A reader writes:
I think the apparent lack of original rom-coms isn't actually a real lack thereof, but rather a "No true Scotsman" fallacy – i.e. anything that pushes the boundaries of romantic comedy is suddenly not allowed to be called a "rom-com" anymore. Romantic comedies aren't original because one of the unwritten definitions of romantic comedy is its adherence to formula. If you open up the idea to any comedy themed around romantic relationships, suddenly you're adding Sideways, Up in the Air, High Fidelity, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, last year's Young Adult, and a ton of other movies that would never be labeled by Hollywood marketing departments as "romantic comedies".
Another writes:
I want to thank you for posting the link to O'Hehir's review of Friends With Kids, if for no other reason than that I will never take him seriously as a film critic – and I haven't even seen Friends With Kids. First of all, Bridesmaids is not a romantic comedy. There's a romance, but it's a subplot. It's a buddy comedy. I don't like comparisons of Bridesmaids and The Hangover, but the former is no more of a romantic comedy than the latter.
Second, what does he mean that there is some Nora Ephron formula for romantic comedies?
The key difference between "classic" romantic comedies and those of today seems to be that characters do not have to be chaste. This has nothing to do with Ephron. Characters act that way in movies today because real human beings act that way today. "The banter is snappy and frank." And how is this different from dialogue in virtually every other form of entertainment?
The most basic element of the romantic comedy formula has never changed, and will never change. It's very, very simple: There has to be some obstacle that prevents them from getting together. He's a bank robber, she's a U.S. Marshal (Out of Sight). She's a rich and famous movie star, he's a schlub who owns a travel book shop in Notting Hill. Her father hates him. Their families hate each other. He can't commit. She can't commit. They like each other, but not quite enough to be madly in love.
That last one sounds like a formula for a wishy-washy, amorphous blob of a movie. But I've found myself in that situation more than once. That's a formula for romantic comedies today because that's how lots of people feel today. Wasn't that how Jerry and Elaine related to each other on Seinfeld?
(Also, for the record, Jennifer Westfeldt and Jon Hamm are not married. On their respective IMDB pages, they describe themselves as simply being in a relationship with the other. If you're going to write a review about a romantic comedy, it's probably a good idea to get the details of the relationships of the people involved with making it right.)
(Video: A subtitled final scene from Chasing Amy. The male-female romantic ending here.)
The Dish 