Romantic Comedies, we love to hate them and hate to love them. Girl meets boy. They fall in love. Shenanigans ensue. We laugh. We cry. We get the happy ending we desperately need. We firmly believe that you love what you love. We rejoice seeing our customers unapologetically geek out over whatever book or movie genre suits their fancy. Rom coms are no exception. Who doesn’t want to see Hugh Grant charmingly stumble his way through professing his love for some every girl? Why do these films get so much heat? Let’s discuss.

rom coms

In all honesty, we get why rom coms aren’t looked at as the pinnacle of cinema story telling. They tend to follow the same formula. Especially in recent years. Girl meets boy (or girl-type meets boy-type). She’s a career minded, independent woman and he’s so charming and care free and blah blah blah. Boy and girl form some kind of relationship where they challenge each other to become better versions of themselves. They form this partnership while working towards some common (or opposing) goal. Boy messes up, but really it’s more of a misunderstanding. Girl learns that maybe she messed up a bit too. Soon the boy makes some kind of grand gesture where he says “I love you” first. He always says it first and this bit may take place at a wedding. Girl forgives boy and they live happily ever after. These movies are predictable and none of them pass the Bechdel Test, but Lord help us if we don’t get stoked to see Katherine Heigl play always the bridesmaid and never the bride.

We love to hate romantic comedies and yet can’t help but watch them because ultimately rom coms are funny and make you feel warm and fuzzy. That’s okay. If we hated every genre because of its predictability we wouldn’t have anything left to watch. But maybe, Hollywood, you could flesh out these characters a bit more? Maybe the girl doesn’t have an awesome apartment and a bitter and promiscuous brunette/red-headed best friend? Maybe the guy is the uptight one? Maybe each part of the couple is equal in their masculine versus feminine/dominant versus submissive traits. We love rom coms as much as the next bookseller and the great ones everyone loves usually stray from the formula anyway. Moonstruck, When Harry Met Sally and Silver Linings Playbook are amazing films that are also considered romantic comedies. None of them follow the rom com “script”. In Moonstruck our heroine is a widow with gray hair and the guy isn’t charming, he’s nuts! Harry and Sally don’t have an immediate spark. In Silver Linings Playbook — let’s face it no one in that film has it together.

You love what you love. If you love to see two people meet cute, quirkily fall in love and live happily ever after, then we fully support you. Bookmans is about geeking out and being who you are. We have books, music and movies of every genre imaginable. Stop in check it out your local store.

* Remember we can not guarantee stock. If you are interested in a particular rom com mentioned here please call your local store and a Bookmans team member will be happy to assist you.