The Rom Com Dilemma

They meet and they fall in love...

Ok, let's talk film. If you live in reality which I think most of you do, you will know that there is no such thing as finding the "perfect" Boyfriend or Girlfriend. Relationships between a man and a woman are based on best friendship and physical attraction. I think that is indisputable. I am sure Dr. Phil will agree on that basic concept. YET, Infatuation is concept that drives feature film, such as Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story. Those were just the beginning.

Well in the LA Times review of The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants 2. And thank God the title stops there, I am sure it could have gone on forever. Well the reviewer here says this

In the current popular culture, female friendships -- at any age -- are generally considered secondary to life's "important" relationships, the romantic bonds between men and women.

Nowhere is this depressing trend more evident than in Hollywood, where story lines putatively about women's friendships tend toward the saccharine ("Mona Lisa Smile"), the malicious ("Mean Girls") or the boy-crazy (take your pick).

Which is why it's such a pleasure (and a relief) to encounter movies such as "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2." Like the first "Pants" movie, it presents its heroines' relationships as complicated, challenging and particularly rewarding, and not simply as a vehicle for finding the perfect boyfriend.

This is obviously painfully true for a lot romantic movies. It's all about finding the perfect girl or guy. Where is the reality in Hollywood regarding real relationships? Don't make me pull the SATC card! I haven't seen it and I probably never will but at least you have to give that film KUDOS for delivering reality in male/female relationships. Well it's Hollywood. So, you have you remember that there is a formula to all of this.

A man meets woman in some sort of High Concept matter. Old writers called it a "meet Cute". If you saw Nancy Meyer's The Holiday, you know that term. Then, there is a problem, maybe and most likely the man or woman has lied or pretended to be something they are not, got into a situation they should not have, and herin the comedy ensues. Then, in the third act, the truth comes out and someone gets hurt. Then they realize that this person is the ONE and they fall in love finally at the dramatic end.

Some are really remarkable

If you saw 27 Dresses this year, I did cause I like James Mardsen, and it was the MOST formulatic Rom Com EVER! It was actually so formulatic, it should have been painted by numbers. My Best Friends Wedding, What Happens in Vegas, and the list goes on. I know! What's the problem. Where are the real films that challenge our way of thinking an living. Films are supposed to do that. Films can and do challenge us, they can save our lives if we let them and if we watch the right ones.

Well I may be babbling now and pleading toward a formula that will never be broken. It would be easy to say that Hollywood makes these films for people with short attention spans. However I do not think so. I give the film fans out there FAR more credit than that. I think Hollywood thinks its safe. Hollywood likes safe. The Rom Com formula is very safe. How do they keep selling the same formula and why does the same formula keep looking semi appealing? I am glad you asked. They just interchange the actors. They try to get chemistry out of thin air.

Do you wanna see real chemistry film fans! Rent Before Sunrise. It has two of the most non mainstream attractive people, Ethan Hawk and Julie Delpy and it WORKS. It is chemistry perfection and it is a very very effective romantic film, because it is real. Hollywood knows that chemistry between two actors is what makes the formula effective. So the next question is, can we have a film that adapts to the chemistry or lack of chemistry between two good actors. If you have seen Frankie and Jonnie, you will know they tailored chemistry around Al Pachino and Michelle Pheiffer, and it worked.

I think, and I have said this before, we as an audience are hungry for real stories and not just the generic formula. I think we want to be emotionally challenged while watching a film. Heck, I know a dozen girls that broke up with their boyfriends after watching Jerry Maquire. So you can't say that film doesn't affect life. It does. And it isn't a shortage of female writers. Last year 2007 we saw the most nominations for female screenwriters: Diablo Cody for Juno, Tamara Jenkins for The Savages, and Nancy Oliver for Lars and the Real Girl, and Sarah Polley for Away From Her. Put that in your blog and smoke it! The talent and demand is out there. What is stopping us? You guessed it, Hollywood studio execs that went for What Happens in Vegas and originally passed on Juno. Execs will always be the thorn in the side of Hollwyood. Until tomorrow, let's talk film!