The phrase Romantic Comedy, or Rom-Com, used to bug me. Let’s explore that.
There’s no denying that Romances and Comedies are, at large, successful genres. So one would think that combining the two would be an even bigger success. Right? The answer to that gets a mixed result. What begins as a simple question turns into a mix of results, feelings, and opinions. A simple yes never seems to suffice. “Yes, because…” or “No, because…” generally follow.
Romantic Comedy… is a subgenera of comedy and slice-of-life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount out obstacles. —Wikipedia entry
I used to say the phrase, “I hate it because it sucks.” Which is one of the biggest cop-outs one can possibly state. There was a period of time where I wondered why nobody wanted to talk about movies with me. And it was because of that cop-out answer. There’s just no room for someone else’s opinion in a conversation you or I just closed.
The Rom-Com subgenera has always felt foreign to me. Possibly to do with the screwball scenarios and just how lightly we’re taking the emotions of these two people’s lives. Plus, they always felt forced to me. None of it made sense and it just felt fatalistic. Like these two fictional people had no autonomy of their own. (I just came up with the storyline of Stranger Than Fiction (2006).
My brain was just plain determined not to like this kind of movie. Until Love, Simon (2018). This movie is, at its core, a Rom-Com. I didn’t want to like it. But I did in the end. But why?
The most obvious aspect was the fact that Simon is gay and he’s going after another guy. But it was more nuanced than that. The comedy was more restrained and felt more natural. It didn’t feel forced in the initial viewing. And it felt like each character had personal autonomy. So I guess it has to be LGBT for me watch?
But another reason this phrase used to be obnoxious was the contraction. “Rom-Com.” For some reason my brain just doesn’t like it. It rubs me the wrong way. And if you say it too many times, it loses all meaning. Which is probably what happened when my parents introduced me to movies such as Titanic (1997) at a young age.
Romantic Comedies are beginning to grow on me, as much as I don’t like to admit it. Though the catch is: it needs to be LGBT. With a sigh, I have to give Romantic Comedies four stars.