What's your favorite romantic comedy?
Well, I had a different question prepared for today, but I'm hyper busy, so I had to abandon that incomplete post so I could take on a Question that was almost complete. I'm increasingly unsure that I'll be able to complete my goal of 2 years worth of weekly Questions, but at least this is a question worth answering...
So I'll just give it to you straight: it's a three-way tie between The Princess Bride, Splash, and When Harry Met Sally. It's funny, as they're the same films I offhandedly named as my three favorites in 2011.
They're three very different films and the only things they have in common are that they're from the '80's, they have great casts and that the leads have exceptional chemistry. Oh, also - they're all wonderful entries in the genre.
Princess has lots of action, broken up by surprisingly self-aware dialogue. Splash shares some of tPB's fantasy elements, but with far fewer action scenes, and the leads spend a great deal more time together. WHMS is, of course, a vastly more realistic picture that depicts two people who begin their acquaintanceship as utter opposites before they become friends - and, eventually, lovers.
Although I've only reviewed Splash thus far, each of these films is a treasure to me.
I'll name three of my own faves in this category; You've Got Mail(which I consider to be the best out of the three Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romcoms-Sleepless in Seattle is a tad overrated in my opinion), Bridget Jones' Diary and Clueless. All these happen to have a Jane Austen theme,which I'm a sucker for:)
ReplyDeleteI do like the ones you mentioned,Thaddeus-Splash was a fun film that I think many people have forgotten these days.
Those are three perfectly-good romantic comedies, although I would strongly favor Sleepless over Mail - if for nothing else than not being an AOL ad...
DeleteHonestly, Splash holds up so well that it's mindblowing. Of your own pics, I strongly favor Clueless, although I liked Bridget Jones too. I didn't know, however, that all of them tie back to Austen. That's really cool, and I'll look back at each of those with that in mind...
Clueless is a modern day version of Austen's Emma(writer/director Amy Heckerling planned it that way) and both YGM and BJD have Pride and Prejudice tie-ins. BJD has a leg up with Colin Firth as Mark Darcy,due to his role as Mr. Darcy in the 1995 miniseries and Bridget's mother being played by the same actress who played the mother of the Dashwood girls in Sense and Sensibility released in that same year. The Jane Austen connection game is just as tricky as the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon deal!
DeleteOh, cool! I think I remember that about Clueless, and I knew about Firth's reputation as the uber-Darcy, but I'm surprised at YGM's connection. Thank you so much!
DeleteI would also consider those three to be among my favorites. However, I'll take a different position from you one whether Splash holds up. I was all excited to show my wife Splash a couple years ago -- she was anti-Tom Hanks in her punk rock teen years, but had loved Big when I showed it to her -- but the viewing was sort of an anti-climax. Seeing it for the first time through her eyes, I felt it suffered a little bit. I still have a soft spot for it, of course, but it's no longer on the pedestal.
ReplyDeleteThe other two, however, are in my top 20 of all time. I give the edge to When Harry Met Sally, perhaps not as a movie, but at least as a romantic comedy, because I don't think RC is the primary genre for The Princess Bride. On the other hand, I think WHMS is the romantic comedy all others should be measured against ... that's of course because I grew up in the 1980s and not when movies like His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby were coming out.
Typos are a common internet affliction, and no one should apologize for it - especially not with auto-correct.
DeleteI saw Splash a handful of years ago and it was fine. I suspect maybe you have to be in an 80's friendly mood, but the script and acting were strong, and I couldn't fault the effects or direction.
Maybe I'm getting sentimental, but I think it's true.
Bringing Up Baby, Friday, and Philadelphia Story are titans in the field, although two of those are also slapstick. I could've mentioned that pair, but my probable comedic tangent would've gone on for a while...
Sorry, that was a poor use of "On the other hand." That's why proof reading is useful.
ReplyDelete