I’ve always maintained that comedy is hard to write. What is or isn’t funny is a subjective thing. The line between funny and stupid slapstick can be a very thin one. Many times the humor just does not transcend or ring true.
My first single title, YOUR MOUTH DRIVES ME CRAZY, focuses on two very different people with dysfunctional backgrounds who come together, argue and eventually all in love. The process is not smooth, but it is intentionally (on my part) humorous. I worried my editor and readers would not think it was humorous. Imagine my relief when my editor called – twice! – one day to tell me how much she loved the book. She compared it to older movies like Bringing Up Baby and Philadelphia Story. Since I love both and was hoping to capture the kind of amusing banter inherent in those movies, I was thrilled.
The New York Times has an article today about the current crop of romantic comedies (movies) and what’s wrong with them. I had one of those yes moments. See, I love to read and write romance with a touch of comedy, but romantic comedy movies tend to bore me. I’m thinking this NYT article hits on exactly why I’m not interested in these movies:
And yet, while the romantic comedy has almost always trafficked in happy endings, that happiness is rarely accompanied by a sense of risk or exhilaration. When you think of, say, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn — or even Doris Day and Rock Hudson — you recall the emotional combat of two strong-willed, independent individuals ending in mutual conquest. Love, in those old pictures, was a dangerous and noble sport that required skill and cunning as well as commitment. It required movie stars whose physical appeal was matched by verbal dexterity and a vital sense of idiosyncrasy. They were not real of course: Who ever met anyone like C. K. Dexter Haven and Tracy Lord, the central pair in “The Philadelphia Story?” They were better.
…
The actresses [like Kate Hudson and modern romance comedy heroines] are spunky and sweet, but lacking in the vinegar that made Barbara Stanwyck in “The Lady Eve” or Claudette Colbert in “It Happened One Night” so definitively sexy. Those ladies were not always nice, and neither were their gentleman counterparts, who could be sarcastic, brutish and domineering when the mood struck.
By contrast, the romantic comedy leading men of today are the kind of nice guy — the Ralph Bellamy type — whom these earlier heroines would have triumphed by rejecting. The vision of love they embraced was not comfort and affirmation but a kind of grand, spirited struggle, what used to be called the battle of the sexes.
…
And so the dry martinis of the past have been sweetened and diluted. We emerge lulled and soothed, but rarely intoxicated.
Exactly.
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This is so funny because I just did a post for a guest blog tomorrow and glossed over romantic comedies, and how hard comedy is to write well.
by Alison February 3rd, 2008 at 12:55 pmI love the older movies and I enjoy reading romantic comedy romances. Some are auto buys from the Authors, like yourself, Karen Kelley, and a couple more that I enjoy their writing and the stories are well done.
by Cryna February 3rd, 2008 at 3:01 pmWell, I have to say this article isn’t geared towards me! Partly because I’ve never enjoyed watching older movies (The Sound of Music excepted), as they always feel dated to me and I can’t get past that. My quirk, I know, and my loss.
However, I happen to vividly remember Kate Hudson in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. I thought it was quite a funny movie; and I didn’t think she was particularly sweet.
I quite adored Hitch, too, which isn’t even mentioned. So I don’t think today’s romantic comedy movies are a complete loss, even if I’m racking my brain trying to remember a more recent one.
Apart from defending more recent movies, which don’t really need my defense, I did want to say I happen to agree that comedy is very hard to write. And Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy is one of those books I keep meaning to pick up
by Jorrie Spencer February 3rd, 2008 at 4:28 pmSounds like a fun book
by Terri Shaw February 3rd, 2008 at 8:42 pmThis sounds like a must read book. I enjoy your website and blog and all. God Bless.
by Jane Squires February 4th, 2008 at 2:40 amI enjoy some contemporary romantic comedies, but my problem with them is that they can be so silly, and make the characters seem very one-dimensional. The classics are much better and worth watching instead.
by Stacy ~ February 4th, 2008 at 4:12 amI love ‘It Happened One Night’!
by Angie-la February 4th, 2008 at 1:20 pmAnd one of my all time favorite comedies ever is ‘Desk Set’ with Hepburn and Tracy. Romantic comedy is more than just writing amusing lines. It is chemistry and delivery as well.
I love old movies, especially the ones with Cary Grant, like “To Catch a Thief” and “Charade.” I like the actiony movies much more than the screwball comedies like “Bringing Up Baby.”
I think comedy of any kind is hard to write, but with a rom-com, you have to deliver a double whammy — the romance and the comedy. I agree with Stacy — a lot of the rom-com movies today are just silly with overly contrived situations.
I think the best romantic movie I’ve seen in recent years has been “The Thomas Crown Affair” with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. Lots of great, snappy dialogue in that one, and it was nice to see characters who were a little older and more worldly.
by Jennifer Estep February 4th, 2008 at 1:39 pmI loved the Cary Grant and Doris Day/Rock Hudson Movies. I agree with Jennifer, nothing like a snappy dialogue. And Helen, your books have that. And so does SEP – she is the master of snappy dialogue.
I am a contemp reader and especially love a romantic comedy, so you picked a topic right up my alley. Rachel Gibson, Patti Berg and Lori Foster also write good rom. comedy.
by Pat L. February 5th, 2008 at 8:56 pm