Your favorite romantic comedy... or one you hate?

[Nyotarules]

Can watch more than once

The American President
Three Men and a Baby
Overboard (bub bub bub bub)
While you were sleeping
Boomerang
The Brothers
The Best man
Coming to America (sexual chocolate baby!)

Hate with a passion
Notting Hill (not one non white main character in a movie set in an extremely diverse area aka 'The Anglo Saxon version of London before the darkies arrived')
Any Woody Allen movie (see above)

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I like The American President, too.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I don't regard Groundhog Day as a romantic comedy, in part because the love in question -- which Phil realizes -- is more than romantic passion. But if we're listing it as a rom-com, then absolutely it is tops. I can't count Roman Holiday because I love anything Audrey Hepburn is in. Does Chasing Liberty count? It's one of those movies I like but which people aren't supposed to like, apparently. It always makes me wish I'd been able to just wander Europe's roads as a twenty-something.

 

[Timewalker]

I doubt it was that. It was probably because movies were more of an "outing" than a "distraction." Television was a rarity at least until the mid-late 1950's. People's entertainment came from the radio. So going to the cinema to see a movie was a big deal.

I remember it being an outing even in the '70s, and back in the days of a whopping two channels on TV with no way to record them, going to a movie was a big deal.

It's not just an attention-span issue. There's also the fact that, over time, audiences have become more familiar with certain story-telling tropes and conventions, so they require less exposition. Plus, as the cinematic vocabulary has evolved, movies have become less like filmed stage plays and more adept at conveying information visually rather than through expository dialogue.

Take vampires for instance. As late as the 1970s, vampire movies still felt obliged to contain a scene where somebody explained what a vampire was, what the rules were, that they could be destroyed by sunlight, etc.

Nowadays, modern audiences already know that stuff, so a quick shot of a character flashing fangs, or their skin sizzling when a sunbeam hits it, and we're good to go.

Personally, I love old b/w movies, but, yes, they were paced differently, and the problem isn't necessarily that modern audiences have shorter attention spans; it's that modern audiences are in some ways more pop-culturally savvy and that modern films are further removed from live theater and the stage.

The shorter attention spans are part of it, though. I read somewhere that the chariot race in Ben-Hur (which is utterly mesmerizing, even when it's the umpteenth time I've seen it and know what's going to happen) would never be filmed that way nowadays, and wouldn't be as long... because audiences would just tune it out.

The last time I saw a movie in a theatre was literally last century (Toy Story 2). And since I used to work in musical theatre and enjoy Shakespeare plays, that could be why I like some of the slower-paced movies.

 

[{ Emilia }]

The shorter attention spans are part of it, though. I read somewhere that the chariot race in Ben-Hur (which is utterly mesmerizing, even when it's the umpteenth time I've seen it and know what's going to happen) would never be filmed that way nowadays, and wouldn't be as long... because audiences would just tune it out.

Well, George Lucas did film it again. He called it a "pod race", it was utterly dull and not because of my attention span.

But in general I'd agree with you that attention spans play a role in this. Music video aesthetics have had a rather ambivalent influence on cinematography, too.

 

[dahj]

I read somewhere that the chariot race in Ben-Hur (which is utterly mesmerizing, even when it's the umpteenth time I've seen it and know what's going to happen) would never be filmed that way nowadays, and wouldn't be as long...

They did a Ben-Hur remake last year, so there's probably some people out there who know what it would look like if it was filmed today. Not many of them though...

 

[Timewalker]

Well, George Lucas did film it again. He called it a "pod race", it was utterly dull and not because of my attention span.

But in general I'd agree with you that attention spans play a role in this. Music video aesthetics have had a rather ambivalent influence on cinematography, too.

I never saw the prequel movies, at least not all the way through. They were just too boring and silly to hold my attention. I did finally watch The Force Awakens a few days ago, on Netflix.

I've noticed my own attention span suffering over the years, and I blame the internet for that. When it's so easy to flit from one forum to another, to a news site where I'm following half a dozen articles and conversations, to playing a quick couple of levels of one of my BFG games, to checking email, and my soap is on in 15 minutes... it's just become far too easy to allow distractions to get in the way of in-depth reading or watching.

Unless, of course, I'm binge-watching something on Netflix, or watching whole seasons of Bonanza on another site.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Does Attack of the Clones count as a romcom?

 

[MacLeod]

They did a Ben-Hur remake last year, so there's probably some people out there who know what it would look like if it was filmed today. Not many of them though...

We'll I'm not one of them, I have no interest in seeing a remake of Ben-Hur. If I want to watch Ben-Hur I'll pop my BR in of the 1959 version of film. It's still a classic film that holds up today as a story.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Does Attack of the Clones count as a romcom?

If it does, it's a really, really bad one.

 

[MadeIndescribable]

Does Attack of the Clones count as a romcom?

Clones is to Rom-Com as Plan 9 is to SciFi-Com?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Clones is to Rom-Com as Plan 9 is to SciFi-Com?

I was thinking more along the lines of:
AOTC:SW::"Spock's Brain":ST


No, seriously, AOTC is not really a romcom, of course. However, although it as some intentional humor, it has some unintentionally funny moments as well where it just completely falls apart. I was just being silly. Back to the topic!

 

[Nyotarules]

We'll I'm not one of them, I have no interest in seeing a remake of Ben-Hur. If I want to watch Ben-Hur I'll pop my BR in of the 1959 version of film. It's still a classic film that holds up today as a story.

Which was a remake lol

 

[Hippocrates Noah]

Romantic Comedies aren't something I seek out but as a comedy fan I do enjoy them if they are funny enough. Roxanne with Steve Martin is probably my favorite. Also I've always liked that movie Just Friends, Ryan Reynolds is hilarious in that.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

I use to watch a lot of random VHS tapes that my dad would bring home and once in a while some rom-coms would find their way into my rotations. I haven't seen a LOT of rom-coms, but some standout ones that I wouldn't mind watching again if they appeared:

When Harry Met Sally
While You Were Sleeping
10 Things I Hate About You
Clueless

Clueless is considered a rom-com, right? I can't help it, but this movie is freaking cute.

Post-teenage me has seen movies like Zack and Miri and Knocked up and Wedding Crashers and other more modern romcoms, which are funny in their own way but definitely not movies that I need to see again. In college I saw Love, Actually for the first time and I liked it upon the first viewing, but somehow during the second viewing I realized that I really, really hated it. Somehow in the first round I failed to realize that I hated almost every character aside from Liam Neeson and Martin Freeman.

 

[MacLeod]

Which was a remake lol

Of a 1925 silent film, and of course there was a 1907 short which predated even that. .

 

[Jono]

Not that into rom coms, but I do enjoy a few. Forgetting Sarah Marshall is probably my favourite rom com. Wish the Dracula puppet musical was a real thing.

Also like 50 First Dates, Hitch, Yes Man, and Love, Actually. Got some special memories tied to that last one.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Anyone else a fan of They Came Together?

 

[Nyotarules]

Anyone else a fan of They Came Together?

sounds like a blue movie

 

[Balok's Decoy]

sounds like a blue movie

LOL the title is a double entendre, but the movie is fairly tame. It's a parody of romantic comedies. Stars Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd. Very funny.