The Death of Rom-Coms.

The Golden Age

“The Death of Rom-Coms” is far from an exaggeration, here I will explain how Hollywood has lost touch with one of its most credible genres.

The years 1990-2012 is what I describe as being the “Golden Age” of Romcoms. A 22 year period where nothing less than quality was produced in the romantic comedy genre. This period birthed some of the best actors we have today, gave them the grounds to further their careers, produced the most memorable movies and inspired many movies today.  Romantic comedies were at its pinnacle point at this time. Over the 22 years 5 genres consistently battled each other when competing in the box office; action, comedy, dramas, thrillers and romance movies towered over the others.

In 1990 Romance was the fifth highest grossing genre at the box office earning $1.5B over the year. This was obviously beaten by Comedy (which included romcoms) and Dramas which accumulated over $2B that year. The year 1990 saw the release of the iconic Pretty Woman. 

In 2000 the genre slipped to 6th place after “Adventure” movies became increasingly popular. Movies such as Castaway( starring Tom Hanks), Gladiator (starring Russel Crowe) and The X-Men gifted our screens. Which were notable mentions so it isn’t a surprise that they surpassed the romantic genre at this time.

By 2004 romance and comedies were both in the top 3 genres of the year. Romance producing over $3.8B by the years end and comedy sitting at a solid $5.2B. 2004 was a brilliant year for the genre, seeing the release of 13 going on 30, 50 first dates, First Daughter, A Cinderella Story and Mean Girls

2010- 2012 was perhaps when the decline had started. The romance genre had dropped down to 8th place. A genre which once dominated the box office was now being beaten by Family movies. However, this wasn’t entirely a result of the movies being terrible instead a lack of production and public interest.

Royalty

The golden age gave room for many actors to start or develop their existing early careers. The world of the hopeless romantics gave us unlimited names to fall in love with, I can’t name them all so here’s a handful !

Julia Roberts biggest kickstarter was her award winning performance in Pretty woman. Cameron Diaz entered the scene in Theres something about Mary. Miss congeniality better known as Sandra Bullock graced our screens giving us memorable rom-com performances outside of mastering the “drama” genre. Jennifer Anniston may just have been the Barrie of Romcoms, perhaps every casting directors first go to. After already holding several seasons of friends under her belt she went on to star in Along came Polly, Rumour has it and Just go with it. Meg Ryan was Hollywood’s romantic sweetheart imprinting Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in society deep into our minds. Jennifer Lopez was a memorable face in the genre as she was one if not the only Latina actress dominating the field. She gave us Maid in Manhattan and The wedding planner. Katherine Heigl blessed us with 27 dresses amd The ugly Truth ( both are two of my favourites. After leaving a promising career in Greys she made sure to make it worth it.

It wouldn’t be a love story without the love interest, here are the men that were stealing hearts.

Mathew McConaughey was in fact America’s heartthrob, a southern voice with nice eyes. He starred in Failure to Launch, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Wedding Planner. Ryan Reynolds known for his authentic onscreen and offscreen personality gave us The proposal (my movie), Just Friends and Definitely, Maybe? When you hear “The Notebook” you should automatically picture a young Ryan Gosling. Richard Gere also takes the hat after dominating the genre during the 80s and 90s. Heath Ledger God rest his soul gave us the iconic 10 things I Hate About you. Many are sure that if he was still alive he would have been a memorable face in the romcom world. Hugh Grant fed into the America’s British fantasy, beloved by many he gifted us with love actually and Notting Hill. Mark Ruffalo is the final mention, the most distinctive male curls in Hollywood. Mark made himself known in 13 going on 30, Just Like Heaven and Rumour Has it.

I cannot leave this section of the piece without mentioning notable directors and producers. Rob Reiner, Jonathan Levine and unfortunately Woody Allen (Yes I know).

Life lessons

One reason why Romcoms were so popular other than aligning with the fantasy day that most young girls had in their minds were the life lessons. Yes every movie is a story and is meant to tell you something but there’s a richness that came from Romcoms.

The life lessons weren’t only in love but existed outside of it focusing on life in general. Movies like “Hes just not that into you” teaches you about self respect and self worth. That it’s okay to gamble with life because there aren’t any rules. 10 Things I Hate About You showed teenagers that they don’t have to play into the pressures of puberty and sex. Pretty woman taught everyone to never judge a book by its cover and to never settle if someone or the world doesn’t offer you 100%.

The 2010- Present Gamble

Earlier in this piece I mentioned the decline in interest from the public, which directly linked to the interest from producers in investing money into the production of romantic comedies. A normal occurrence in life is that as the years go by technology advances, so much so that streaming is now highest priority. The shift away from physical media resulted in our current situation where by movies are less likely to be placed in cinemas/theatres or DVDs made. This means that less people in general are buying cinema tickets or DVDs . As a result less money is being made and less profit for investors. At a certain point between 2010-2012 many producers began to see the process as a gamble.

In an interview last year on “First We Feast” Matt Damon revealed some touching information about the struggles he went through as a producer. He explained how many weren’t fussed about making all the money from cinema sales because “6 months later you would’ve had a whole other chunk”. He likened this structure to “reopening the movie almost”. Once that structure disappeared so did the appeal to producers which left them wanting to only take that risk with the most popular genres.

Although streaming has its benefits such as being accessible to almost everyone. Not to mention some being open platforms for writers to create originals. It’s a huge shame that some genres had to suffer at the hands of it.

Today

Anyone would believe that fewer numbers would equal to better quality as more time could be spent on today’s Romcoms but that isn’t the case. A lot of today’s Romcoms are thanks to the timeless wattpad era where young adults spent their teen years writing fanfics and new stories. In fact many of the Romcoms released by streaming services such Netflix are existing short stories. This I see as a pro, seeing the stories you’d read before bed about two lovers come to life is fun.

However, I believe that my issue is the execution. Quite a few recent Romcoms (no name dropping) come across as low budget even if they are not. I’ll admit that even I indulge in an IMDb rating of 4.1 on occasion but I’ve already prepped myself. What I’m noticing is that recent movies/ shows with larger budgets seem to be of poor quality. The scripts feel rushed, less developed and choppy. The casting choices are not accurate, instead of casting the best fits they’re casting the current favourite actor amongst young teens. Not to mention how the direction seems half hearted. Yes this is occurring outside of the romance genre too but this is where it seems most prominent.

If you haven't already watched these movies or a single romcom in general, then I'd suggest one of the following:

The Notebook 

Failure to Launch

He’s just not that into you

Maid in Manhattan

Definitely maybe

New Years Eve

The Ugly Truth

Clueless

10 Things I Hate About You

Pretty Woman

The Break-Up

Rumour Has It

Sweet Home Alabama

This Means war

Runaway Bride