seen it, it's a fun watch. LL Cool J links his lips like a million times. 😂
Tbh you’re so right that the best rom coms are also about The Vibes combined with impeccable writing. Vibes make it sound like something kinda ephemeral or superficial, so I get why Nancy Meyers would take issue w/ the “everyone has a beautiful kitchen” comments abt her movies, but really, to me, “vibes” are about attention to detail. Treating a rom-com like any art deserves to be treated. I always thought the wardrobes in WHMs were so cozy and stylish, and that rly is the movie that tricked me into thinking I would like New York. The curation of the atmosphere in The Holiday is part of why I love it (and Jack black!). The friends in 4 weddings & notting hill are my favorite parts of those movies! And Carrie Fisher is so underrated in WHMS. The ensembles feel like they have real lives. Nora Ephron & Rob Reiner I remember anecdotes abt them being particularly dedicated to that level of precision. Reiner of course, a lot of the material from the movie came from real convos w Billy crystal, so there’s a combination of improv and intentionality. The 4 phone call scene from my memory was one of the hardest scenes they had to shoot & was shot like dozens of times, maybe more. Same can be said w Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan in the coffee shop in you’ve got Mail. Ephron really pushed them to get that scene right, I think Hanks has even said that’s one of the hardest scenes he had to do.
the attention to detail aspect is so true. I watched When Harry meets Sally for the first time recently and the set design is impeccable. You can take two screenshots of these two characters apartments and you know so much about them. I hate how clinical and boring set design is now
Ticket to Paradise aimed very low but succeeded. 2 solid stars that have solid chemistry and they clearly put effort into making the relationship between the 2 divorcees relatable.
See all of this is why it was Red White & Royal Blue that ACTUALLY revived the romcom - chemistry through the roof, not white, not heterosexual, the vibes are clear, rooms and costumes reflect the characters, the family and friends are lovable and given importance, the banter is immaculate
I love "When Harry Met Sally". It's just the perfect movie. For me, the end speech of makes me happy for the simple line, "It's because when you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." Just dialogue gold. You also see them change based on each others opinions. She tells him to start dating again, which he does, while at one point Harry says to her, "You should wear skirts more. You look good in skirts." In the next scene she's wearing a skirt. It's not for him, but his opinion matters to her. And finally, the "Pecan Pie" conversation was unscripted. You can see Meg Ryan look over to Rob Reiner offscreen in a sort of panic so their chemistry was real.
A more conventional one that I’m surprised didn’t get more love, Ticket to Paradise. Yeah, it can be read as a tax shelter vacation movie but you don’t get to see George Clooney or Julia Roberts on screen that often anymore and they take the bare minimum that’s asked of them, and go as far with it as they can. It felt like the perfectly mediocre movie Anyone But You was trying to be and fell short of.
I’m deeply grateful for you making this video essay. Rom-Coms is one of my favorite movie genres, especially in a world where most films are too serious and moody. Rom-Coms bring much needed lightness to the world 🙏 When Harry Met Sally should be considered as one of the greatest films ever made.
Well, if a woman is waiting for her life to resemble a rom com, then her standards are too high, I'd say. These rom coms end like Disney fairy tales....happily ever after once they finally get together, but we don't see what happened 10 or 15 years later.
Best romcoms of the last five-ish years are Palm Springs and Plus One, hands down. And if you want a non-white, non straight 2000s romcom you all have GOT to check out Saving Face
That’s a phrase these writers would use too, which is why any heterosexual relationship they write in a movie sucks, because they inherently hate anything that is societally deemed “normal.” Love that term all you want, but the incessant bitterness behind it is one of the reason Hollywood writers today can’t write a good movie if their lives depended on it.
@@jennapecor1865 So, according to you, anything that’s non-white, non-heteronormative and subverting social structures is not societally deemed ‘normal’?
@@PokhrajRoy. How COULD it be normal, if it's "subverting social structures"? Y'all wokies wanna be the power, the victims, the mainstream, and the rebels so damned badly, and that's just NOT how that works, bubi.
I'm honestly baffled when I hear people say that romcoms died in the 2010s because there are several from that decade that I love and that I think hit the same marks that Broey says When Harry Met Sally and Bridget Jones do: -Sleeping with Other People (which follows the formula of When Harry Met Sally) -Set it up -Always Be My Maybe (which also follows WHMS formula) -Plus One
I love Sleeping With Other People! No pun intended 😅 The main characters have such good chemistry, and I was genuinely devastated in every scene where Lainey interacted with or talked about her ex (Adam Scott). The main love story was great, but I think the strength of the movie was the way it showed how heartbreaking it is to love someone who doesn't love you back.
My favourite rom-com is the Korean 2001 classic My Sassy Girl it tells the typical rom-com story in the wrong order it's so crazy but well-balanced it's funny, melodramatic and romantic. Second is Brown Sugar it's mature, and charming and the music is great; Queen Latifa is everything in that movie.
YES 27 DRESSES IS SO UNDERRATED! I GENUINELY LOVE 27 DRESSES AS WELL. The conflict and stakes in 27 Dresses are well fleshed out, and the relationship with the sister is so complex yet real. The scene where Tess finds out her sister has cut up the dress and called it ugly is so insane and rage inducing. Also Judy Greer as Tess's best friend is such a real one. I too did not enjoy Anyone But You. The world didn't feel lived in, there was no colour or texture or us even knowing what they did in the lives of these characters---- in 27 Dresses for example, we know about Tess's job, which department Judy Greer is in, how they take their drinks, Tess's obsession with her filofax. Everything in Anyone But You was glossy and pretty and shiny but incredibly generic. There were no stakes, and I genuinely didn't know why I should root for this couple. I've watched very very flawed and silly romantic comedis and dramas/melodramas (especially Asian ones where I know the writing is incredibly over the top) and yet they still sell me on it because they give me something to root for with the couple. An inherent sincerity, or chemistry, or charm. I like Sydney Sweeney a lot but I agree I don't think she has the comedic chops for a romantic comedy.
The cutting up the dress scene in 27 dresses basically spawned my own version of my Roman Empire, heirlooms and their very unique and specific beauty and craftmanship. Also reminds me always of how some people handle those heirlooms (regardless of their monetary value) with complete disregard for the feelings and opinions of the other members of the family. To mess up an heirloom that might have deep emotional significance to your family members without consulting them is the hallmark of selfishness and self-importance.
i know it’s not mentioned but last year i watched while you were sleeping, & it truly think it is up there with some of the best romcoms, and for me, it was truly the chemistry, the writing, and even the feel of the film, that made it for me, and it makes me miss that era of romcoms! I also feel like the new romcoms don’t do tropes as we nowadays and truly for me, that can make or break it
this is easily one of my most favorite videos i've ever watched. its super rare that i feel the need to come back and rewatch a video within the same day i watched it for the very first time. i thought your analysis was extremely thorough and passionate. i could tell you're a true rom-com fan!! at the same time you opened my eyes to things i hadnt even realized. i agree with almost everything you said. thank you again for sharing your art with us!!
Your video essays are so well researched and so chill and always do a fantastic job establishing and discussing the promised topic. I love vibing to your videos and sharing them with whoever will watch! - Rizzo
i think this is why i am enjoying korean romance dramas because they hit most of the points you raised, while they are tropey, it's cute, cringe, funny and it makes me cry in the end.
Thank you VERY MUCH! I saw "Anyone but you" yesterday and was left with the same "what's missing?" feeling you described. And thanks for the list of movies that I'm going to (re)watch in order to revive this genre in my heart 💜
Among all of my favourite romcoms the only ones i can think of right now thats non-bollywood are Thirst by Park Chan-wook and 10 Things I Hate About You, Bringing Up Baby, Some Like It Hot, It Happened One Night (the godmother of all filmic romcoms) and But I'm A Cheerleader. My favourite Bollwyood romcoms thag i recommend everyone checks out at least once in their lifetime are Rangeela (one of the most and best 90s films ever made), Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Chupke Chupke, Padosan (featuring one of the most iconic slapstick sequences/music videos in all of cinema imo), Jab We Met, Hasee Toh Phasee and Band Baaja Baarat. Although romantic and romcom genre films (and even other forms of entertainment like books) dont have the connotation of being for women only in India, so many of these have male protagonists and are sometimes catering specifically to a male-centric demographic. India also never really saw a massive decline in romcoms, as aspects of the romcom are present in a majority of our films even when they themselves aren't specifically of that genre (like RRR, an action film, which also has a romcom section between Bheem and a nice white lady). I initially found it a bit difficult to fully like western takes on genres like romcom and musicals because they were more obviously formulaic and showy (made a big deal out of their genre as a gimmick) rather than the more naturalistic way in which Indian films integrate musical sequences and romcom-isms. But ive grown to like them as well
You should watch Plus One! It came out in 2019 and I feel like no one talks about it but it’s so good!!! The characters feel super real and you find yourself desperately wanting them to work things out.
I'm in minute 1, and I just gotta say, the dialogue of "who's afraid of virginia woolf?" from minute 1 to minute done is the most mesmerizing performance of words i have watched. 131 minutes straight of spoken madness and emotion
You really are such an inspiration. Not only is your insight and criticism brilliant, but your writing too. This is such a phenomenally written script!! I always get so excited for your videos and treat these like an event, and When Harry Met Sally is my favorite movie so this is truly a gift :,)
There could honestly be an entire video about why modern movies insist on having the cinematography so slick and shiny, why the leads must always be perfectly coiffed and manicured, and why the set dressing is always so sparse and clinical. I hate it so much, it’s distracting - not just in romcoms. Watch any genre prior to the 2010s, and unless the themes/script specifically call for a minimalist/empty aesthetic, there’s gonna be clutter. People are gonna look rumpled, their boots and cars have a little scuffing and dirt on them. You hit the nail on the head describing Anyone But You as having a “commercial” look, it’s as if these films are perfectly curated ads for a type of lifestyle, as opposed to telling us about the characters through the way they have their hair/clothes/living spaces. It really takes me out of a story every time because I’ll be looking at a set thinking, “nobody lives like this! Do they live in a showhome? Did they just get their clothes TODAY???” For example, the other week I watched No Hard Feelings. In one of the first scenes a character arrives with a tow truck - this character is working class, in a seaside community, and clearly does this towing job for a living, he’s busy. So where’s the rust? Where’s the mud on the truck, where’s the salt corrosion from the sea?! Why does it look SHINY like it rolled right out of a showroom 5 minutes before the scene? It BOTHERS MEEEEEE I don’t know what the reason is either. Not sure you can point to budget constraints, since a lot of movies where this is a problem are actually higher in budget than their equivalent would have been in the 90s. Is it just lack of care and investment into the art departments? Are the sets being made with cgi?!? I have to know 😅
I mean, Christopher Nolan is the only great director I can think of who has films looking like that... but it feels like a trademark and intentional touch. Which means its probably just studios making everything clean so the movie flies out
@tonimashdane33498 I'm talking about how Nolan seems to intentionally have some of his films look very clean, almost a scientifically sterile look. Think Inception, the Dark Knight, Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar. This is the internet, man. I'm 18. I know several of the directors you've listed but haven't had enough time in life to get into their filmography yet.
This is so true! I think of it as "the Netflix look" since it shows up on TV and films, though not just on Netflix. Maybe a cinematographer might have a clearer idea of what's off about the lighting and camera techniques? Makes the films feel corporate and unintentionally so. I recently re-watched _Four Weddings and a Funeral_ and there's a glowy softness to the images which helps cultivate the right atmosphere for a romcom. The rooms and houses have character. The world feels lived in. (Just to be clear, I'm not talking about Nolan or Villeneuve or Michael Mann who might intentionally go for the cold blue look or a polished look to complement the tone of the movie and personality of the characters sometimes - their films still look beautiful in a bleak rugged fashion and they always have a purpose. Films like Heat, Tenet, Inception, Arrival, TDK, Dunkirk, etc.)
@tonimashdane33498 Bro there's no need to be arrogant. Pls watch the video. Broey isn't talking about directors like Glazer, Scorsese, Nolan, the Coens, etc but about a recent movie called Anyone But You. This channel also talks about specific filmmakers quite often as well as genres overall (for example Greta Gerwig). Idk if you're just trying to troll, but I'll try to take this on good faith and explain. And the OP of this comment is talking about the cinematography in similar movies to ABY, which can often be seen on streaming. They never conflated precise visuals with polish - in fact, they point out that "polished" backgrounds in a setting that calls for the opposite, where it should be dirty based on character or location information, shows a lack of precision or thought in the storytelling. For example, Rian Johnson is a precise filmmaker. In Knives Out, Chris Evans' character wears beautiful expensive sweaters but with rips in them to show he's rich and careless. That's attention to detail. That's the precision that the filmmaking in Anyone But You is sorely lacking.
I agree with the "older heroine" thing. I always liked rom-com, but in my 20's I didn't feel them this much. In my 30's I started tearing up at them all the time, because by this time I knew their heartache intimately, and I knew the sense of a missed chance that comes with a broken heart as you get older. It's not that heartache when you're young is not valid and real, but there's still that sense that you might meet someone just as great tomorrow. As you get older, you become more aware of what a rare, wonderful, unique thing it is to meet someone and feel that they're special to you, and to have them feel the same about you.
I'm sure the roots go back deeper but it feels to me like the wonderful It Happened One Night (which I spotted a clip of in this) really set the template of meet-cute gone-wrong followed by their begrudging warming up to each other. It holds up quite well, it's one of the few Capra movies I actually like.
I hate that the one scene that gets recognition from harry met sally is the stupid fake orgasm scene. There are so many great scenes and witty dialogue that is more deserving to be remembered. What made many rom coms great is despite the tropes, there was chemistry between the actors, smart and witty dialogue, and certain elements that separate them from another.
Amélie. I feel that it's a very hopeful film in disguised as a rom com. I don't think the creators of this film would every categorize their film as a rom com. The look of the film is beautiful(the color) The humor is subtle and endearing. When I saw the famous When Harry Met Sally, "I'll have what she's having," scene. I thought it was ridiculous. Of course it's a rom com movie and they need funny lines-I just thought Sally's character would never do that. Love your Annie Hall look
I'm so glad you made this. I'm one of the only people in my group that loves this genre and you've perfectly laid out why. The incredible Jessica James is one from 2017 that got the formula right in my opinion and Definitely Maybe is probably my favorite of them all. But you've named some all time greats throughout the vid as well. Love this.
I spent two months this year reading Nora Ephron’s essays and novels- the woman not only is a fabulous cook (her recipes are incredible), but also a poignant and self-aware author. She recognizes her own failures and shortcomings, allowing for us to have that intimate accessibility. I wish more modern films showcased these aspects and with care, instead of cringe embarrassment. Thank you for this video!!!
I found Villeneuve’s comments about cinema and dialogue to be kinda ironic, because I found a LOT of DunePart1 to feel less ‘cinema’ and more ‘prestige streaming’ once I tried (unsuccessfully) to rewatch it outside of an IMAX theater To this date, I have yet to successfully rewatch Part1
Maybe it's the nostalgia of the time, but You've Got Mail will always have a place in my heart. With that sweet sweet, enemies to lovers trope and the beginning of AOL period, it's just so good. I love the banter between Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, i feel like they have really good chemistry.
I am wishing for the most wonderful meet-cute to be directly in your future! I am kinda in the same boat. I am partnered, but we were both raised in a cult and we have been dating other people as a way to experience life we never got the option to experience. Last week, a lovely man showed my his plentiful chilli patch and then we kissed. It was rom com. So, so sweet.
I know these videos take so much more effort than it seems. You manage to be creative and well-articulated while including the context and background needed! I'm always frustrated at video essays that seem scrapped together and aren't thoughtfully produced. I'm always so impressed by you!!
All the points on writing... yes YES! To see Anyone But You, "pulling" from the hilariously witty Much Ado duo whose banter is *peak* screwball comedy, and giving us the bland Bea and Ben instead was rather disappointing. Their dialogue _should_ be funny, sharp, tense, teasing, sexy and a little sad because of their history together! Also, Beatrice in the play is written to have _many_ more "romcom heroine qualities" - being an *older* single woman, cynical in love yet cheerful and optimistic in life and having had a failed past relationship where she felt betrayed (by Benedick). I didnt understand why in ABY Bea was described as the _younger_ sister of the Hero-equivalent Halle, while in Much Ado About Nothing, it was _significant_ to their characters that Beatrice is the elder of the two! She is the experienced one whose younger more innocent cousin, Hero, is experiencing love uncynically for the first time with a young guy who's come to their house! Benedick and Beatrice also have the deep emotional character moments Broey talks about, together at the wedding of Hero, and Claudio, young friend of Benedick, where Claudio slanders Hero in public. Beatrice defends Hero's honour and gives a resonant speech about being a woman in this world, and Benedick is the only one to side with the women and listen to her. As they admit their feelings for each other in such a dark moment, she tells him to kill Claudio and he accepts, even though they're friends and he's spent the whole play arguing with her. He listens to her rage. Ultimately, underneath all that sparring, the two truly respect each other and there is a deep love. ABY lacks that level of serious emotional climax because there is no real Hero/Claudio plot or indeed a functional replacement for that dramatic storyline. This again ties into Broey's point on Halley being underwritten af... and pretty much every side character in the movie. Just to be clear, I'm happy ABY exists and made a lot of money, because maybe now Hollywood will spend the money to produce a well-written romantic comedy script. Meanwhile, the Kenneth Branagh 90s Shakespeare adaptation starring him and Emma Thompson as Benedick and Beatrice will be on repeat in my house. That and Philadelphia Story for proper chemistry via banter!
it's so much more disappointing when you find out this movie is based on Much Ado because of how much sharper and funnier and darker the play is. Totally agree and its especially sad cause Beatrice and Benedick have such good personalities that are so easily adaptable for a modern context.
Thank you so much for this video! I’ve been working on a script for a while based on Much Ado - the same Shakespeare play Anyone But You was based off of, except mine takes place in college Greek Life, with Bea being an activist morally opposed to the system. When the Sydney Sweeney movie came out and did so well financially, I almost quit mine, but feeling similarly about that script’s failings and having a deep love for rom coms pushed me to keep going with it. I just took multiple pages of notes on this video to help with my next draft so I wanted to say THANK YOU! The research and obvious thought and care you put into these videos means more than you may realize and definitely helped inspire me today!
Great video as always. I found myself nodding along continuously only to interject with loud exclamations of "Exactly!". I feel like a better more recent romcom was actually Netflix's Set It Up. In that movie, we at least saw the leads connect and understood why they would end up liking each other by the end of it. Unfortunately Anyone But You fell flat because there was no build up, no connection between the main two characters and it was hard to care about anything that happened to or around them.
YES the KITCHENS! the love story in you've got mail is rancid, but the vibessss. the neighborhood, the costuming, the side characters are so fun. its not as strong as harry met sally but its so charming. the environment reinforces the characters!
I love "Down with Love" with Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. This movie is so beautifully shot, It is set up like a theatrical play! Almost like a movie or sitcom from the 60s-90s. The colors used are simply gorgeous, Zellweger's costume is a lot of pinks and feminine frilly outfits, whereas McGregor's costume is blue and quite masculine. The fun quips and shenanigans throughout the movie is so hilarious, the movie just makes you enjoy simple tropes but with like fun plot twists. I haven't watched the movie in like 2 years, but I can confidently tell you YOU SHOULD WATCH IT!!! My favorite rom-com fr
This is such a good essay! really good points made. A recent movie I liked, although not a RomCom more of a Teen Com, was Prom Pact, it does tick most of the points you've made in the video. There’s a good base of personality on the main characters, a good enough script, there's the "stake", and even a speech, yet it doesn't fall on a so obvious cliche by de end... oh and a great 80s soundtrack! so I recommend it to anyone looking for a new fun movie
Just watched Anyone but You and I think I was just excited something like that existed but it was kinda vanilla. Great analysis. My favorite romcoms are the Proposal, Confessions of a Shopaholic and 50 First Dates
Fave romcom is usually dependent on why I’m seeking them out in the moment. The ones I go back to the most are probably notting hill (I basically watched that one and Greek Wedding on a loop in 2020; it just makes me less anxious for some reason) and wedding singer. It’s weird that wedding singer works for me because Sandler is the furthest thing from a “romantic lead” that I can think of, but I love the chemistry between Robbie and Julia. Because I like people singing to Drew Barrymore and I like Hugh Grant playing a washed up weirdo, I also like music and lyrics a lot. There’s a lot of good favorites being mentioned in the comments here. It’s getting some attention but Plus One convinced me to go consume most everything Maya Erskine has done. I’m partial to the opposites attract kind of conflict in romcoms, and so think Set It Up (a better vehicle for G. Powell than ABY) and the Hating Game are pretty fun movies. I also like what I can only call “British sensibility” romcoms and I return to those often. I’ve mentioned Notting Hill already, but Fever Pitch (starring Colin Firth not Jimmy Fallon) is great on that front. Same with Man Up (Simon Pegg and Lake Bell), and Imagine Me and You (Lena Headey). And there’s the ones I watch just because I find everyone attractive in them. These aren’t great romcoms, but I can’t help but love them just because I love looking at the people in them. The Hating Game fits in this list as well as the ‘opposites attract’ list. Mentioned in the video is 27 Dresses, and I love that one. But in that list of movies where I’m just attracted to EVERYone is The Proposal; Definitely, Maybe; How to Lose A Guy; and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Common through lines of Ryan and Matthew are self evident. Honorable mentions are the teen romcoms SexAppeal and The Half of It. I’m not sure they really count as romcoms due to their endings, but they hit a lot of the same beats. Each does something I won’t spoil with the “Big Romantic Gesture” that I really liked, and tries teach their protagonists a lesson about growth, hurt, and love in a way that was sweet without being contrived (or so I thought). And lastly a more recent-ish one that really, really surprised me is Marry Me with Owen W and Jennifer L. It’s a very similar dynamic to Notting Hill, and I genuinely loved it. Highly recommend for something fun. Whew.
This video helped me realize that quirkiness isn't meant to just make a character relatable and entertaining, but rather to allow us to witness the vulnerability that we can also relate to. The vulnerabilities that in turn leave us open to love and be loved despite our self perception that they are the road to loneliness. So a good writing of a quirk should ultimately tell us something that is integral to the protagonist growth as a person and self acceptance that leads to the openness that love requires.
okayyyy tell me your favourite rom com! (and why)
500 Days of Summer, I found it very relatable
hmm prob four weddings and a funeral. can't articulate exactly why. i'm panicking lol
Does Metropolitan count as a romcom? If yes, that.
Reason for Metropolitan being the way its wit is infused into an ennui that feels very 90s and very particular yet, in every moment, like something I've felt.
@passion4flowers I was coming to say that. It's also based on "Taming of the Shrew" its just much easier to follow 😄 and still funny
When I look at the cinematography of When Harry Met Sally I think “warm cozy rom com”, and when I look at Anyone But You I think it looks like a Capital One comercial
thats such a deal-breaker for me to get to actually like a movie. sure, anyone but you was pretty entertaining, but it just wasn't captivating, and certainly didn't make me wanna be a part of it (unlike when harry met sally)
digital, bad color grade, cheaply and quickly made (netflix model), boring, creepy director focused on hot cast instead of exploring a relationship, low emphasis on distinct stye, partly because of overbearing studio influence
@@brittanyjeffery2696So basically, the visuals.
This is spot on, too clean, too bright.
You just helped me identify the feeling I got from the Anyone But You trailer! It felt something like a goofy spy movie+credit card commercial to me
This is the hill I am willing to die on: WE NEED TO BRING BACK “OLDER” PROTAGONISTS!!! Enough with the teenagers and early 20s nonsense, I beg. Bring back the 30+/40+ protagonists!! It’s more mature, more charming, more charismatic, more romantic, more “warm and fuzzy and cozy”.
It's basic story telling I would say, why would we care about a 20 something finding love when in actuallity we'd rather say "don't settle, discover yourself first" (espacially since most recent younger love interests are really toxic) but in later years you usually have an accomplished woman with traumas and backstories and despair of thinking that love doesn't really exist and that maybe she should have lowered her expectations. I think it sends a better message than "that guy who's obsessed with and borderline possessive and violent is probably the lvoe of your life".
You my friend would love Jackie Brown
Yeah, I would even feel like people in their 20’s would also relate to older protagonists too, like how a kid would relate more to a teen/adult, rather than someone their own age because it’s who they aspire to be.
Yasssssssssss!!! Like a more grounded take on love where both of you know your boundaries kinda and deal breakers kinda lol
And it’s why it appeals to people in their teens and 20s. It was nice to watch what I thought my life could be when I’m older or some sense of what my parent’s lives were like when I wasn’t around. There are teenagers who watch Sex and the City, a show about people in their late 30s and early 40s. And then they like to return to it when they are older to realize how relatable it is.
“It doesn’t feel like two people falling in love, it feels like Chad and Stacy from your hs got together because they’re the hottest people in the room” THIS EXACTLY. Romcoms are not about the girlies that hop from relationship to relationship okay, they are about hot messes ONLY
Exactly. The comedy doesn't work if the woman isn't allowed to be funny too.
They wanted to do something different ig
@@madnessarcade7447 well they did it badly.
"rom-coms sell the fantasy that men will fall in love with your personality"
I'm just-- how could you...? I just... Give me a minute
Like, i know that happens all the time in real life but hearing it put so bluntly when you haven't personally experienced something like that??? I need-- I need to sit...
I am just a random guy here passing through... do you think that the 70% or so of men who are very lonely and lack self-esteem and charisma would also refuse a girl who earnestly sought a romantic relationship with them? Because I really doubt that.
I will just say that in this day and age, we ought to be pursuing equality, and that means that girls have a lot more power than they realise at times. Go and take a chance initiating a conversation with guys, and try to be open to different experiences you might not normally consider... that is what I would give as advice (I also say this to guys of course)...
I mean, maybe even consider dating a guy shorter than you!
@@scythermantis!!! ty for this, I’m a gay man but I do see what you are talking about.
ladies, if you are young DO NOT LISTEN to this!! I USED to be the girl who asked out every guy I liked. and what happened is that every guy would always say yes (sometimes we were already friends so they knew my personality, sometimes strangers I had a passing interaction with) EVEN THOUGH they did not like me romantically because they wanted ANYONE to fill their loneliness, sexual desires, and do chores like cooking for them. I was cute * enough * for them to put the bare minimum into, or even worse tell me lies about our future and how much they cared about me only to leave when my support helped them build up their life enough that they felt confident enough to chase after another person/another life. Of course the guy who takes initiative can be a bad guy and I've had those experiences too. I guess what I'm really saying is make sure you *really* know that this guy has the emotional intelligence and empathy to say no before asking him out. rejection is protection...
which brings me to my next point, IF I was older and knew what I wanted I wouldn't have put up with that mistreatment. I would have known that "work" in a relationship should feel like tending to a garden, not being in the trenches of war with explosions around you. I would have had the courage to quickly end it when I was taken advantage of physically and financially. so I would only take this advice if you are an OLDER WOMAN and have developed the self love and intuition to know how you want to be treated and believe their actions, not just words. @@scythermantis
Women purusue all the time, they just dont pursue average men. If you've ever been around a hot male friend its wild to see how girls behave around em@@scythermantis
@@scythermantis do we want to be in relationships with those kinds of guys? Why don’t we deserve confident, well dressed, clean partners like ourselves? It’s honestly the bare minimum.
When you give an insecure guy a chance they try to humble you. There's so many statistics and video essays about it. We don’t owe men anything. I will happily stay single if it means not having my mental health depleted. And men are lonely because they don’t respect themselves or others. It’s a choice, however much that hurts to hear. I don’t mind asking a guy out, but a good guy is few and far between.
You come at this thinking all women are desperate to be with a man, but anyone who should be in a relationship is not desperate. Desperate people are settlers, taking what they can get: crumbs.
Bridget Jones wasn't supposed to be fat. She was supposed to be the average British woman's size at the time who didn't have a weight problem, but struggled with gaining and losing the same 20-ish pounds depending on her mood and how successful she perceived herself. That's why it was so upsetting when the girl Daniel was cheating with made a dig about her weight. She was in a good place, she didn't feel bad about her weight, and then she's blindsided by these two "perfect" people making her feel like she wouldn't ever be good enough. Daniel's apology wasn't that he was sorry, it was like "well what do you expect?" The turning point of the movie was that she would stop obsessing about her supposed flaws, and expect better for herself.
Yes yes yes! This is also made so obvious in the book because on the chapters she's doing good, she stops obsessively keeping track of her weight. They do this in the movie narration too, but people keep forgetting it for some reason.
thank you yes!!! i thought it was obvious but i guess i just find it very relatable as someone who gets concerned about my weight when i feel like i have no control. its a very realistic aspect of such a real character
It was also made explicit by the text (don't remember whether it was in book 1 or 2): at one party when she finally achieves her goal weight and she's so proud of herself, her friends keep asking if she's okay and feeling well, because she looks sickly. Ie. the target weight she set for herself is too strict.
And that's something I missed when I watched it all those years ago. Maybe I should give it a try now that I am older and wiser. Thanks!
This! When you read the book, Bridget writes her weight every day and she's on tbe slim side. It's HER belief that she's overweight. When I was slim I was mostly the same way, there's the sense that you need to lose 6 to 10 pounds foe absolute perfection. Fat people- of which I am one, now- don't feel that way because tbe amount to lose is so much more.
Glenn Powell in Set It Up felt more of a traditional Rom Com than Anyone But You. That pizza scene hit different.
YES who knew pizza could be sentimental and sexy
I love that scene
I also think one of the reasons why there was so much hype for Anyone But You was because of Gelnn being in Set It Up and ppl loving his performance. Sad that Anyone But You is not as good.
I love that movie and regularly quote that scene.
Set it Up also expressed the characters desires/ what was missing from their lives and each piece of dialogue/Interaction added layers of development and character. I cannot recall any moments in which anyone but you felt....charming.
When you explained: language is at the heart of romance, I swear to God I had an epiphany. The more recent romcoms are not good because they are 'dumb'. The intellectual work done in the background is missing!
The thing I love about When Harry Met Sally the most is that they were friends first. That's the way their romance worked, because it was built on a really solid foundation of friendship. You see them spending a lot of time together and through that falling in love. That's something I think a lot of rom-coms that followed lost. People meet and fall in love instantly and those relationships to me feel like they have a real lack of depth and connection. Also When Harry Met Sally is so smartly written and the chemistry between the two leads is off the charts ❤
Suuuuch a good point.
Yes!! I watch this movie every year around the holidays
Yes, that's true. Speaking for myself. I am not that fond of rom-coms but the ones I do like, or even love, tend to have at least an element of "friends-to-lovers" in them.
the chemistry section is exactly why i think people are campaigning for a rom com between ayo edebiri and paul mescal, beside the obvious ayo is irish jokes
I wasn't aware people were campaigning for that, but pleaseee that would be the best thing ever
YES YES YES
YES!!! THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN !!! Also, I need either sudcarmy for the bear to be Canon or for Jeremy Allan White and Ayo Edebiri to be in a Roscommon cause they also have chemistry!!
@@aishambengue3024 TOO MUCH CHEMISTRY its like every scene they're together someone is about to kiss the other.
Man, the sequel to Anatomy of a Fall came out really fast.
where’s the dog tho?
@@erin9707 me, I'm the dog!
Well, I guess its better than waiting 65 years like we did after Anatomy of Murder.
Lol
😂😅damn completely forgot that there were more films in this series@@Stuie299
Whenever I watch Bridget Jones's Diary, I just go into a love spiral every time. Sometimes when I feel too “single” (for lack of a better word) I rewatch it and be reminded of how sweet to just fall in love. Rom-com’s deserved more praise and accolades than ppl give it credit for (i.e, award shows) and although this trope can be overdone and a little distasteful, when it’s done rightly, it can instantly be a classic film.
Wow. Sounds like someone can't just be happy for two disgusting gargoyles like Glenn and Sydney finding each other and defying the odds that they would likely die alone. Sad.
One of them is gonna die alone
unless there's a sequel with grampa glenn
Right?! And after their characters dealt with so much adversity, struggling against issues like finances and racial inequity to find themselves and fall in love with themselves before they could truly develop a beautiful, fleshed-out romance with one another.
Sounds like someone is 12.
@@tananario23 not understanding the obvious sarcasm and irony of the comment makes you the 12 year old sweet cheeks.
I think my favourite Rom Com is probably 10 things I hate about you, I don’t cry every time I watch it but that Karaoke scene on the football field is iconic and the speech! It’s a great Shakespeare re-telling and I love how smart and bitchy Kat is, it reminds me of being 17.
Plus seeing a baby Joseph Gordon Levitt is fun
Yet another one with clever writing and a good backstory lending motivation to the characters. Its soooo wonderful.
I only saw it for the first time a couple of years ago and I was amazed at just how good it was. I could guess the formula but I didn't care because it was done so well. I normally hate a 'liar revealed' scene but that one was genuinely devastating
Best ROM Com!!!
This is a good point against her "the characters need to be older" argument
@@LimeyLassen Well, at the end you know she's leaving for Sarah Lawrence and it's more likely that Patrick just stayed her highschool sweetheart and didn't hold her back. With that being said I think this is just the personal preference of the essayist about getting more rom coms with adult protagonists and the fact that it's implied that they will stay together.
tbh my big fat Greek wedding is a romcom that didn’t follow the Sam meets Harry rule and I love it sm. There’s no forced proximity, they like each other from the start and are working on being together even though Toulas family is conservative. The family doesn’t feel like background characters, they have their own life’s and personality, while also keeping a balance of not being the focus of the movie. Ian is literally the perfect romcom man imo. He was always respectful and interested in learning about Toulas culture and open about her chaotic family. (Also I loved the casting for Toula because yes even tho Greeks are white, often times in Hollywood they get represented as pale, blonde and blue eyed. Which there are Greeks who look like that, but still it was nice to see someone who looked like the women I grew up with being the main character) there’s also a Turkish romcom that I absolutely adore, “Olanlar Oldu” if you have access to the movie I’d highly recommend it, though it’s more funny and endearing if you know Turkish culture and language.
Romcoms today are so much based on the enemies to lovers trope with the forced proximity. No chemistry, everything about the characters to the dialogue to the background feels sterile and lifeless. Like it was said in the video, modern romcoms are based on relatability and not the characters and their stories.
That movie was so amazing I knew from a young age it wasn’t to much to want a guy as respectful as Ian is. I would say ahead of its time but I think it was just underrated.
I have to say that I never thought of MBFGW as a rom-com, precisely because the question wasn't whether Ian and Toula end up together (they clearly are going to) - the question was whether her family can accept Ian and whether Toula can embrace the culture she comes from while maintaining her independence. The centre of the story was Toula's relation to her family, not her romance with Ian, which was just a catalyser. To me, it was just a "com", or a "culture com", if you will. And a fantastic one at that! I'm from Poland, and not an immigrant here, and my family is strewn around the country and not as close-knit as Toula's, but so many family behaviours and dynamics were recognisable to me on such a deep level! It's a fantastic movie with so much soul to it!
I kept thinking about this film throughout the video. That is also one of my favorites.
It’s interesting that romcoms aren’t having the same resurgence as romance novels are
Romance novels are self published a lot of the time and many avid readers are disappointed with the current romance novels we've been getting from what I’ve seen :/ many readers are easily pleased which is fine of course but it doesn’t mean the book isn’t bad.
I think the reason I have been so drawn to KDramas in the last couple of years is because the embody this late 80s/90s tension that I have been missing! They know how to build the story and the background characters to really ruin you emotionally. It's never just about romance!
Thissss! I wish someone would talk about the rise in global popularity of Kdrama compared the to decline of Hollywood rom com. It’s not totally apples and oranges, and I think kdrama is delivering that heartfelt funny romance story that Hollywood gave up.
this but with telenovelas
yess!! completely agreed
Do you have any recs plz?
i'm a mid 30s mature age student at uni and i think one of my lecturers overheard me saying how much i'm in love with him last week. never been a fan of romcoms but i think my time has arrived
awwww
You gotta give an update if anything happens
That is so cute lol best of luck
🎉🎉❤❤ Godspeed!!
Here's hoping for a happy ending for you! What a story that would be!
When Harry Met Sally is exactly the kind of relatable, but ideal romance. More than a lover, it's the partner who truly SEE you in all forms that makes you say "This is what I want my relationship to be". Their relationship will always make me feel hopeful. Another enchanting romcom for me was Chungking Romance.
You meant chungking express?😂
Far more than Anyone But You, it's Rye Lane that gives me hope for romcoms. Yes, it's much smaller, but it has more of a chance at exciting budding creatives into making the next great romcoms.
Rye Lane is so lovely, I wish more people knew about it!
I love Rye Lane. It was my favorite movie of last year. It’s creative and funny and has Colin Firth! What more could you want?
So glad that someone mentioned Rye Lane!
I Love Rye Lane! I loved that it showed a side of London that you never see in Richard Curtis films but was equally charming -and that for once the manic pixie dream girl character wasn't a skinny white girl with a fringe
YESSS youre so based for this!!
16:01 Everything, from the costumes to the set, is also super neutral and white except for some cool colours here and there. Her clothes are all mostly white and light blue. His are darker but also blue. They ‘four quadrant’-ed all the specificity out of the characters to make it just two generic hot people that you could theoretically project yourself on to. But blandness is not relatable, specificity, even if it is not *your* specificity, is relatable.
My favorite comment in awhile
The overabundance of neutrals is probably a by product of how the mainststream of decoration and with the quiet luxury trend, fashion too, have become weirdly allergic to colour.
@@saramoreira9847 also probably because they didn't bother with any sort of production design and all of the budget went towards shooting in Australia tbh
annie hall was not the only romcom made in the new hollywood era. what’s up doc, harold and maude, the heartbreak kid. there’s tons of them.
Billy Crystal is very attractive in When Harry Met Sally, and I'm sick of pretending he isn't
i think the more you look at him the more attractive he becomes. also the expressiveness in his eyes. If anyone looked at me the way he did Sally i'd be putty in his hands.
my one possibly unpopular opinion is he looked better with the beard, I couldn't believe when Sally said she preferred without
@@karl_franksI agree! I get what shaving it in the movie is meant to represent, but I just think he looks better with it
Agree to disagree
THANK YOU! he is so handsome and loveable
Fave romcoms: "How to lose a guy in 10 days" because Kate Hudson is brilliant in it, and "The Holiday", BUT ONLY the storyline about Kate Winslet and Jack Black.
AGREED i do not care at all about jude law and cameron diaz but LOVE winslet and black in it
I watch The Holiday every year (and sometimes before december). Jack Black is my favorite in it. I wish he did more romance movies ;-;
Agreed on both. I don't think either are my fave of all time, but I rewatch them a fair bit. They are comfortable and easy for me to watch. Especially when I'm tired and just need to feel good about life when life is so goddamn difficult.
I rewatched How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days last night, actually. It was wonderful. I also often phase out for the Cameron Diaz storyline in The Holiday. The moments with his kids are sweet, though, mainly because the little actresses are frankly wonderful.
SAMEEE i think that Jude Law and Cameron Diaz were....nice......but Jack Black and Kate Winslet really swept me away.
My top 2 as well!! I feel seen
"These movies offer the FANTASY That men will fall in love with your personality'' BEST HEART BRAKINGLY true statement ever
One romcom I think is highly underrated as one is actually Nancy Meyers's first film The Parent Trap
Now it starts out as a child centric comedy about twin sisters swapping lives to get to know their respective parents better, but in that classic Nancy Meyers way, it shifts to instead shed a light on the parents' lives, why they didn't work out, and why they are now better suited to each other. The divorce was because they were extremely young when they got together - 23 for Elizabeth and 24 for Nick - and their communication problems led to them falling apart when they didn't need to. Now both in their late 30s, they've had time to think about what they loved about each other, and can communicate their issues, first being able to talk to each other like civil functioning adults before they can reconcile
What's interesting about their characters is that both of them had great, fulfilling lives after divorcing, both achieving their dream careers and both having a great relationship with their respective daughter, as well as their hired help being like family to them - but neither of them ever remarried or had another relationship because without that love, their lives are incomplete. The movie also shines a light on Nick with the evil fiancée Meredith - she's an attractive vamp ten years his junior, considered way out of his league, and on paper the ideal status symbol for a shallow guy. But Meredith is a laundry list of red flags, not just being a gold digger, but how she treats Chessie like a skivvy to be summoned with a bell and intimidates an 11-year-old when she gets savvy to her plan. And when Nick discovers the ultimate deal breaker of all - making him choose between her and his daughters - he kicks her to the curb in an instant. Who does he choose? The older (still only late 30s but definitely not 26) single mother who the audience has seen get so drunk she makes a spectacle of herself in front of him and messed up royally in the past, but still carried a torch for her. Granted we the audience saw more of her as a mess than Nick did but that just allows us to feel like we know her
The stakes are also suitably high for the reconciliation - their daughters obviously having to be separated, a custody arrangement that would be all sorts of awkward, one parent possibly having to give up their respective daughter completely and even Martin and Chessie not getting the chance to be together. The movie's universe spells it out for the two that ignoring their feelings and not taking that risk would have all sorts of consequences, so that when Nick and Hallie fly all the way out to London to surprise Elizabeth and Annie...that's my Hannah tears moment lol
i never realized it is actually a romcom!! maybe that’s where my love for the genre comes from, i watched it so much as a kid hahaha
@@rosanah.9089 yeah I suppose it's half a romcom and half a kids' comedy lol
Oh, the first half structurally mirrors a romcom, except the romance is instead a sisterly relationship between Hallie and Annie. They meet, they hate each other, hijinks ensue, they are forced together (in this case, in the isolation cabin as punishment), they actually get to know each other and end up loving each other. The love in question is just sisterly instead of romantic.
@@jsmountain ooh that is an excellent point 😀
To me it’s like two movies in one.
Rye Lane and the Big Sick we’re some of my favorite romcoms of the past decade (I also loved set it up). I think part of the problem is that these movies often don’t get the wide theatrical release and get pushed to streaming with little promotion. We also really need more queer rom coms (aka not just best friend roles).
Set it Up did more for romcoms than Anyone But You and its not even close.
I love to see a film reviewer who compares and contrasts and doesn't chalk all their distastes to the vague explanation of "bad writing".
Bad writing is the foundation for why movies stink.
@K.C-2049 "Because the character writing is shallow and all feel fake!"
OK, but what is "shallow writing", and what defines a "real character"? If you were speaking to the writer and said, "I don't like how bad the writing is, the setting is off, and the motivations are wrong" and bugged off, the writer wouldn't know what to fix because you didn't tell them *why* their writing is bad, what was off about the setting, and why the motivations feel wrong. That's like if a cop pulled you over, gave you a ticket, and drove off without telling you what you did.
Note that Broey is an essayist not a reviewer. This kind of in-depth analysis is suitable for a long-form essay of the kind we're watching here, it's not the best way to write a review - those are supposed to be short, and for good reason.
@KillahMate Essayist is the word I was looking for. Her "reviews" are a lot more constructed, with proper intros, thesis, and conclusions. Much better than the unprofessional rants all over social media.
My favorite Rom-Com from the last years is Dash & Lily. It's a Netflix Mini-Series, but you can watch it in one sitting. Dash & Lily is a christmas-teenie romance, very predictable and a bit cliche. But it makes you actually care for the characters; I like the setting and costume and I think it has good writing.
Also, I recently watched When Harry Met Sally for the first time. You are right: It's not nostalgia, it's genuinely a good movie.
omg YESSSS, DASH AND LILY WAS SO GOOD!!
Anyone seen Rye Lane? Best rom-com of the last year, I think it definitely has all the qualities outlined above in spades.
Checking it out thanks to this recommendation! It looks totally up my alley.
It's also probably one of the most visually interesting examples of the genre that I've seen, I love the way they depicted the implosions of the main characters' previous relationships, it was so creative
LOVE rye lane
It's the absolute best and I'm surprised it got overlooked in her description rebooting romcoms
Loved this video, but kinda shocked it didn't mention "Always Be My Maybe", which really brought back the formula, did quite well on Netflix, and absolutely nailed the final confession/get back together speech.
But loved the attention given to 27 Dresses, which is one of my all time favorites.
Also some of these comments make me think a lot of people arent clear on what a romcom entrails...(no offense y'all, but the romance genre has rules! Otherwise it's just a love story)
I fucking love Always Be My Maybe😭
"what a romcom entrails" oh my! 😬
The two black romantic comedies you listed are more like dramadies. My favorite black led romantic comedies are Boomerang and Brown Sugar
i think also worth mentioning that although the rom-com genre was very white, J.Lo was one of the biggest romcom queens and she is latina
I’ve always loved My Best Friends Wedding: I love Julia’s effervescence, Paul Hogan’s ability to juggle camp and sincerity, its inversion of rom com tropes (what if the other girl was the protagonist?), and its message that love might mean that you have to accept you won’t get what you want.
Love my best friends wedding!
I love that movie. The scene where he surprises her with a hug before leaving on his honeymoon...😢
Deliver Us from Eva is essentially a POC modern adaptation of Taming of The Shrew. 2003 If you've never seen it, it's a fun watch. LL Cool J links his lips like a million times. 😂
Tbh you’re so right that the best rom coms are also about The Vibes combined with impeccable writing. Vibes make it sound like something kinda ephemeral or superficial, so I get why Nancy Meyers would take issue w/ the “everyone has a beautiful kitchen” comments abt her movies, but really, to me, “vibes” are about attention to detail. Treating a rom-com like any art deserves to be treated. I always thought the wardrobes in WHMs were so cozy and stylish, and that rly is the movie that tricked me into thinking I would like New York. The curation of the atmosphere in The Holiday is part of why I love it (and Jack black!). The friends in 4 weddings & notting hill are my favorite parts of those movies! And Carrie Fisher is so underrated in WHMS. The ensembles feel like they have real lives. Nora Ephron & Rob Reiner I remember anecdotes abt them being particularly dedicated to that level of precision. Reiner of course, a lot of the material from the movie came from real convos w Billy crystal, so there’s a combination of improv and intentionality. The 4 phone call scene from my memory was one of the hardest scenes they had to shoot & was shot like dozens of times, maybe more. Same can be said w Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan in the coffee shop in you’ve got Mail. Ephron really pushed them to get that scene right, I think Hanks has even said that’s one of the hardest scenes he had to do.
the attention to detail aspect is so true. I watched When Harry meets Sally for the first time recently and the set design is impeccable. You can take two screenshots of these two characters apartments and you know so much about them. I hate how clinical and boring set design is now
I just miss the prestige rom-com like When Harry Met Sally and Moonstruck
@tonimashdane33498 I love Punch Drunk Love, but it's like from 2002. I would love to see one reflecting today
highly recommend Saving Face if you haven't seen it.
Try "If You Were the Last".
MOONSTRUCK MENTION 🙌 one of my fave movies ever
Ticket to Paradise aimed very low but succeeded. 2 solid stars that have solid chemistry and they clearly put effort into making the relationship between the 2 divorcees relatable.
this is why you’ve got mail has remained one of my all time favourite films forever . The dialogue is perfect it’s everything
Check out Shop Around the Corner. It’s the original story with Jimmy Stewart. Both are great.
As to your friend crying and not knowing why, I teared up just with the visuals in this essay.
See all of this is why it was Red White & Royal Blue that ACTUALLY revived the romcom - chemistry through the roof, not white, not heterosexual, the vibes are clear, rooms and costumes reflect the characters, the family and friends are lovable and given importance, the banter is immaculate
I was looking for a comment that would mention rw&rb!
This 100%
I love "When Harry Met Sally". It's just the perfect movie. For me, the end speech of makes me happy for the simple line, "It's because when you realise you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." Just dialogue gold. You also see them change based on each others opinions. She tells him to start dating again, which he does, while at one point Harry says to her, "You should wear skirts more. You look good in skirts." In the next scene she's wearing a skirt. It's not for him, but his opinion matters to her.
And finally, the "Pecan Pie" conversation was unscripted. You can see Meg Ryan look over to Rob Reiner offscreen in a sort of panic so their chemistry was real.
I'm so glad you talked about Bridge Jones Diary, that movie is so funny and romantic in a non cliché way I love it so much 😭
The Annie Hall themed outfit - top class
Does “the worst person in the world” count as a rom-com? If so, then that’s my favorite of the genre by a country mile.
Same af compadre
A more conventional one that I’m surprised didn’t get more love, Ticket to Paradise. Yeah, it can be read as a tax shelter vacation movie but you don’t get to see George Clooney or Julia Roberts on screen that often anymore and they take the bare minimum that’s asked of them, and go as far with it as they can. It felt like the perfectly mediocre movie Anyone But You was trying to be and fell short of.
I’m deeply grateful for you making this video essay. Rom-Coms is one of my favorite movie genres, especially in a world where most films are too serious and moody. Rom-Coms bring much needed lightness to the world 🙏
When Harry Met Sally should be considered as one of the greatest films ever made.
A video defending melodramas and THEN one on romcoms not much later?! We're living the dream
i think it’s hilarious that they say rom coms set women’s standards for love too high… as if we shouldn’t have high standards…
Well, if a woman is waiting for her life to resemble a rom com, then her standards are too high, I'd say. These rom coms end like Disney fairy tales....happily ever after once they finally get together, but we don't see what happened 10 or 15 years later.
Best romcoms of the last five-ish years are Palm Springs and Plus One, hands down. And if you want a non-white, non straight 2000s romcom you all have GOT to check out Saving Face
yes both of them are really great!
“Insufferably Heterosexual”. I love that term 😂
That’s a phrase these writers would use too, which is why any heterosexual relationship they write in a movie sucks, because they inherently hate anything that is societally deemed “normal.” Love that term all you want, but the incessant bitterness behind it is one of the reason Hollywood writers today can’t write a good movie if their lives depended on it.
@@jennapecor1865 So, according to you, anything that’s non-white, non-heteronormative and subverting social structures is not societally deemed ‘normal’?
@@jennapecor1865what have you been smoking and can i please have some
@@PokhrajRoy. How COULD it be normal, if it's "subverting social structures"? Y'all wokies wanna be the power, the victims, the mainstream, and the rebels so damned badly, and that's just NOT how that works, bubi.
I'm honestly baffled when I hear people say that romcoms died in the 2010s because there are several from that decade that I love and that I think hit the same marks that Broey says When Harry Met Sally and Bridget Jones do:
-Sleeping with Other People (which follows the formula of When Harry Met Sally)
-Set it up
-Always Be My Maybe (which also follows WHMS formula)
-Plus One
I love Sleeping With Other People! No pun intended 😅 The main characters have such good chemistry, and I was genuinely devastated in every scene where Lainey interacted with or talked about her ex (Adam Scott). The main love story was great, but I think the strength of the movie was the way it showed how heartbreaking it is to love someone who doesn't love you back.
Thank you so much. Didn't know two of them. Def. gonna look them up
My favourite rom-com is the Korean 2001 classic My Sassy Girl it tells the typical rom-com story in the wrong order it's so crazy but well-balanced it's funny, melodramatic and romantic. Second is Brown Sugar it's mature, and charming and the music is great; Queen Latifa is everything in that movie.
YES 27 DRESSES IS SO UNDERRATED! I GENUINELY LOVE 27 DRESSES AS WELL. The conflict and stakes in 27 Dresses are well fleshed out, and the relationship with the sister is so complex yet real. The scene where Tess finds out her sister has cut up the dress and called it ugly is so insane and rage inducing. Also Judy Greer as Tess's best friend is such a real one.
I too did not enjoy Anyone But You. The world didn't feel lived in, there was no colour or texture or us even knowing what they did in the lives of these characters---- in 27 Dresses for example, we know about Tess's job, which department Judy Greer is in, how they take their drinks, Tess's obsession with her filofax. Everything in Anyone But You was glossy and pretty and shiny but incredibly generic. There were no stakes, and I genuinely didn't know why I should root for this couple. I've watched very very flawed and silly romantic comedis and dramas/melodramas (especially Asian ones where I know the writing is incredibly over the top) and yet they still sell me on it because they give me something to root for with the couple. An inherent sincerity, or chemistry, or charm. I like Sydney Sweeney a lot but I agree I don't think she has the comedic chops for a romantic comedy.
The cutting up the dress scene in 27 dresses basically spawned my own version of my Roman Empire, heirlooms and their very unique and specific beauty and craftmanship. Also reminds me always of how some people handle those heirlooms (regardless of their monetary value) with complete disregard for the feelings and opinions of the other members of the family. To mess up an heirloom that might have deep emotional significance to your family members without consulting them is the hallmark of selfishness and self-importance.
i know it’s not mentioned but last year i watched while you were sleeping, & it truly think it is up there with some of the best romcoms, and for me, it was truly the chemistry, the writing, and even the feel of the film, that made it for me, and it makes me miss that era of romcoms! I also feel like the new romcoms don’t do tropes as we nowadays and truly for me, that can make or break it
Beautifully said! Rom coms are nothing without good writers
this is easily one of my most favorite videos i've ever watched. its super rare that i feel the need to come back and rewatch a video within the same day i watched it for the very first time. i thought your analysis was extremely thorough and passionate. i could tell you're a true rom-com fan!! at the same time you opened my eyes to things i hadnt even realized. i agree with almost everything you said. thank you again for sharing your art with us!!
Your video essays are so well researched and so chill and always do a fantastic job establishing and discussing the promised topic. I love vibing to your videos and sharing them with whoever will watch!
- Rizzo
Bridget Jones's Diary is S-tier and I love seeing you break down what makes it so special
i think this is why i am enjoying korean romance dramas because they hit most of the points you raised, while they are tropey, it's cute, cringe, funny and it makes me cry in the end.
Thank you VERY MUCH! I saw "Anyone but you" yesterday and was left with the same "what's missing?" feeling you described. And thanks for the list of movies that I'm going to (re)watch in order to revive this genre in my heart 💜
honestly, my favorite rom com within the last 5 years has to be Rye Lane
27:22 the alien love interest giving 'the monologue' to the human protagonist at the end of the movie
A rom com that i really like but it's often overlooked is Imagine Me & You. It holds up surprisingly well given its queer themes!
Among all of my favourite romcoms the only ones i can think of right now thats non-bollywood are Thirst by Park Chan-wook and 10 Things I Hate About You, Bringing Up Baby, Some Like It Hot, It Happened One Night (the godmother of all filmic romcoms) and But I'm A Cheerleader. My favourite Bollwyood romcoms thag i recommend everyone checks out at least once in their lifetime are Rangeela (one of the most and best 90s films ever made), Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Chupke Chupke, Padosan (featuring one of the most iconic slapstick sequences/music videos in all of cinema imo), Jab We Met, Hasee Toh Phasee and Band Baaja Baarat. Although romantic and romcom genre films (and even other forms of entertainment like books) dont have the connotation of being for women only in India, so many of these have male protagonists and are sometimes catering specifically to a male-centric demographic. India also never really saw a massive decline in romcoms, as aspects of the romcom are present in a majority of our films even when they themselves aren't specifically of that genre (like RRR, an action film, which also has a romcom section between Bheem and a nice white lady). I initially found it a bit difficult to fully like western takes on genres like romcom and musicals because they were more obviously formulaic and showy (made a big deal out of their genre as a gimmick) rather than the more naturalistic way in which Indian films integrate musical sequences and romcom-isms. But ive grown to like them as well
@tonimashdane33498 i haven't watched most of his films yet including Cyborg but I think I'll agree once I do!
You're rocking the Annie Hall look!
You should watch Plus One! It came out in 2019 and I feel like no one talks about it but it’s so good!!! The characters feel super real and you find yourself desperately wanting them to work things out.
Set It Up on Netflix is also a great romance that hits most of what you mentioned of a good Romantic/Comedy.
I'm in minute 1, and I just gotta say, the dialogue of "who's afraid of virginia woolf?" from minute 1 to minute done is the most mesmerizing performance of words i have watched. 131 minutes straight of spoken madness and emotion
I can't believe you didn't mention Set it up! 😭 It is a modern rom-com and does the confession speech perfectly
You really are such an inspiration. Not only is your insight and criticism brilliant, but your writing too. This is such a phenomenally written script!! I always get so excited for your videos and treat these like an event, and When Harry Met Sally is my favorite movie so this is truly a gift :,)
There could honestly be an entire video about why modern movies insist on having the cinematography so slick and shiny, why the leads must always be perfectly coiffed and manicured, and why the set dressing is always so sparse and clinical. I hate it so much, it’s distracting - not just in romcoms. Watch any genre prior to the 2010s, and unless the themes/script specifically call for a minimalist/empty aesthetic, there’s gonna be clutter. People are gonna look rumpled, their boots and cars have a little scuffing and dirt on them. You hit the nail on the head describing Anyone But You as having a “commercial” look, it’s as if these films are perfectly curated ads for a type of lifestyle, as opposed to telling us about the characters through the way they have their hair/clothes/living spaces. It really takes me out of a story every time because I’ll be looking at a set thinking, “nobody lives like this! Do they live in a showhome? Did they just get their clothes TODAY???”
For example, the other week I watched No Hard Feelings. In one of the first scenes a character arrives with a tow truck - this character is working class, in a seaside community, and clearly does this towing job for a living, he’s busy. So where’s the rust? Where’s the mud on the truck, where’s the salt corrosion from the sea?! Why does it look SHINY like it rolled right out of a showroom 5 minutes before the scene? It BOTHERS MEEEEEE
I don’t know what the reason is either. Not sure you can point to budget constraints, since a lot of movies where this is a problem are actually higher in budget than their equivalent would have been in the 90s. Is it just lack of care and investment into the art departments? Are the sets being made with cgi?!? I have to know 😅
It's Hallmarkification. They all look like Hallmark movies now.
I mean, Christopher Nolan is the only great director I can think of who has films looking like that... but it feels like a trademark and intentional touch. Which means its probably just studios making everything clean so the movie flies out
@tonimashdane33498 I'm talking about how Nolan seems to intentionally have some of his films look very clean, almost a scientifically sterile look. Think Inception, the Dark Knight, Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar.
This is the internet, man. I'm 18. I know several of the directors you've listed but haven't had enough time in life to get into their filmography yet.
This is so true! I think of it as "the Netflix look" since it shows up on TV and films, though not just on Netflix. Maybe a cinematographer might have a clearer idea of what's off about the lighting and camera techniques? Makes the films feel corporate and unintentionally so.
I recently re-watched _Four Weddings and a Funeral_ and there's a glowy softness to the images which helps cultivate the right atmosphere for a romcom. The rooms and houses have character. The world feels lived in.
(Just to be clear, I'm not talking about Nolan or Villeneuve or Michael Mann who might intentionally go for the cold blue look or a polished look to complement the tone of the movie and personality of the characters sometimes - their films still look beautiful in a bleak rugged fashion and they always have a purpose. Films like Heat, Tenet, Inception, Arrival, TDK, Dunkirk, etc.)
@tonimashdane33498 Bro there's no need to be arrogant. Pls watch the video. Broey isn't talking about directors like Glazer, Scorsese, Nolan, the Coens, etc but about a recent movie called Anyone But You. This channel also talks about specific filmmakers quite often as well as genres overall (for example Greta Gerwig). Idk if you're just trying to troll, but I'll try to take this on good faith and explain.
And the OP of this comment is talking about the cinematography in similar movies to ABY, which can often be seen on streaming. They never conflated precise visuals with polish - in fact, they point out that "polished" backgrounds in a setting that calls for the opposite, where it should be dirty based on character or location information, shows a lack of precision or thought in the storytelling.
For example, Rian Johnson is a precise filmmaker. In Knives Out, Chris Evans' character wears beautiful expensive sweaters but with rips in them to show he's rich and careless. That's attention to detail. That's the precision that the filmmaking in Anyone But You is sorely lacking.
I'm a huge fan of When Harry Met Sally - thanks for all the further watching suggestions. Also, your outfit for this video is iconic.
I agree with the "older heroine" thing. I always liked rom-com, but in my 20's I didn't feel them this much. In my 30's I started tearing up at them all the time, because by this time I knew their heartache intimately, and I knew the sense of a missed chance that comes with a broken heart as you get older. It's not that heartache when you're young is not valid and real, but there's still that sense that you might meet someone just as great tomorrow. As you get older, you become more aware of what a rare, wonderful, unique thing it is to meet someone and feel that they're special to you, and to have them feel the same about you.
You are, genuinely, so good at what you do.
I'm sure the roots go back deeper but it feels to me like the wonderful It Happened One Night (which I spotted a clip of in this) really set the template of meet-cute gone-wrong followed by their begrudging warming up to each other. It holds up quite well, it's one of the few Capra movies I actually like.
You're right- it's widely considered to be the first rom-com! I really like this film too.
Yeah, when she said WHMS established the enemies-to-lovers trope I was like, "lol what"
I hate that the one scene that gets recognition from harry met sally is the stupid fake orgasm scene.
There are so many great scenes and witty dialogue that is more deserving to be remembered.
What made many rom coms great is despite the tropes, there was chemistry between the actors, smart and witty dialogue, and certain elements that separate them from another.
Amélie. I feel that it's a very hopeful film in disguised as a rom com. I don't think the creators of this film would every categorize their film as a rom com. The look of the film is beautiful(the color) The humor is subtle and endearing. When I saw the famous When Harry Met Sally, "I'll have what she's having," scene. I thought it was ridiculous. Of course it's a rom com movie and they need funny lines-I just thought Sally's character would never do that. Love your Annie Hall look
I'm so glad you made this. I'm one of the only people in my group that loves this genre and you've perfectly laid out why.
The incredible Jessica James is one from 2017 that got the formula right in my opinion and Definitely Maybe is probably my favorite of them all. But you've named some all time greats throughout the vid as well. Love this.
I spent two months this year reading Nora Ephron’s essays and novels- the woman not only is a fabulous cook (her recipes are incredible), but also a poignant and self-aware author. She recognizes her own failures and shortcomings, allowing for us to have that intimate accessibility. I wish more modern films showcased these aspects and with care, instead of cringe embarrassment.
Thank you for this video!!!
Nora Ephron the genius that you are. Her and Nancy Meyers tied in first place.
From someone who historically doesn't like most rom coms: very informative and a great breakdown. Making me more interested in the genre!
@tonimashdane33498 I said most and I really like punch drunk love. Didn't even think about it when I thought of the genre.
I found Villeneuve’s comments about cinema and dialogue to be kinda ironic, because I found a LOT of DunePart1 to feel less ‘cinema’ and more ‘prestige streaming’ once I tried (unsuccessfully) to rewatch it outside of an IMAX theater
To this date, I have yet to successfully rewatch Part1
Maybe it's the nostalgia of the time, but You've Got Mail will always have a place in my heart. With that sweet sweet, enemies to lovers trope and the beginning of AOL period, it's just so good. I love the banter between Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, i feel like they have really good chemistry.
The Anyone but you slander WILL be tolerated and encouraged!
“A woman who is 30 or older”…. and fatigued
I guess I’m entering my rom-com era 💅
Same👏🏽
I am wishing for the most wonderful meet-cute to be directly in your future! I am kinda in the same boat. I am partnered, but we were both raised in a cult and we have been dating other people as a way to experience life we never got the option to experience.
Last week, a lovely man showed my his plentiful chilli patch and then we kissed. It was rom com. So, so sweet.
I’m a simple girl, I see When Harry Met Sally, I click
I know these videos take so much more effort than it seems. You manage to be creative and well-articulated while including the context and background needed! I'm always frustrated at video essays that seem scrapped together and aren't thoughtfully produced. I'm always so impressed by you!!
All the points on writing... yes YES! To see Anyone But You, "pulling" from the hilariously witty Much Ado duo whose banter is *peak* screwball comedy, and giving us the bland Bea and Ben instead was rather disappointing. Their dialogue _should_ be funny, sharp, tense, teasing, sexy and a little sad because of their history together! Also, Beatrice in the play is written to have _many_ more "romcom heroine qualities" - being an *older* single woman, cynical in love yet cheerful and optimistic in life and having had a failed past relationship where she felt betrayed (by Benedick).
I didnt understand why in ABY Bea was described as the _younger_ sister of the Hero-equivalent Halle, while in Much Ado About Nothing, it was _significant_ to their characters that Beatrice is the elder of the two! She is the experienced one whose younger more innocent cousin, Hero, is experiencing love uncynically for the first time with a young guy who's come to their house!
Benedick and Beatrice also have the deep emotional character moments Broey talks about, together at the wedding of Hero, and Claudio, young friend of Benedick, where Claudio slanders Hero in public. Beatrice defends Hero's honour and gives a resonant speech about being a woman in this world, and Benedick is the only one to side with the women and listen to her. As they admit their feelings for each other in such a dark moment, she tells him to kill Claudio and he accepts, even though they're friends and he's spent the whole play arguing with her. He listens to her rage. Ultimately, underneath all that sparring, the two truly respect each other and there is a deep love.
ABY lacks that level of serious emotional climax because there is no real Hero/Claudio plot or indeed a functional replacement for that dramatic storyline. This again ties into Broey's point on Halley being underwritten af... and pretty much every side character in the movie.
Just to be clear, I'm happy ABY exists and made a lot of money, because maybe now Hollywood will spend the money to produce a well-written romantic comedy script. Meanwhile, the Kenneth Branagh 90s Shakespeare adaptation starring him and Emma Thompson as Benedick and Beatrice will be on repeat in my house. That and Philadelphia Story for proper chemistry via banter!
it's so much more disappointing when you find out this movie is based on Much Ado because of how much sharper and funnier and darker the play is. Totally agree and its especially sad cause Beatrice and Benedick have such good personalities that are so easily adaptable for a modern context.
7:16 Ok so Hannah sitting in a dark room about to cry caught me off guard lol. She is always so lively on the pod that seeing her sad was jarring!
Thank you so much for this video! I’ve been working on a script for a while based on Much Ado - the same Shakespeare play Anyone But You was based off of, except mine takes place in college Greek Life, with Bea being an activist morally opposed to the system. When the Sydney Sweeney movie came out and did so well financially, I almost quit mine, but feeling similarly about that script’s failings and having a deep love for rom coms pushed me to keep going with it. I just took multiple pages of notes on this video to help with my next draft so I wanted to say THANK YOU! The research and obvious thought and care you put into these videos means more than you may realize and definitely helped inspire me today!
Great video as always. I found myself nodding along continuously only to interject with loud exclamations of "Exactly!".
I feel like a better more recent romcom was actually Netflix's Set It Up. In that movie, we at least saw the leads connect and understood why they would end up liking each other by the end of it.
Unfortunately Anyone But You fell flat because there was no build up, no connection between the main two characters and it was hard to care about anything that happened to or around them.
Yes! I was wondering if anyone would mention it as an example of a good rom com with glen powell in it.
i know!! the two main characters had WAY more chemistry
Set It Up also really plays off Glen Powell's looks as the douchiest guy in the room, and uses it to their advantage.
YES the KITCHENS! the love story in you've got mail is rancid, but the vibessss. the neighborhood, the costuming, the side characters are so fun. its not as strong as harry met sally but its so charming. the environment reinforces the characters!
The picture you use for rehash is one of the most beautiful things I have seen
Ooh that 30s urgency was quite a trope
I love "Down with Love" with Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. This movie is so beautifully shot, It is set up like a theatrical play! Almost like a movie or sitcom from the 60s-90s. The colors used are simply gorgeous, Zellweger's costume is a lot of pinks and feminine frilly outfits, whereas McGregor's costume is blue and quite masculine. The fun quips and shenanigans throughout the movie is so hilarious, the movie just makes you enjoy simple tropes but with like fun plot twists. I haven't watched the movie in like 2 years, but I can confidently tell you YOU SHOULD WATCH IT!!! My favorite rom-com fr
This is such a good essay! really good points made.
A recent movie I liked, although not a RomCom more of a Teen Com, was Prom Pact, it does tick most of the points you've made in the video. There’s a good base of personality on the main characters, a good enough script, there's the "stake", and even a speech, yet it doesn't fall on a so obvious cliche by de end... oh and a great 80s soundtrack!
so I recommend it to anyone looking for a new fun movie
Just watched Anyone but You and I think I was just excited something like that existed but it was kinda vanilla. Great analysis. My favorite romcoms are the Proposal, Confessions of a Shopaholic and 50 First Dates
If When Harry Met Sally doesn't make you laugh cry, I don't trust you.
Fave romcom is usually dependent on why I’m seeking them out in the moment. The ones I go back to the most are probably notting hill (I basically watched that one and Greek Wedding on a loop in 2020; it just makes me less anxious for some reason) and wedding singer. It’s weird that wedding singer works for me because Sandler is the furthest thing from a “romantic lead” that I can think of, but I love the chemistry between Robbie and Julia. Because I like people singing to Drew Barrymore and I like Hugh Grant playing a washed up weirdo, I also like music and lyrics a lot.
There’s a lot of good favorites being mentioned in the comments here. It’s getting some attention but Plus One convinced me to go consume most everything Maya Erskine has done. I’m partial to the opposites attract kind of conflict in romcoms, and so think Set It Up (a better vehicle for G. Powell than ABY) and the Hating Game are pretty fun movies.
I also like what I can only call “British sensibility” romcoms and I return to those often. I’ve mentioned Notting Hill already, but Fever Pitch (starring Colin Firth not Jimmy Fallon) is great on that front. Same with Man Up (Simon Pegg and Lake Bell), and Imagine Me and You (Lena Headey).
And there’s the ones I watch just because I find everyone attractive in them. These aren’t great romcoms, but I can’t help but love them just because I love looking at the people in them. The Hating Game fits in this list as well as the ‘opposites attract’ list. Mentioned in the video is 27 Dresses, and I love that one. But in that list of movies where I’m just attracted to EVERYone is The Proposal; Definitely, Maybe; How to Lose A Guy; and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Common through lines of Ryan and Matthew are self evident.
Honorable mentions are the teen romcoms SexAppeal and The Half of It. I’m not sure they really count as romcoms due to their endings, but they hit a lot of the same beats. Each does something I won’t spoil with the “Big Romantic Gesture” that I really liked, and tries teach their protagonists a lesson about growth, hurt, and love in a way that was sweet without being contrived (or so I thought).
And lastly a more recent-ish one that really, really surprised me is Marry Me with Owen W and Jennifer L. It’s a very similar dynamic to Notting Hill, and I genuinely loved it. Highly recommend for something fun.
Whew.
I loved Plus One! It’s so underrated, but hopefully it being on Netflix will get it more attention.
This video helped me realize that quirkiness isn't meant to just make a character relatable and entertaining, but rather to allow us to witness the vulnerability that we can also relate to. The vulnerabilities that in turn leave us open to love and be loved despite our self perception that they are the road to loneliness. So a good writing of a quirk should ultimately tell us something that is integral to the protagonist growth as a person and self acceptance that leads to the openness that love requires.