Romantic comedy film
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Romantic comedy films (sometimes shortened to "ro-co"s or "rom-com"s) are a sub-genre of comedy films as well as of romance films.
The basic plot of a romantic comedy is that two people meet, argue with each other, but despite an attraction obvious to the audience do not become romantically involved because of some internal factor (on the surface, they do not like each other) or an external barrier (one is romantically involved with another person, for instance). At some point, after various comic scenes, they are parted for some reason. One partner or the other then realizes that they are perfect for each other, and (often after some spectacular effort, sometimes termed the Grand Gesture, and/or incredible coincidence) they meet again, they declare undying love for each other, and disappear off into the sunset together.
Of course, there are innumerable variations on this basic plotline. It is not necessary that the two lead characters end up in each other's arms (e.g. My Best Friend's Wedding). The film may be a rumination on the impossibility of love, as in Annie Hall, considered by many the apogee of the genre[citation needed].
The basic format of a romantic comedy predates the cinema by centuries. For instance, many of William Shakespeare's plays, such as Much Ado About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night's Dream fall squarely within the bounds of the romantic comedy.
Romantic comedy films are sometimes pejoratively described as "chick flicks."
[edit] Meet cute
In the genre of romantic comedy film, a Meet Cute is the encounter of two potential romantic partners in unusual circumstances, a comic situation contrived by the filmmakers entirely in order to bring them together. Sometimes used as a verb, "to meet cute," or uncapitalized, "the meet cute," or hyphenated, "the meet-cute."
In many romantic comedies, the potential couple comprises polar opposites, two people of completely different temperaments, situations, social statuses, or all three (It Happened One Night), who would not have anything to do with each other under normal circumstances. The meet cute provides the opportunity.
In movies, the chemistry of the lead characters must be established quickly and firmly. The subject matter of romantic comedies are the obstacles that the potential pair must face before they can acknowledge, fulfill, or consummate their love, and the audience must care about the relationship enough to finish the movie. The meet-cute, by virtue of its unusual situation, helps to fix the potential relationship in the viewers' minds, and the spark of the meeting is the impetus by which initial vicissitudes of the developing relationship are overcome.
Certain movies are entirely driven by the meet-cute situation; circumstances throw the couple together for the span of the movie. However, movies in which the situation is the main feature, rather than the romance, are not considered "meet-cutes" (Some Like It Hot).
The use of the meet-cute is less marked in television series and novels, in which there is more time to establish and develop romantic relationships. In situation comedies, relationships are static and meet-cute is not necessary, though flashbacks may recall one (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mad About You) and lighter fare may require it.
Roger Ebert, a film critic, popularized the term in his reviews, and may have originated the term. The culture of the extremely compressed movie pitch meeting may have also contributed to its continuing usage.
While the device seems clichéd today, it may be a victim of the decline of rigid class consciousness in the U.S. since its heyday during the Great Depression. Screwball comedy, which made heavy use of these contrivances, also peaked during this period.
[edit] Examples
Canonical examples of meeting cute include:
- In My Man Godfrey ditzy socialite Irene (Carole Lombard), following her sister to a dump, chooses Godfrey (William Powell) to be her "forgotten man" for a charity scavenger hunt.
- It Happened One Night throws runaway heiress Ellie (Claudette Colbert) and world-weary ex-reporter Peter (Clark Gable) together in a dispute over the last seat on a bus.
- In Bringing Up Baby nervous paleontologist David (Cary Grant) finds that his golf ball and his car get inadvertently driven by strong-willed heiress Susan (Katharine Hepburn).
- In Closer Alice (Natalie Portman), an American stripper newly transplanted to London, and Dan (Jude Law), an English obits-writer, make eyes at each other as they pass on the street. Distracted, she is hit by a taxi and he takes her to hospital.
