The RomCom Is Making a Comeback for All the Right Reasons
Romantic Comedies get a bad rap. It's never been the most progressive genrehow many times have we watched a hero save the damsel, or a high-powered executive flirt with his secretary? And the odds are stacked against the rom-com box-office grosses are down audiences are increasingly wrestling with traditional gender dynamics and there's a persistent belief in Hollywood that women, the genre's target demo, will enthusiastically go see superhero movies, but men have to be dragged kicking and screaming to romantic comedies. And yet, slowly but surely, the rom-com is making a comeback. And the film industry is starting to get it right. A few of this summer's most enjoyable moviesthe Nick Hornby adaptation Juliet, Naked the box-office smash Crazy Rich Asians and the sleeper Netflix hit Set It Upattempt to resolve the tension between what we emotionally need and what we intellectually know is best. All three movies refocus on what women wantbeyond a manand celebrate equal partnerships. Rom-Coms are typically the playground of 20-somethings, but Juliet, Naked doesn't shy away from the problems that come with growing up. Ethan Hawke's aging musician Tucker Crowe is a mess, juggling a handful of exes and even more children. Crowe's haplessness might have been charming in his 20s, but at this stage, his love interest Annie Rose Byrne is contemplating having a baby on her own and is wary of getting mixed up with a man-child. There's a reason we're addicted to these toxic clichs. Who wouldn't want a boyfriend willing to run after them through an airport, especially in an era when people can find another potential partner with just one swipe?, But movies like Set It Up should remind writers that a better formula exists. The best romances, modeled on Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice, empower women two equals argue with each other until they overcome their respective egos and fall in love. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn built careers on this model, and nobody ever doubted Hepburn's power. Great films like His Girl Friday and When Harry Met Sally share this DNA. The couple's bickering serves as necessary tension to move the plot forward, and the heroines are considered attractive because of their opinionsnot despite them. That is a worthy idea, even if the execution isn't always perfect. But then again, no one ever said love was easy.