Is the rom-com back?
I certainly hope so!
This Valentine’s Day, let’s talk about romantic comedies. It’s a film genre that doesn’t tend to get much respect. I don’t know why — the roots of the rom-com go deep. So many familiar rom-com tropes we know and love today were thought up by the bard himself, William Shakespeare. As far as storytelling goes, tales like these have been around for a while — and they’re so fun!
If you’re not familiar with rom-com tropes, here’s a few that pop up time and time again: Two people meet but they hate each other at first. A case of mistaken identity gets messy when two characters fall in love. A fake relationship turns real when two characters end up actually liking each other.
Formulaic storytelling, sure. But the best rom-coms deliver on-screen chemistry, clever dialogue, and smart tweaks on familiar plot lines. Rom-coms are silly and funny. And yes, the happy ending is predictable. That’s what makes them so great!
However, rom-coms tend to go out of fashion every few decades. It’s often due to a combination of shifting audience taste, box office performance, and studios responding to both. Let’s go back to an early rom-com that first set the genre ablaze in 1934.
It Happened One Night follows an unexpected romance between a spoiled socialite (Claudette Colbert) and a cynical reporter (Clark Gable) after they are forced to travel again. (Sound familiar?)
Apart from being the first screwball comedy, a sub-genre of rom-coms that parody traditional love stories, It Happened One Night was also the first to ever win the “Big Five” awards at the 1935 Oscars — Best Director, Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Screenplay. Studios took note of the smashing success, and screwball rom-coms persisted for about a decade or two before audiences got sick of seeing two goofs fall in love on screen.
By the late ’70s, critics started to say the rom-com was dead. (Sound familiar!?) The sexual revolution of the ‘60s was well behind viewers at this point, and audiences wanted something different. Then Annie Hall (1977) offered a satirical take on relationships, signalling a shift. No happily-ever-afters here. But it was walloped in the box office. That same year, the action-adventure flick Star Wars raked in US$307 million worldwide, far eclipsing Annie Hall’s US$38 million. Cue the stream of big-budget action movies that dominated throughout the ‘80s.
Then along came Polly — er, I mean, Nora Ephron. In the late ‘80s, audiences were due for another rom-com spree, and this Queen of romance was ready to deliver. Ephron wrote parts for women that were complicated and real, just like actual women.
Audiences loved her rom-com trio, all starring Meg Ryan: When Harry Met Sally…, Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail. The first grossed almost US$93 million at the box office, kicking off a huge rom-com revival that continued throughout the ‘90s and early 2000s, with stars like Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz in lead roles.
But guess what? By 2010, the genre was no longer pulling in big box office numbers. In 2012, new rom-coms made up just three per cent of the box office market share and they didn’t perform as well as ‘90s-era rom-coms. So studios pivoted — AGAIN — to superhero movies. And I can’t understate how hard they pivoted. Like, this is the beginning of The Avengers and all it’s spin-offs. How could a tiny rom-com compete with that?
However, if any of this is ringing a bell, it’s because it’s happening again. But this time the pendulum is swinging the other way. Superhero fatigue is hitting audiences. Madame Web? No, thank you. Eternals? No. The Marvels? Almost certainly never.
Now, experts are predicting that rom-coms will enjoy yet another revival, if the success of 2023’s Anyone But You is any indication. (It’s a retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing — no, really!)
And the reason why I know all this is because I just wrote about the evolution of romantic comedies over history for Canadian Business.
The story behind the story
I actually first pitched this story at the end of January 2023. With Valentine’s Day approaching, I thought it would be a great fit for CB’s newsletter, The Evolution, which explores buzzy topics like the Super Bowl and Fast Fashion. As far as pitches go, it’s pretty short, but I had a working relationship with the editor and I was already familiar with the outline of the newsletter because I fact-checked it often.
It’s always wise to pitch a timely story tied to a date or holiday, but I was too late. The editors had a different story planned about the evolution of Valentine’s Day as a holiday. So I filed the story idea away for this year, and learned a lesson — it’s better to be too early than too late. This November, I re-pitched the story and it landed, with lots of time to spare until Valentine’s Day. Yay!
How do you feel about the rom-com? If you’re a lover, what’s your favourite? Or, if the genre is not for you, may I suggest Bones and All, or perhaps, Blue Valentine? Both are heavy on the rom and light on the com.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Until next time,
Emily
I hope so too!