Filmbrain on the modern romantic comedy:
Decades ago, Hollywood made very good comedies that happened to have a bit of romance in them, but in recent years it has morphed into something utterly horrendous. Neither drama nor comedy, these films tend to fit somewhere in the syrupy middle. They fall into three categories:
- The ensemble rom com, usually containing at least two or three British actors (which, by international law, must include either Hugh Grant or Emma Thompson).
- The formulaic re-telling of the Cinderella story rom com. Most often contains at least one British actor, and, in an alarming trend, Jennifer Lopez.
- The [male actor] and Meg Ryan rom com.
None of the three show a shred of originality, and the laughs are generated by having a British actor say “fuckity fuck fuck“.