Review by C.J. Bunce
A new book on the movies from Turner Classic Movies/TCM takes a different look at a genre that doesn’t get a lot of coverage: the romance-comedy/romantic comedy or “rom-com.” When you think of rom-com, what comes to mind? If you’re from the older audience of TCM’s TV viewers, that probably conjures Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night with Claudette Colbert and Clark Cable, or any of the Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy match-ups like Adam’s Rib. Or you might look a bit later at certified romance-comedy classics like the stylish fantasy Bell, Book, and Candle with Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart, or comedy master Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford or the surprise crowd-pleaser The Goodbye Girl with Marsha Mason and Richard Dreyfuss. Or if you’re from the younger generation, maybe rom-com means Say Anything, Groundhog Day, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Jerry Maguire, 10 Things I Hate About You, or The Lost City. If these are the movies that come to mind, you’re in luck, because writer Esther Zuckerman gives them all a mention in her new book arriving at bookstores today, TCM’s Falling in Love at the Movies: Rom-Coms from the Screwball Era to Today, available here at Amazon–the latest look at the movies from the TCM library of books from publisher Running Press.
When I encounter a new book on genres, I immediately begin to mentally build my list of what needs to be covered for the book to be a success. This time I was surprised that my list did not coincide with the selected featured movies in this book–in fact my list had very little in common. Zuckerman is from a different generation, which may account for some of the differences, and she leans on a love for New York movies, especially those from Nora Ephron, and readers won’t go more than a few pages without a mention of her favorite headliners Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Many rom-com classics also have not been released on video or streaming platforms, which makes an overview of an entire genre difficult to pull together.
The book is not arranged like your typical book on movies. Usually a table of contents shows you the 50 or so key titles that are covered, and they are divided into familiar areas of study–some books look at films by decade, others have clear delineations of key features of the genre. This book leans toward the latter, but it is primarily an ongoing narrative where Zuckerman attempts to connect her own hypotheses with films in the genre in an attempt to find something to link them all. It’s an ambitious effort, but I’m not sure it works. I’m not even sure all the movies Zuckerman views as prime examples of the rom-com are good examples at all.
Every reader brings their own backgrounds and preferences to books about cinema. My take on the rom-com is it can only be successful if it has a good romance between the leads and it must be actually funny. Many of the selections in the book seem to me to be either romances that don’t offer much in the humor department or they are comedies with only romance as a tangent. Others I probably wouldn’t include at all, like You’ve Got Mail, an example that to me is not a very good romance, and it’s too serious to be funny, similar to Sleepless in Seattle. In the days of Blockbuster Video stores, these would have been filed on the drama or romance shelves, far from the comedy shelves. You’ve Got Mail is a movie Zuckerman says she watched when she was young, and it had personal ties to her neighborhood, so I understand how and why she embraces it. As with anything, preferences are in “the eye of the beholder.” But is it a good example of a rom-com?
Several movies discussed leave me wondering whether they qualify at all, like Pretty Woman. Zuckerman tries to connect this back to the gut-busting Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs send-up and comedy classic Ball of Fire starring Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper. The historical tie makes some sense, but Pretty Woman seems to be something else entirely. A mere star vehicle for Julia Roberts and Richard Gere? Is it that great an example of a comedy? If it’s a romance, it’s a rather creepy romance. The end result is the author ties in so many films like this that she doesn’t spend all the time she could have on some great rom-coms.
The garden variety romance-comedy movies I think most moviegoers–young and old–would expect to include on their own Top 50 rom-coms list are probably in this book. But if you look at the index you see that the most attention goes to discussions of Ephron, Hanks, Ryan, and their movies. That said I was happy to see Splash and Big get coverage, including the assertion that the romance in Big is a little jarring–after all technically there’s sex between an (unknowing) adult woman and a little boy (in a man’s body). But Splash should meet anyone’s criteria for the genre, plus, like many of the best rom-coms, it’s a genre-bender, a movie you’d also find in the fantasy section. But what about other Hanks movies like The Money Pit? The Man with One Red Shoe? Or Turner & Hooch? These movies have a much better bead on the pulse of the human condition and relationships than the Ryan-Hanks movies, and the humor is top notch.
Too much of the focus of the book is on trying to name directors that somehow own or define the genre, when the best movies come from directors who were more universal in the breadth of their craft. So many movies are missing from this list, and other films are here that may not pass your own muster. Is The Apartment a rom-com to you, or is it more comedy (or drama) than romance? Is Annie Hall even a romance? Before you subvert tropes, shouldn’t you get to what fits in the trope? I’d love the section on Bad Romance to have a fuller discussion of what makes a great rom-com. Yes, The Graduate fits this category well. But why is Broadcast News even mentioned in the category? If you’re talking Albert Brooks rom-com, why not rave about the Brooks/Meryl Streep match-up in Defending Your Life–a fantastic rom-com?
You Can’t Take It With You, Cactus Flower, Arthur, the perfect Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh take on the original rom-com: Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, 50 First Dates, and Jerry Maguire–all get a mention but not as much as they deserve. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Clueless, Bringing Up Baby, Some Like it Hot, Groundhog Day, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Say Anything–all get better coverage. Movies omitted are simply missed opportunities, like the classic Arsenic and Old Lace with Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane, the brilliant Goldie Hawn/Steve Martin rom-com Housesitter, or the favorite 1970s rom-com duo Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase in both Foul Play and Seems Like Old Times. If you’re looking for non-traditional rom-coms, how about the match-up of Queen Latifah and Eugene Levy in Bringing Down the House? I’d be surprised anyone’s top 10 rom-com list of the 1980s doesn’t include Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone. Even bigger misses are the exclusion of what may be the greatest, most celebrated rom-com duo ever–Myrna Loy and William Powell–in The Thin Man movie series (another genre-bender), and Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray in The Egg and I movie series.
Can you talk about Meg Ryan rom-coms but miss the sweet and funny pairing of her and Tim Robbins in I.Q.? Or mention Melanie Griffith in Working Girl but miss the similarly sweet and funny rom-com pairing of Griffith with Ed Harris in Milk Money (also a much better take on the relationship at the heart of Pretty Woman)? Or mention Zooey Deschanel in 500 Days of Summer but forget the timeless duo she creates with Will Ferrell in Elf? How does a book on rom-coms mention Rob Reiner’s When Harry Met Sally (a good comedy but with leads with no chemistry), and pass over Reiner’s The Princess Bride altogether? Is there a more beloved romance full of laughs than that film?
Fortunately, like all the books in the TCM library, Falling in Love at the Movies will prompt you to think about your own favorites, and possibly find some movies in the genre you hadn’t heard of, or be reminded of some old favorites to revisit again. Maybe your list coincides with Zuckerman’s, or maybe it doesn’t. Either way, if rom-coms are your genre, you’ll want to investigate and compare notes in Falling in Love at the Movies, arriving in bookstores today and available now here at Amazon.
Don’t miss the other volumes from TCM’s film library reviewed here at borg, covering a wide range of topics across film history and genres: 52 Must-See Movies That Matter, 52 More Must-See Movies That Matter, Must-See Sci-Fi, Dynamic Dames, Forbidden Hollywood, Viva Hollywood, Fright Favorites, Summer Movies: 30 Sun-Drenched Classics, TCM’s Hollywood Victory, TCM’s Danger on the Silver Screen, TCM’s Rock on Film, TCM’s Essential Directors, TCM’s Christmas at the Movies, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, TCM’s 50 Oscar Nights, But Have You Read the Book?, Eddie Muller’s Noir Bar, Lena Horne: Goddess Reclaimed, Double Indemnity and the Rise of Film Noir, Forbidden Cocktails, Hollywood Pride, and TCM’s 20th Century Fox: Darryl F. Zanuck and the Creation of the Modern Film Studio.
