THE TOP TEN ROMANTIC COMEDIES

RELEASED IN OUR LIFETIME

 

10. MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING

At a time when I was graduating college, watching edgy indy movies, and altogether eschewing anything traditional or romantic, My Big Fat Greek Wedding came out.  It looked dumb, but then again I was kinda falling in love with a girl and that does some seriously messed up things to your tastes.  A not-long-enough time later we watched this movie on DVD and I was ready to maybe take a nap.  I ended up having a great time watching what I believe to be the best non-animated PG movie of this young millennium.  It’s a sweet and funny love story about a Greek girl and WASPy young man crossing cultural lines as they meet, date, fall in love, etc. It’s kinda like an odd-couple in-laws comedy  Sure, its a little cheesy, but the characters and actors are fantastic, especially John Corbett (did you know he also sings country music? It’s not terrible.) I really enjoy watching the Greek family, which I can only assume is filled with offensive stereotypes, but the thing is, I can’t help but relate those eccentric oddballs to people I know (also oddballs). So basically my thought is this: if you have a family or have ever had a family or even met someone once who had a family, you will probably enjoy this movie.  Here is the kicker: This movie made my cheeks hurt from laughing in some scenes, and they did it all while still achieving a PG rating.  No swearing. No sex scenes (one sensual one but it’s as mild as they come). But damn, that family is funny.  – LF

 

9. HIGH FIDELITY

Top 5 All time reasons I love High Fidelity: Number Five is Nick Hornby’s story.  The book, with the story based in the UK, was fantastic, but adapting the story to Chicago gave it some liberty to integrate some great American elements.  The story, and wit behind it, give this movie a great vehicle.  Number 4 is Jack Black.  For me, this was my first exposure to Jack Black’s antics, and I loved it.  Sometimes he is too much for me, but in his role as Barry, he is a perfect comic foil for John Cusack’s Eeyore-like character.  He also delivers a fantastic rendition of Let’s get It On by Marvin Gaye, which leads me to Number 3: the soundtrack.  It is a diverse collection of well chosen music by Bob Dylan, Stereolab, The Kinks and many others.  I am always happy when a movie about music snobs brings a soundtrack to give it a little street cred.  Number 2 is the beautiful distraction of Lisa Bonet.  I don’t think that requires any explanation.  And this brings us to my Number 1 all time favorite thing about High Fidelity: It is a movie about emotionally stunted, music obsessed children in big boy bodies.  I can relate. – LF

 

8. GROUNDHOG DAY

Romantic comedies are the hardest to get right. You’re trying to do two things at once and they can very easily conflict. Only a few get it right and Groundhog Day is definitely one of them. First off, it’s actually funny. This is where most romantic comedies fail. Second off, it’s actually romantic. This is usually the second area romantic comedies have trouble with. The thing about Groundhog Day is that it really isn’t a romantic comedy at all. It’s a movie about everything ever, which happens to include romance. Women love it because it’s got that sweet Bill Murray eye candy and men love it because it’s the entire universe captured on film and displayed for us in 101 amazing minutes. It’s more than just a movie about how we should live our lives. It’s a movie about how we should live our lives if we had to live the same day over and over again without end. And that’s beautiful. – DT

 

7. THE PRINCESS BRIDE

The Princess Bride is a brilliant romantic comedy because it’s barely a romantic comedy. In fact, the opening sequence of the film best explains its magnificence. The recently late and always great Peter Faulk visits his ill grandson, played by Fred Savage, and offers to read him a book to keep him entertained.  The ungrateful little wretch, preferring to play 16-bit baseball on his Commodore 64 rather than spend quality time with his elders, asks if it’s at least got any sports in it. His grandfather replies, “Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…”  There are two important things to note about this sentence. The first is that “true love,” the stuff around which sickening, sappy romantic comedies are constructed, is not even the second or third thing Columbo rattles off to Kevin Arnold here. It ranks way down at number nine on his list of parts that make this story wholly engrossing.
The second item of note here should really be all the great things contained within The Princess Bride that aren’t even mentioned in Grandpa’s list. There are also pirates, an albino, a sarcastic and snarky Sicilian, a six-fingered man, and not just any giant. A Rhyming Giant! Performing the aforementioned miracles is Miracle Max, whose wife is, in fact, not a witch. There is Inigo Montoya, a man who has spent his entire life rehearsing the same speech. There is also the introduction of the notion dueling to the pain, a fate far worse than death. Occasionally, there is some romance, but it’s often interrupted by a disgusted Fred Savage, who thankfully pushes the story back to something far more entertaining, like giant screaming eels.
The Princess Bride is perpetually silly and ridiculous, never taking itself too seriously like many romantic comedies. It is also, like every great film, eternally quotable. From Inigo’s very recognizable monologue to the clergyman to the Dread Pirate Roberts himself, there’s an appropriate line to spout for every occasion. It’s a modern, Mel Brooks-esque spin on the classic fairy tale convention that doesn’t place more emphasis on the Princess than necessary. Plus, it teaches everyone a very valuable lesson about life, namely to never get involved in a land war in Asia. – KS

 

6. CHASING AMY

“Chasing Amy” is not a romantic comedy. It is the anti-rom-com. It involves sex, lies, relationships and the complicated dynamics that involve all three but very little of this movie allows itself to be romantic. And that is awesome. The world has almost no romance, and what little romance exists is fleeting at best. And while this movie does have those moments, it also deals with the unseen parts of relationships like fighting, bitterness, contempt, aggression and a need to be dominant. This movie is a romantic comedy as seen from a logical and clear-headed vantage point. It is the most ‘for the guys’ romantic comedy I have ever seen, although if that was the tag on the poster I would vomit. The bottom line with “Chasing Amy” is that if you think romantic comedies suck, you’ll love it. If you think they’re great, you’re an asshole. – JRN

 

5. KNOCKED UP

It’s been called misogynistic, overlong, and unrealistic. Well you know what? So is life, folks. “Knocked Up”, the most balanced, and therefore best, thing to come out of the Apatow factory, so rarely rings a false note that when something in it doesn’t work exactly, like a couple of scenes with a too-shrill Katherine Heigl, they stand out more, and then get bitched about because of it. But there is plenty here to make you barely mind those scenes, if even notice them at all, thanks to a perfect cast at the peak of their skills. The rest of the bitching comes from girls finally having to face that the losers in this movie are the same losers that fill their lives, and most of them wouldn’t have it any other way. And I get it. That’s a hard thing to face. At the same time, guys watched it and said “maybe I can do something else this weekend besides put a fish tank on my head and fill it with smoke. All of this thinking it forced you to do, and it’s still, far and away, the most laugh-out-loud comedy on this list. “Knocked Up” is what comedies, romantic or otherwise, had been building up to for the decade before it. – RH

 

4. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY

One of the greatest questions ever propositioned to the public was asked in this very movie- can two people of the opposite sex be just friends? Well, according to When Harry Met Sally- absofuckinglutely not. This mockumentary journey piece follows Harry and Sally through years of an on and off friendship. It explores how people relate to each other and how different those relations change when the status of their own differ.
Their real romance is shown in the building of their relationship. It is a classic love story because they got to know each other and fell in love without even knowing it. Screw Prince Charming with his white horse and castle, When Harry Met Sally made it ok to dig on your buddy, have drunk sex, wake up awkward, not see each other for awhile, and then have a perfect New Years kiss declaring your love for each other. Most notably, it made it ok to fake an orgasm in the middle of a packed restaurant just for kicks. Meg Ryan, I applaud you and your skill.  -MV

 

3. FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL

Forgetting Sarah Marshal was kind enough to introduce me to Russell Brand, who is practically his own genre of comedy. That dbag surprised me by being great in this film. I actually have the same relationship with the comedian Russell Brand as Jason Segel’s character Peter has with Russell’s character Aldous Snow in the movie. When I first saw him, I was like “who is this lithe self-satisfied wiener?” But as I got to know him, I kinda started to appreciate his non-judgmental self-confidence. Then I was like “hey, I kinda dig this lithe teased-up dbag!” So, now I would be totally OK with him fucking my ex using yoga.

The rest of the cast is totally solid, and the relationships between characters are more interesting and real than in your typical romantic comedy. Also unusual in this genre, you can see what the main girl sees in the main guy- his vulnerability and involvement in quirky independent musicals (those things are sexy to everyone, not just me, right?). Unfortunately, it succumbs to the other common flaw of the genre, lack of development of the female lead. Mila Kunis’s character is just some hot-yet-flavorless Hawaiian chick. But I guess if the female lead seemed like a real person, it wouldn’t be a romantic comedy. It would just be a comedy. – KA

 

2. THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN

So I fucking hate romantic comedies.  I hate the formulaic format, the predictable outcomes and the pandering feel good attitude they all seem to have.  I also realize that they’re not for me.  They appeal to the hopeless romantics and not to the average red-blooded American male.  This is why I fucking love the 40 Year Old Virgin.  It’s that rare piece of cinema, a comedy that appeals to me and all the fans of this sappy bullshit alike.  This is because the majority of the movie isn’t about love, it’s about the eternal struggle to get laid.  Love happens by accident.  This is way closer to real life than the bullshit that most rom coms try to spew on the audience.  I mean hell, Steve Carrell gets Catherine Keener’s phone number because he thinks she’s hot, not because she’s his soul mate or some bull shit like that.  Even after they start seeing each other he still tries to fuck Elizabeth Banks, and the moment that he’s with her and realizes he loves Keener, it’s almost a moment of grief like “Ah fuck, I’m in love so I can’t do this.”  Then he gets happy because of this new feeling.  I, much like many other men, can relate to the hesitation and grief that comes with accepting love into our lives and leaving the boundless existence of the single life behind.  Plus this movie has plenty of immature dude humor like that great “You know why you’re gay” scene that sadly can’t happen anymore now that movies have gotten all GLAAD-phobic. – ASW

 

1. LOVE ACTUALLY

I am not a rom com kind of gal. I quickly lose interest in the bland personalities of the main characters preferring the comedic relief of their quirky sidekicks. With “Love Actually” the sheer size of the cast and multiple interconnected plots relegate everyone to a side character with just enough screen time to be entertaining and fresh, before getting stale and whiny. Seemingly every British actor working in 2003 wanted a piece of this Christmas-tinged mega ensemble, if you get bored with one couple’s storyline you can easily focus on another. The romance between the body doubles awkwardly getting to know each other while blocking sex scenes of a film-in-progress are particularly hilarious and annoyance free. Admittedly the best gag of the whole flick is casting prostitute-aficionado Hugh Grant as England’s Prime Minister. I can’t tell if he’s playing the lecherous politician trying to get his dick wet with the staffer ironically or not but it certainly adds an extra layer of hilarity for the viewer. And what’s cuter than little kids crushing on each other? British kids professing puppy love in those accents that make them sound smarter than all of us. Colin Firth is dashing as always, Keira Knightly does a good job of being pretty so someone can pine after her and I’m pretty sure there’s a hobbit in there somewhere too. What I really like about this “Love Actually” are the real and bittersweet moments that keep the schmaltz to a minimum. Not everyone finds their soul mate and not every story has a happy ending but if you’re lucky you can spend Christmas getting drunk and watching porn with an aging rock star.-AS