this is what i do

[elapses]

This would be what motivated me to make a LJ post: please name your top 10 romantic comedies, friends. Define "romantic comedy" however you see fit. (That sentence makes it sound like I want you to go indie or weird -- I don't, I just want to know your favorites. If your favorites are "You've Got Mail" and "Love Actually", that's what you should

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[disco_vendetta]

French Kiss, Les Grand Chaleurs aka Heat Wave, Love Actually, Tangled, The Proposal, Chocolat, Bend It Like Beckham, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, 10 Things I Hate About You, Bridget Jones's Diary

(What's Your Number missed out on the top ten by THAT MUCH before I remembered Bridget Jones, but it's not actually one of my favorite MOVIES, it will just always have a special place in my heart because of the time I live-tweeted it to torigates for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON except Chris Evans.) For me a romcom has very, very specific feel to it in that what makes me love it is both the main relationship(s) and how much I laugh when I watch it - like, it can have other things going for it, but it absolutely has to induce this REALLY precise feeling of giddiness every time I watch it (another sticking point: it has to feel this way consistently). So like, Practical Magic is one of my favorite movies, and it's a great romance and it has some funny parts, but it's too atmospheric and has too much else going on for me to consider it a romcom. Whereas The

[disco_vendetta]

OH, SHOOT, I FORGOT ABOUT PENELOPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to swap out Penelope for The Proposal because I've only seen it 1.5 times, which ISN'T ENOUGH TO QUALIFY, I'M DECIDING. YOU CAME REAL CLOSE, THE PROPOSAL, BUNCH YOU DON'T HAVE JAMES MCAVOY KISSES, SORRY.

[elapses]

Which is I guess another rule, a romcom has to have an element of frivolousness to it, I have to be able to turn it off at any time and get on with my day without feeling emotional, even if I want to keep watching I don't NEED to keep watching, you know?
THIS IS SCIENCE, THOUGH!! Like romcoms really are specifically designed for the idle cable viewer (which is funny to say because romcoms came before cable, BUT YOU KNOW) -- you can always get sucked into them if you have the time to kill, but if you don't find out how it ends you're still fine (either because you can guess or because you've already seen it a hundred times).

[goldenmelisande]

When Harry Met Sally, Love Actually, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Desperately Seeking Susan (idk if this even counts as a romcom.... there's romance! it's comedic!), The Proposal, You've Got Mail, Bringing Up Baby, 13 Going on 30, Clueless, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (in some ways I'm on the fence about this one but I also find it REALLY feelingsy every time I watch it, so).

I am DEFINITELY leaving things out bc if there's one thing I know how to fuck up it's a list, I always forget everything, but I think this is decently on track...? Obviously it's not in order. I've only seen While You Were Sleeping once so I didn't put it on the list, same with 10 Things I Hate About You. Also I don't know if Sleepless in Seattle counts as a romcom, is it actually a comedy??? If so it takes the place of one of those, probably Bringing Up Baby or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

[elapses]

Your list is v similar to mine?? You can probably pick off where it differs, even?? YOU'RE STEALING MY THUNDER, CATHERINE. And I totally count Sleepless in Seattle.

[goldenmelisande]

Is this really a surprise.... What is your list???

[elapses]

Lol n, not at all. You + I are literally the only people who would ever notice any discrepancies between your taste in things and my taste in things.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT MY LIST WAS, BC I WAS WORKING ON IT ON MY LAPTOP AND THIS IS MY WORK COMPUTER, and also I wasn't done, but it definitely included When Harry Met Sally, Love Actually, 13 Going On 30, Clueless, and Sleepless in Seattle. I was having trouble with my Grant/Hepburn trio -- all technically romcoms, all my favorite forever, cannot technically functionally count them as the same movie to make my life better or easier. Miss Congeniality, which was kind of my first romcom. And there were a couple of others I had down that I can't think of right now because they're not on your list in front of me.

[myr_soleil]

Is it just me or post-2005 the romcom world has been pretty bleak?

10 (tie). 50 First Dates / Bridget Jones' Diary
9. The Proposal
8. Groundhog Day
7. Notting Hill
6. You've Got Mail
5. When Harry Met Sally
4. Just Like Heaven
3. 13 Going On 30
2. 10 things I hate about you
1. Love, Actually

I care about the top 5 way way more than the bottom 5.

Other movies I love that some people might consider romcoms:
Eternal Sunshine
Pride and Prejudice (2005) (top 5 of all time! OF ALL TIME!)
(500) Days of Summer
Amélie
The Devil Wears Prada
L'auberge espagnole / Les poupées russes

[elapses]

IT HAS BEEN! I don't know what happened! Maybe part of it is that Judd Apatow films started cutting into the market?? Or that their reputation for being bad became a self-fulfilling prophecy? They haven't done as well in recent years, which probably makes people less inclined to go see them, even though the reason they haven't done as well is because they're bad. There have been a couple of watchable/good ones, I think, though -- the Proposal obviously, Easy A, Crazy Stupid Love, 27 Dresses (...might have just been me), and I liked Just Go With It WAY more than I would have thought. And Definitely, Maybe, hahahahah. But most of those aren't... the same, for me. I list them in more of a "well, this was above-recent-romcom-average and fun to watch!" way than a "this belongs in romcom canon!" way. But maybe it's just that we were younger before 2005, and we've forgotten all the crappy romcoms that came out around the really good ones

[myr_soleil]

To be honest, I've also pretty much stopped watching movies in general since 2005 - year where TV took over my life - so I have missed a bunch. Haven't watched Crazy Stupid Love, nor Just Go With It, nor any Judd Apatow movies, and films like Easy A, The Proposal and Definitely, Maybe I watched alone on Netflix instead of with lady friends, which is the BEST way to enjoy romcoms, obviously, so maybe that lessened my appreciation of them

[elapses]

Honestly movies just aren't as satisfying!!! I was kind of on a vague romcoms-I-haven't-seen binge last weekend, and it just wasn't as much fun as the Downton Abbey marathon it was replacing. I kept getting bored and turning them off.

It was Ghosts of Girlfriends past! I'm REALLY into that trope (people being shown or having their present/future lives explained to them...? How do you phrase that?) and obviously Jennifer Garner, and I loved that they were using the same actress from 13 Going On 30 to play young Jennifer Garner, so I was super excited in spite of McConaghey. I should not have been.

NO I DIDN'T!!! That makes me want to read it. It wasn't so much that she remembered him, it was the way that they delivered it. If that makes sense. MARK RUFFALO IS SO WONDERFUL, though, perfect romcom leading man. But yes!! It's such a great trope. And I do think it's well-executed in Just Like Heaven.

[spunspider]

boooo, i don't have anything new to contribute (except cadet kelly, so maybe i do win). i don't think i even have ten, i just have 10 things i hate about you, penelope, easy a, oh wait does aladdin count? I THINK ALADDIN COUNTS. and silver linings playbook! i sortof feel like putting atonement as a romtrag (why isn't that a term?) but i feel like i'd get slapped for making that joke. also for a long time, ice princess was in this list, i don't know why. i know that movie better than anyone has any reason to.

i can contribute a bollywood romcom though! yeh jawaani hai deewani. it is a PERFECT romcom, i spent about 8 months of this year obsessed with it, both before and after i saw it. also i'm really into the lead actors' irl history, i will elaborate if you're interested but basically: perfect romcom.

[elapses]

I HATE ICE PRINCESS ON PRINCIPLE, idk if we can be friends anymore.

Silver Linings Playbook! It's funny because I never would have thought of that as a romcom, but it... totally is. ALSO YES PLEASE TELL ME ALL ABOUT YOUR BOLLYWOOD ROMCOM/THE ACTORS' HISTORY. Like obviously I asked this question for science reasons/to confirm my friends have generally better opinions than ~the internet at large~, but it's also great for backdoor recommendations.

[spunspider]

WAIT WHAT PRINCIPLE IS THAT. it's weird, me and that movie, i saw it on a plane the first time and was like, "eh". and then i randomly rewatched it a few months later and it became a constant rewatch thing? i think i just liked that it was so contained that i could know every part of it? and it has JOAN CUSACK, and michelle trachtenberg, and hayden patt's big ball face before it lost its ball. :\

you know what, silver linings came out and all i knew about it was OSCAR NOMINATION. and then i heard it described somewhere as a romcom, and i was like, it's a..... romcom? it just never occurs to anyone bc what kinda romcom deals with mental illness.

OKAY, my bollywood romcom is so precious, and it resonates with me for so many reasons, and a huge one is that i overidentify with both leads? like, the guy's thing is WANDERLUST, and the girl is the shy bookish girl who has never done anything and doesn't find it easy to be around people and on impulse decides to go on this trek to the mountains, and the guy's there, and they were old

[elapses]

Lame I-used-to-be-a-figure-skater principle. I've never seen it, I was just ~super offended~ that the premise was "she's really good at math, which makes her capable of all this without years of practice!" The fact that I liked a lot of people in the cast only served to offend me more????

Well, and people expect romcoms to be bad and kitschy, not to be taken seriously. The mental illness thing definitely plays into that, and the fact that the original novel was written by a man probably helps too.

THE MOVIE SOUNDS PRETTY DARLING AND I'M DEF GONNA WATCH IT, but o m G that lead actor backstory is the stuff of great feelings. LIKE. Just. "Overly comfortable with an edge", is there anything better???

[elapses]

Ever After and Enchanted!! Shocked that you're the first to mention those, they're both so excellent.

[kindness_says]

I'M SORRY FOR ALL THE COMMENTS I'M REALLY ENJOYING THIS POST A LOT A LOT A LOT

I went through my dvds yesterday but that + reading these comments I'm all HOW WILLL I EVER CHOOSE/REMEMBER ALL OF THE ONES THAT SHOULD BE IN THE RUNNING????