By MICHAEL SMITH Movie Critic on Oct 11, 2007, at 2:28 PM Updated on 10/11 at 2:28 PM
I SEE MOVIES FOR FREE
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A female colleague took me to task the other day for my review of “The Jane Austen Book Club,” which I liked to the degree that I thought it was worthwhile, if unspectacular.
She took this to mean that it apparently pained me greatly to find anything nice to say about romantic comedies, even when I enjoy one. The generality is true: I do find most of today’s romantic comedies to be trite copies of films that have been done so many times before, and so much better.
I’m embarrassed for Kate Hudson’s career, by way of example.
The predictability of storylines like boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl-back by picture’s end is something that women like, she told me, something that women expect.
I think women should expect more out of the women they see on screen, who should be a reflection of society.
That doesn’t mean half of all romantic comedies should end in divorce – that would be a genre-killer – but is it asking too much that the women in these films have a bit more brains and be less in need of rescue?
Within minutes, we were agreeing that we both watch some of “When Harry Met Sally” and “Sleepless in Seattle” any time we see them on TV, which is often. There is certainly an element of predictability in that equation.
Which begs the question: Are women finding new romantic comedies that they deeply embrace? Or do they keep going back to the theater, desperately seeking the new Meg Ryan, only to come home disappointed and find her waiting at home on the small screen?
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