The rom com continues to evolve. Welcome to MsMojo. Times change, and trends come and go, but the romantic comedy has proven to be one of our most resilient movie genres. So today, let’s dig in and take a look at its long and ever evolving legacy.
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00:00Here comes the car.
00:01Okay, now watch me. I'm gonna use number one.
00:03Keep your eye on that thumb, baby, and see what happens.
00:05Welcome to Miss Mojo. Times change, and trends come and go,
00:09but the romantic comedy has proven to be one of our most resilient movie genres.
00:13So today, let's dig in and take a look at its long and ever-evolving legacy.
00:19What's the matter?
00:20Nothing.
00:21Don't worry, you'll get used to it.
00:24The Roots of the Rom-Com
00:26Basically, for as long as human beings have been telling stories,
00:30we have loved to hear about people in love.
00:32And though we enjoy a good star-crossed tragedy,
00:35we have always had a special place in our hearts for witty banter and happy endings.
00:40Bid her devise some means to come to shrift this afternoon,
00:45and there she shall, at Friar Lawrence's cell, be shrived and married.
00:52Ah.
00:53Oh!
00:55Rom-coms can trace their origins all the way back to the satyr plays of Ancient Greece.
01:00What started as salacious Dionysian sex comedies,
01:03gradually shifted into light romps where two lovers meet,
01:07only to be divided by various scenarios, and eventually reunited for a happily ever after.
01:13Why, there's a wish.
01:21Come on and kiss me, Kate.
01:24By the European Renaissance, the genre began to take shape as we recognize it today,
01:28due in no small part to the work of William Shakespeare.
01:32As one of the most influential figures in Western history,
01:35Shakespeare's various comedies would become a primer for later writers tackling romance.
01:41Playwrights teach us nothing about love.
01:44They make it pretty, they make it comical, or they make it lust.
01:48They cannot make it true.
01:49Oh, but they can.
01:50Wacky mix-ups? No one does it better than A Midsummer Night's Dream.
01:54Enemies to lovers? The taming of the shrew forged the way.
01:58Love in Disguise comes in with a side of potential queer romance in Twelfth Night and As You Like It.
02:04Oh.
02:09There's a girl goes before the priest.
02:11And certainly a woman's thoughts run before her actions.
02:15Even the trope of there's only one bed can be seen in much more problematic
02:20bed trick in plays like Measure for Measure and All's Well That Ends Well.
02:25Meanwhile, multiple tropes converge,
02:27elevated by some of the best banter ever written in Much Ado About Nothing.
02:33Well, you are a rare parrot teacher.
02:36Bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours.
02:39Ah, would my horse have the speed of your tongue?
02:42Shakespeare's popularity would ebb and flow over the following decades,
02:45but his legacy would loom large forever after.
02:49As stage comedy continued to evolve, audiences showed up time and again
02:53to see tales of true love delivered with humor, chemistry, and witty repartee,
02:59founding a film genre.
03:00It's no surprise that filmmakers started putting romantic comedy on screen
03:04practically from the beginning.
03:06The first recorded rom-com was the now-lost short All for a Girl, all the way back in 1912.
03:13The movies that followed in the industry boom of the 1920s
03:16were most notable for their vaudevillian-style slapstick humor
03:20and, often, for risque content, reflecting the irreverent mood of the decade.
03:25That is, until The Hays Code threw cold water on the party.
03:29Well, if that's the way you feel about it, good afternoon.
03:35Implemented in 1930, The Code enforced strict content standards on the film industry.
03:40Problematic and restrictive as it was, though,
03:43it actually proved to be an unexpected boom for the rom-com.
03:46Well, isn't that just too cute?
03:50There's a brain behind that face of yours, isn't there?
03:53Unable to show anything steamier than the occasional chased kiss,
03:56writers and filmmakers had to get creative
03:59in how they depicted the development of a relationship between two people.
04:02And so they took to physical comedy,
04:04merged it with the kind of sharp dialogue that stage plays had perfected,
04:08and voila, the screwball comedy was born.
04:11You want the manuscript?
04:12I slept with that manuscript for six months.
04:15Come on now, dear, take off your coat, we're going into action.
04:18There are 2,000 people out there!
04:21As its name might imply, the screwball comedy is noteworthy
04:24for its use of farcical or over-the-top scenarios to create friction between its leads.
04:29Friction that is frequently ignited by a classic meet-cute
04:33and furthered along by things like differences in social class,
04:36disguised identities, and a few well-placed sexually charged moments.
04:42I go for the shoes next.
04:44First the right, then the left.
04:48After that, it's every man for himself.
04:521934's It Happened One Night established these ingredients as
04:56fundamental to the screwball formula,
04:58and even decades later, remains the gold standard for this style of rom-com.
05:02As Peter and Ellie flirt with each other,
05:04the film also flirts with the restrictions of the Hays Code,
05:07giving us something that feels delightfully subversive even all these years later.
05:13Aren't you going to give me a little credit?
05:16What for?
05:17Well, I've proved once and for all that the limb is mightier than the thumb.
05:22As in It Happened One Night,
05:23the screwball comedy is also notable for how good it was for women.
05:27They were still very much of their time,
05:29but many centered confident and headstrong female leads.
05:32Let's get out of here. Just start walking.
05:34Oh, so now you want to walk.
05:36Well, I'm quite sure that I don't want to walk with you,
05:38and I hope you realize that you've made a perfect spectacle of yourself.
05:41Have you finished?
05:43Oh, yes, yes, yes.
05:47Unsurprisingly, Catherine Hepburn's career hit its stride
05:51when she was able to combine her clever,
05:53self-assured demeanor with her comedy prowess in these kinds of films.
05:57One of her best is Bringing Up Baby,
05:59which also featured a fellow master of the sub-genre, Cary Grant.
06:03Oh, you'll go down in history. I've never seen such bravery in my...
06:06Did you want to say something, David?
06:08Well, I...
06:08What? Yes? Yes?
06:11What was it?
06:11Oh!
06:12Hey, Nick!
06:13David, you're back.
06:14Grant would demonstrate his knack for romantic comedy several times throughout his career.
06:18However, it was 1940's His Girl Friday where he and co-star Rosalind Russell
06:24would show off their chops at the kind of rapid-fire banter that further defined screwball comedies.
06:29Listen, I made a great reporter out of you, Hildy,
06:31but what we have is good on any other paper, and you know it.
06:33We're a team, that's what we are.
06:34You need me, and I need you, and the paper needs all of us.
06:37Sold, American!
06:38Oh, all right, go.
06:39While these kinds of movies were meant to put people in a good mood,
06:41they were not entirely removed from the realities that existed outside the theatres.
06:46As the Great Depression raged through the 1930s,
06:49socio-economic concerns were at the forefront of many minds,
06:52and were not absent on the screens either.
06:54No man living can kick me around for eight hours until I can't see straight.
06:58I'm a human being, do you hear? A human being!
07:011933's Three-Cornered Moon, frequently cited as the first screwball comedy,
07:06dealt directly with a wealthy family that had lost their fortune in the crash of 1929.
07:11These movies did not ignore reality, but they didn't get bogged down under its heaviness either.
07:16Rather, the screwball comedy reframed most of life's knocks as something that could be laughed
07:21about, which certainly contributed to their box office success.
07:25In hindsight, perhaps movies like the screwball classic The Philadelphia Story
07:29were a little too forgiving of the ruling class.
07:32But with charm to spare, we don't blame anyone for overlooking that.
07:35The rich and mighty are always a little patient.
07:38I like that.
07:42What's the matter? A little too rough?
07:44A little. But I'm used to it.
07:48Crescendos and Blue Notes
07:49With a successful formula established, and audiences on board,
07:53the rom-com continued to flourish even as economic prospects improved in the United States.
07:58Hollywood entered a golden age, defined by powerful studios,
08:02glamorous stars, and big-budget spectacles.
08:05Add some songs and dances, trim the bad scenes, add a couple of new ones.
08:08And you got it.
08:10Hey. Hey, I think it'll work.
08:12Of course!
08:13It's a cinch!
08:13You know, it may be crazy, but we're gonna do it.
08:15The rise of the musical as one of the industry's most popular genres
08:19generated an onslaught of romantic musical comedies.
08:22These films were not totally divorced from their screwball predecessors, of course.
08:26Yes, it was my idea.
08:29Have you any more of them?
08:31No.
08:32Movies like Singing in the Rain made ample use of physical humor,
08:36and the antagonist-to-lovers concept was everywhere,
08:39from Kiss Me Kate to Guys and Dolls and beyond.
08:42But musical rom-coms generally had a gentle earnestness at their core
08:46that rang a bit sweeter than the tart wit of the screwball.
08:49Even direct adaptations like High Society and Silk Stockings
08:53smoothed their edges down even as they kept the screwball alive.
08:57Don't you ever feel so happy that you just want to dance all around the room?
09:01Happiness is the reward of industry and labor.
09:04Dancing is a waste of time.
09:07Well, I like wasting time.
09:09That's not to say that the golden age of Hollywood went soft.
09:11By the mid-1950s, the Hays Code was weakening significantly,
09:16a process only accelerated by the rise of television.
09:19And though it wasn't no-holds-barred yet,
09:21changing popular attitudes and the erosion of content standards
09:25allowed for the rise of a cheeky new frontier, the sex comedy.
09:29Oh, do you feel the breeze from the subway?
09:32Isn't it delicious?
09:34Sex on screen was still alluded to rather than being frankly depicted,
09:38but these movies even more boldly winked at the audience with their true intentions.
09:42From verbal double entendres to camera angles,
09:45it was clear what viewers were meant to be thinking about
09:48when they watched movies like The 7-Year Itch or Pillow Talk.
09:51Sure turned out to be a friendly town.
09:55You'll find that most people are willing to meet you halfway,
10:00if you let them.
10:00Squeaky clean Doris Day exemplified the plausible deniability
10:04of the early sex comedy,
10:06but Marilyn Monroe was its subtext made text.
10:10It's just my imagination.
10:11Some people have flat feet, some people have dandruff.
10:15I have this appalling imagination.
10:17She built her career on a series of these films,
10:20showing off her bombshell looks,
10:22as well as a canny comedy talent.
10:25Monroe frequently imbued her characters with some degree of knowing wit
10:29in keeping with the subgenre's subversive qualities.
10:32Say, they told me you were stupid.
10:34You don't sound stupid to me.
10:36I can be smart when it's important, but most men don't like it.
10:40Films like Some Like It Hot would push boundaries even further,
10:43taking on gender norms directly, albeit through the lens of humor.
10:48Not only were Monroe's male co-stars, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon,
10:51dressed as women for much of the movie,
10:53but the film boasts a final scene that is still strikingly progressive today.
10:58I can never have children.
11:01We can adopt some.
11:02But you don't understand, Osgood.
11:06I'm a man.
11:08Well, nobody's perfect.
11:10Tony Curtis continued making bold choices as the sexual liberation movement of the 60s
11:15further liberated the rom-com.
11:16One of the highest-grossing films of 1964 was Sex and the Single Girl,
11:21adapted from Helen Gurley Brown's seminal book of the same name.
11:25If you were as pure as the driven snow...
11:26Honey, I can't remember that far back.
11:28But you wouldn't go to the extreme that some people.
11:33The plot, which features Curtis's Bob tricking Natalie Wood's Helen into falling in love with him,
11:38doesn't exactly hold up.
11:40However, the madcap plot and the more overt sexuality in the script
11:44are a good illustration of how the rom-com was reshaping itself within the times
11:48while maintaining its roots.
11:50I know that we can both be adult and not childish.
11:54I mean, I hope you don't feel uncomfortable or anything,
11:58because we're both sitting here with just these thin robes on and no clothes underneath.
12:04I didn't even notice it.
12:05Changing tides.
12:06By the late 1960s, both the Hays Code and the studio system had collapsed,
12:11mirroring the rapidly shifting social and cultural landscape of the world at large.
12:16The new Hollywood movement ushered in a radical transformation of cinematic storytelling.
12:21The light-hearted rom-com quickly fell out of fashion in a period more interested
12:25in gritty realism and morally grey characters.
12:29However, they didn't vanish from the landscape entirely.
12:32Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.
12:38Aren't you?
12:38Well, no, I hadn't thought of it.
12:42I feel very flattered.
12:431967's The Graduate took the building blocks of romantic comedy
12:48and gave them a dramatic remix by integrating themes of post-adolescent alienation.
12:53In 1971, the May-December romance of Harold and Maude underpinned its sweetly eccentric
12:58love story with meditations on the meaning of life.
13:02And 1977's Annie Hall made use of the familiar tropes of the screwball romantic comedy,
13:07while also actively deconstructing them.
13:10I tried everything, you know, I put on soft music and my red light bulb.
13:15But the thing is, I mean, since our discussions here, I feel I have a right to my own feelings.
13:21I think you would have been happy because I really asserted myself.
13:24Notably, none of these films featured the typical happy ending,
13:27opting instead for varying degrees of ambiguity.
13:30If anything, though, this more realistic approach
13:32showed the versatility romantic comedies were capable of, if given the right approach.
13:37Yes.
13:38Then I suppose it was me. Get in there.
13:41Were you also the one who painted the same?
13:45Oh, yes. How did you like that?
13:47Well, I didn't.
13:48Oh, don't be too discouraged. For aesthetic appreciation, there's always a little time.
13:53By the end of the 1970s, audiences were clearly ready for a bit more optimism.
13:571950s nostalgia had exerted its influence throughout the decade,
14:00and it all came to a head in 1978 when Grease became an instant classic.
14:05The story of two high school lovers, separated by social expectation,
14:09is a fascinating combination of the era it mimicked and the one it existed in.
14:13Uh, Hickey from Carnickey's like a Hallmark card.
14:16You don't care enough to send the very best.
14:20You pig.
14:22I love it when you talk dirty.
14:24In some of its more nuanced characters, like Rizzo,
14:26it shows shades of a very 1970s critique of romantic comedy norms,
14:31and its raunchy humour definitely puts a realistic spin on a time period
14:36that had depicted itself in its most sanitised form.
14:53On the other side of the coin, you've got a stacked soundtrack of infectious songs
14:58and a plot that resolves into a tidy happily ever after,
15:01seemingly brushing aside all semblance of a grey area.
15:04It shouldn't have worked, and yet, inexplicably, it does.
15:09And the success of Grease would set the stage for the next big evolution of the rom-com genre.
15:22A New Generation
15:24Teenage love stories had existed before, from the MGM Andy Hardy series,
15:28to the B-tier beach movies of the 60s.
15:31But the school-age romances of Rydell High were the precursor to the rise of an entire
15:36rom-com genre geared towards the under-25 crowd.
15:39And there is no man more synonymous with the teen rom-com than John Hughes.
15:44It's that blend of director, script and actor.
15:48That's what it, you know, every, any good film has that.
15:52Between 1984 and 1987, Hughes wrote several films centred on the adolescent romantic
15:59exploits of average suburban high schoolers.
16:02Some skewed more to the sex comedy end of the spectrum, like 1984's 16 Candles,
16:07which notably features a teenage girl openly lusting after her crush.
16:11And that's to say nothing of the hormonal teenage boys around her.
16:15Can I borrow your underpants for 10 minutes?
16:16Pretty in Pink, on the other hand, took a more dramatic turn.
16:19It balanced the rom-com triangle of Andy, Blaine and Ducky,
16:23with serious discussions about class differences,
16:25showing the effect that the real world has even on young love.
16:29Girl, I don't understand what you're saying.
16:30Wait a minute, don't walk away.
16:31Wait a minute, I'm talking to you.
16:32I just don't want you, don't you understand me?
16:34No, I don't, at all.
16:35Will you listen to me?
16:36I don't want you to take me home.
16:38Okay, why?
16:39What is the problem?
16:41Because I don't want you to see where I live, okay?
16:43The connective threads of all Hughes' movies, regardless of its tone,
16:47is an exploration of identity,
16:49which he always manages to deftly infuse with a relatable vulnerability.
16:53Even at their zaniest,
16:54his teen rom-coms show how his protagonists grow and learn about themselves.
16:59Many people count their first love as a formative experience,
17:02and John Hughes manifested that experience on screen
17:05in a way that has now resonated with generations of audiences.
17:10Congrats.
17:14It already came true.
17:18Adults weren't entirely left out in the 1980s.
17:21The decade featured a number of memorable entries,
17:24from Risky Business, to Romancing the Stone, to Splash.
17:27In 1987, Dirty Dancing bridged the world between teen and adult rom-coms
17:32with the story of Baby,
17:33an 18-year-old whose love affair with Johnny
17:36motivates her first steps into adulthood,
17:39and onto the dance floor.
17:41That same year, The Princess Bride drew in viewers of all ages
17:44when it transported everyone into an irresistibly entertaining fairy tale
17:48where true love conquers all.
17:50And right at the end of the decade,
17:52When Harry Met Sally would firmly establish itself
17:55as the flagship for the modern rom-com.
17:57I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life
18:01watching a romantic comedy,
18:02you want to spend the rest of your life watching a romantic comedy.
18:05And I think that's what it's all about.
18:07I came here tonight because when you realize
18:09you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody,
18:11you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.
18:14This movie didn't shy away from the conventions of the genre.
18:17There was forced proximity,
18:19there was the years-long slow burn of antagonists to friends to lovers,
18:22there was the relationship breakdown,
18:24and the grand gesture that put everything right again.
18:27I love you.
18:29How do you expect me to respond to this?
18:31How about you love me too?
18:33Harry and Sally explored the idea of friendship between men and women
18:37in a naturalistic style that was both accessible to audiences
18:40and utterly charming,
18:42thanks to the chemistry between Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.
18:45The movie frankly tackles sex, love, and the natural progression of relationships,
18:50becoming an icon in the process.
18:52Yes! Yes! Yes!
18:59Oh, God.
19:03Just a year later, this merging of realism and fantasy
19:06would further crystallize in 1990's Pretty Woman.
19:09With the grit of New Hollywood and the shine of late 80s optimism,
19:13it functioned as a contemporary interpretation of a rom-com fairy tale.
19:17Princess Vivian, come down!
19:25Had to be the top four, right?
19:27It's the best!
19:28All right, I'm coming up.
19:30Even after the end of the Hays Code, sex workers like Julia Roberts' Vivian
19:34were frequently depicted as salacious Jezebels,
19:37or as fallen women to be pitied.
19:39Pretty Woman allowed her to appear as a winsome,
19:42and surprisingly, wholesome, romantic heroine,
19:45one with a self-confidence that would have made Catherine Hepburn proud.
19:49So what happened after he climbed up the tower and rescued her?
19:55She rescues him right back.
19:56The love story between Edward and Vivian may not feel as grounded as Harry and Sally,
20:00but the success of both films made something very clear.
20:04Audiences were as eager as ever to fall in love,
20:07or at least to watch two appealing characters do it.
20:10If I forget to tell you later, I had a really good time tonight.
20:16The rise and fall of the rom-com empire.
20:19The 1990s heralded a golden era for romantic comedies.
20:23Each year featured multiple new entries in the genre,
20:26with many going on to make a lasting impression on popular culture.
20:29That was great.
20:32Julia, you should do that at the wedding.
20:35Though the stories weren't revolutionary,
20:37so many of these movies were engaging, well-written,
20:40and all importantly, well-cast.
20:42If the 90s rom-com can boast anything,
20:44it's the top-tier talent that was springboarding to stardom off of these films.
20:49And then you leaned.
20:51And then I leaned.
20:52Yeah.
20:53Okay, how did I lean when I leaned?
20:56With a string of rom-com successes, Meg Ryan was a mainstay.
21:00Her notable highlights teamed her with the irrepressibly endearing Tom Hanks
21:04for 1993's Sleepless in Seattle and 1998's You've Got Mail.
21:10Oh, I keep on bumping into you.
21:12Yeah.
21:14Hope your mango's ripe.
21:16I think it is.
21:18Hey, you want to bump into me on, say, Saturday around lunchtime?
21:22Former child star actor Drew Barrymore became a bona fide star
21:26due in part to her turns in The Wedding Singer and Never Been Kissed.
21:30In 1994, American audiences met a befuddled Brit named Hugh Grant
21:34in four weddings and a funeral,
21:36and fell for him as hard as Julia Roberts' character did during their inevitable collaboration.
21:42And don't forget, I'm also just a girl standing in front of a boy,
21:53asking him to love her.
21:55Held as a queen of the genre,
21:57she easily traded between rom-coms and serious dramatic work,
22:01culminating in the late-90s hot streak of My Best Friend's Wedding,
22:05Notting Hill, and Runaway Bride.
22:07Her characters were complicated, and sometimes even unsympathetic,
22:11but fueled by Roberts' charisma,
22:13audiences lined up to root for her happy endings time and time again.
22:17But if I don't ask you to be mine,
22:20I'll regret it for the rest of my life.
22:22Because I know in my heart, you're the only one for me.
22:30While most rom-coms of this era skewed light,
22:32stepping away from the thematic complexity of the 70s and 80s,
22:35characters across the board were getting more layered,
22:38and the portrayal of gender roles was slowly broadening.
22:41Plus, the sheer volume of romantic comedies being made in the 1990s
22:44meant that the genre cast a wider net on the kinds of audiences it catered to.
22:49When you dance your stips, I understand how you feel,
22:52because I make up my own stips too.
22:55You make up your own stips?
22:56The indie crowd got reality bites.
22:59For people that always sought more comedy than romance,
23:01Bill Murray answered with Groundhog Day.
23:04In Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise appealed to both men and women
23:07in the story of a sports agent finding his humanity and falling in love.
23:10Hey, shut up.
23:12Just shut up.
23:15You had me at hello.
23:16The whole decade had an air of positivity, and the movies reflected it.
23:21And as for the teen audience?
23:23I'd like to see you have a little bit of direction.
23:25I have direction.
23:27Yeah, towards the mall.
23:28Following a slight lull in the post-John Hughes years,
23:31the teen rom-com rose again with a vengeance when Cher Horowitz arrived on the scene in 1995.
23:38Hello, there was a stop sign.
23:39I totally paused.
23:42Yeah.
23:43Clueless updates Jane Austen's novel Emma for the modern day,
23:46following a shallow yet kind-hearted rich girl
23:49as she becomes a better person through a series of matchmaking attempts gone wrong.
23:53The classic plot and unique aesthetics didn't just reinvigorate teen romance,
23:58it started whole new trends in fashion and slang.
24:02Say, Ambuler.
24:04Hi.
24:06Was that you going through my laundry?
24:08As if.
24:09Like, I would really wear something from Judy's.
24:12Do you prefer fashion victim or ensemble challenge?
24:16Literature was a fertile source of inspiration throughout the decade.
24:191992's woefully underrated The Cutting Edge was loosely based on Charles Dickens' Great
24:24Expectations, spinning the novel's cross-class love story into a white-hot rivalry between
24:30skating partners.
24:31Well, it was either that or Curious George plays hockey.
24:37I took a chance.
24:391999's She's All That offered a contemporary take on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.
24:45While appropriately perfecting the oh-so-rom-com staple of the makeover scene.
24:50Several movies reached even further back to the genesis of the rom-com itself.
24:53What will you do in Act 2 when he meets the love of his life?
24:59I'm very sorry, sir, I have not seen Act 2.
25:04Of course you have not.
25:05I have not written it.
25:06In 1998, Shakespeare in Love delivered a stellar period rom-com depicting a backstage love affair
25:12between the bard and his muse.
25:14And capping off the decade, 10 Things I Hate About You would improve on Shakespeare's The
25:18Taming of the Shrew and go on to be considered one of the best rom-coms of all time, teen
25:24or otherwise.
25:26You're just too good to be true.
25:29Can't take my eyes off of you.
25:33The new millennium kept the literary influences coming with Bridget Jones' Diary.
25:37Renee Zellweger's Bridget was a messy and hilarious reimagining of Lizzie Bennett,
25:42opening up space in the rom-com ecosystem for leading ladies whom audiences saw as closer
25:47to their own experiences.
25:49Major dilemma.
25:50If I actually do by some terrible chance end up in Fragrante, surely these would be most
25:55attractive at crucial moment.
25:57However, chances of reaching crucial moment greatly increase by wearing these.
26:02Bridget ultimately got her happy ending, but the world outside the movie theatres was an
26:06increasingly uncertain place in the 2000s.
26:08As in the 1930s, though, that just seemed to make audiences more receptive to the solace
26:13of the romantic comedy.
26:14The movies of this era are peak comfort viewing.
26:17Saw a couple today.
26:18They were fantastic.
26:19Maybe we can see one together sometime.
26:21That'd be great.
26:23We grinned as Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo saved the company's soiree through the power
26:28of Michael Jackson, as Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey tricked each other into developing
26:32real feelings, as a dozen intersecting love stories played out over the course of one
26:37holiday season.
26:38What do we do now?
26:39Smile.
26:41Little bow.
26:47In 2002, the indie upstart My Big Fat Greek Wedding became the highest-grossing rom-com
26:53of all time, with its heartfelt and humorous depiction of the culture clashes within a
26:58family as a woman prepares to marry outside of her community.
27:02Audiences were eager for the cozy escapism provided by these stories and many more.
27:06Real life is no match for a world where a plucky true love and little ingenuity can
27:12solve any problem.
27:13I had a huge zit this morning.
27:15You did?
27:15Yeah.
27:16Where is it?
27:17Well, it's right here, but it's gone now.
27:19Why?
27:20I put some Windex on it.
27:21Younger audiences also continued to have plenty to enjoy, with some excellent additions
27:25to the team rom-com canon.
27:27But like many of the projects aimed at their adult counterparts, the biggest hits were
27:31more of a continuation of what had worked in the past than an attempt to break new ground.
27:36You'd think I'd remember those eyes.
27:39You're so beautiful.
27:40Hilary Duff became the next in a long line of cinematic cinderellas, with the classic
27:44fairy tale transported to the email age, and Amanda Bynes would reach her teen film peak
27:50in She's the Man, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
27:54And then, midway through the 2000s, The Gentleman came to play.
27:58Can't stop it.
28:00You cannot stop it.
28:022005's Hitch was a big success for Will Smith, but it was wedding crashes that marked a new
28:08frontier in the romantic comedy, with a whole string of movies that not only centered men
28:12in the narrative, but filtered rom-com signifiers through traditionally male humor.
28:18The brom-com, if you will.
28:20Are you ready?
28:21Are you ready for some football?
28:22You want the noise brought on you?
28:23Because here it comes.
28:24What?
28:25The noise brought on you, because here it comes.
28:27Just hide the ball, nut job.
28:28Judd Apatow was the most influential figure in this subgenre,
28:31which heavily featured bawdy sensibilities, explicit language,
28:35and liberal depictions of sex and substance use.
28:38While the trappings were more in line with the sex comedy, the coming-of-age elements of teen
28:42rom-com also frequently came into play, as developmentally arrested male protagonists
28:47matured through their relationships.
28:49He said he's gonna take care of her.
28:52He really seems on his game.
28:54I think he's gonna be a good dad.
28:57I think I like him.
28:59Thank God.
29:00Above all, Apatow's movies never lost sight of the genuine emotion at the heart of its stories.
29:05While Knocked Up, or the 40-year-old virgin's bro-orientated sensibilities,
29:10could have easily alienated half of the potential audience,
29:13the vulnerability they allowed their male characters to explore lent them universal appeal.
29:18I was scared, okay?
29:22Because I didn't know what I was doing.
29:23I just didn't think it would be good.
29:26Of course it'll be good.
29:27We love each other.
29:282009 would take a different approach to the male-driven rom-com with 500 Days of Summer.
29:34The story of Tom, an idealistic romantic who is disillusioned after his dream girl dumps him,
29:40has frequently earned comparisons to Annie Hall.
29:42Both stories are told out of sequence,
29:44and both end with the central couple definitively split up for good.
29:48Tom's story concludes on a hopeful note, absent from Annie Hall, though.
29:52I'll wait for you.
29:53We'll figure it out.
29:54We'll figure it out.
29:55My name's Tom.
29:56Nice to meet you.
29:57I'm Autumn.
29:59The choice to end with optimism is in line with the feel-good aspirations of the decade,
30:05but the bittersweet, deconstructed nature of the story
30:08would prove a harbinger for the rom-com's decline.
30:11You ever do this?
30:12You think back on all the times you had with someone,
30:14and you should replay it in your head over and over again,
30:16and you look for those first signs of trouble.
30:19Moving downstream.
30:21While the 2010s continued to produce romantic comedies,
30:24the quality and quantity were both in noticeable decline.
30:28So were audiences just tired of them?
30:30Possibly.
30:31I think I've made you very, very unhappy.
30:35You know, and I don't know how to make it right anymore.
30:3820 years' steady supply had flooded the space,
30:41and it was getting harder for creatives to find engaging new angles on the tried-and-tested format.
30:46However, there's likely a bigger culprit at play.
30:49Truth is...
30:50...I am Iron Man.
30:53As the MCU became a cinematic phenomenon of historic proportions,
30:57studios rushed to get their own piece of the lucrative, super-powered pie.
31:02The ever-swelling budgets of these would-be blockbusters ate up more and more studio resources,
31:07gradually starving out the mid-budget stalwarts like romantic comedy.
31:11In order to take the stone,
31:13you have to take the stone.
31:15In everlasting exchange.
31:17At the same time, rising ticket prices for the theatres and the growth of streaming services
31:22were making it harder to get audiences into the theatres.
31:25In a shockingly brief amount of time, the number of Hollywood rom-coms plummeted.
31:29What's wrong with me?
31:31I just want to connect.
31:32Why can't I connect with people?
31:34Oh, I see.
31:36So you're saying that you're trying to get audiences to connect with you?
31:39What's wrong with me?
31:41I just want to connect.
31:42Why can't I connect with people?
31:44Oh, right.
31:46It's because I'm dead.
31:47Down but not out, the genre still showed some signs of life.
31:51But it was going to take something new and different to tempt audiences back.
31:55And perhaps the sudden rom-com vacuum helped in this regard.
32:05Earlier decades produced a number of excellent rom-coms
32:08that spotlighted diverse perspectives.
32:10Black audiences had enthusiastically embraced movies like Brown Sugar,
32:14Deliver Us From Eva, and The Best Man.
32:17And queer love stories like In-N-Out and But I'm a Cheerleader had long been cult hits.
32:22However, non-white, non-hetero love stories had struggled to gain mainstream success,
32:27especially when studios tended to promote their competition more favorably.
32:32By the way, if any of that was lost upon you, then I've just proven my point again.
32:36Excuse me.
32:37The internet gave diverse communities a platform to call out these problematic trends
32:42and to demand better.
32:44Though it took too long, eventually, Hollywood listened.
32:47And wouldn't you know it?
32:48Everybody won.
32:50I know this is a far throw from a hidden paradise.
32:54But wherever you are in the world, that's where I belong.
32:582018's Crazy Rich Asians was the first Hollywood film since The Joy Luck Club in 1993
33:06to feature an all-Asian cast in a modern setting.
33:09And what a setting it was.
33:11Oh my god, it's beautiful.
33:14Beautiful.
33:15It's 200 mil worth of real estate.
33:18Spectacular.
33:19The lush, extravagant Singapore of the titular hyper-wealthy characters
33:24was the kind of escapism people want to show up at a theatre to enjoy.
33:28What's more, the influence of Asian creators behind the camera
33:31was felt in the nuanced, thoughtful depiction of class, ethnicity, and family dynamics.
33:37That it was because of me.
33:40A poor, raised by a single mother, low-class immigrant.
33:49Nobody.
33:50As specific as the story was, it didn't feel niche.
33:53Its core themes and dreamy love story resonated with a wide variety of audiences.
33:58Not only was Crazy Rich Asians a critical and commercial smash success,
34:03it became the sixth highest-grossing rom-com of all time.
34:07We're comfortable.
34:09That is exactly what a super-rich person would say.
34:12Though viewers had proven the appetite was there for diverse rom-coms,
34:15the greater film industry landscape still kept many of them from getting the signal boost
34:20of a major theatrical release.
34:22Yet, interestingly, streaming, one of the factors in the rom-com's decline,
34:26has also become one of its saving graces.
34:29Okay, so you have to go online afterwards and get the articles,
34:32because there's so much they don't tell you in the series.
34:34Yeah, you said that before.
34:36That's the real deal.
34:38Desperate for content, many streamers have seen the value in this genre,
34:41which used to fill up mid- and lower-budget tiers on studio slates.
34:45What's more, in their desire to cultivate as many viewers as possible,
34:49streaming services have been far less squeamish than traditional studios
34:52about platforming different kinds of love stories.
34:55It's been a while.
34:59Had to figure some stuff out.
35:02And?
35:03Netflix especially has stepped up to the plate.
35:06We've enjoyed a refreshingly diverse array of rom-coms,
35:09centering people of color courtesy of the platform.
35:12You're right.
35:14This is good.
35:16This place hasn't changed one bit either.
35:18Ali Wong and Randall Park won everyone over as childhood friends turned lovers
35:24in Always Be My Maybe.
35:25Holiday rom-coms became their own industry on Hallmark,
35:28but the most popular in recent years have been the Vanessa Hudgens-led franchise
35:32The Princess Switch, where viewers have enjoyed two romances for the price of one.
35:36Meanwhile, Issa Rae and Kamal Nanjiani leaned in on the comedy half of rom-com
35:41as an emotionally estranged couple,
35:43whose spark is reignited by a brush with murder and blackmail in The Lovebirds.
35:49Wow, you want to kiss me so bad, like with tongue and everything. I can tell.
35:53You are projecting.
35:55I think you want to kiss me.
35:56I want to kiss you.
35:57You want to kiss me, and you're like doing this now.
36:00Doing what? What am I doing?
36:08If you're looking for an unbeatable chemistry,
36:10look no further than Lana Condor and Noah Centineo in the To All The Boys franchise.
36:15Their effortless on-screen connection will transport anyone back to the days of their first love.
36:20Hi.
36:23There's no one like you, Covey.
36:26The queer rom-com is finally getting more space at the table as well.
36:30Love, Simon, the first gay teen romance to be released by a major studio,
36:34was only given a modest and, frankly, anemic theatrical run,
36:38but would go on to become beloved after it hit the digital space.
36:42Are you disappointed that it's me?
36:46No.
36:48Maybe its popularity helped encourage streamers
36:50when it came time to develop their own original rom-coms.
36:54Released on Hulu, 2022's Fire Island proved a wonderful addition to the ranks of Jane Austen adaptations.
37:01Listen, I don't know much about a good fortune, but not every single man is looking for a wife.
37:07The modern reimagining of Pride and Prejudice loses nothing in translation,
37:12proving just how timeless the story is,
37:14even if the society it examines looks very different to the one Austen depicted.
37:18Red, White, and Royal Blue, another book adaptation, took off on Amazon Prime in 2023.
37:24While reviews were mixed, fans crowned the movie as a royal success.
37:28In fact, it did so well that Amazon announced a sequel in mid-2024.
37:33Are you sure this is what you want?
37:36There is no turning back if you go out there now.
37:41I certainly hope not.
37:42Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get
37:46notified about our latest videos.
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37:58Renewed success.
38:00Not all of these streaming rom-coms have been worthy of note,
38:02but the demand for new content has kept the mill churning and the genre alive.
38:07And no matter what else has happened, audiences have never totally fallen out of love with the
38:11genre.
38:11In hindsight, it's obvious that it was only a matter of time before another
38:15rom-com would sneak up and steal everyone's heart.
38:18So are you going to ask me out now?
38:22Yeah.
38:23Yeah, I am.
38:24In 2023, the surprise hit Anyone But You got people really talking about a possible
38:30rom-com revival.
38:31It would be appropriate in a way.
38:34As an adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing,
38:47Anyone But You represents the kind of satisfying full-circle moment that you would expect in,
38:52well, a rom-com.
38:54It's a return to form in many ways, giving us plenty of the genre markers we've come
38:59to love and expect.
39:00But its team embraced social media to build a groundswell of support that propelled it
39:04from critical dismissal to pop culture sensation.
39:08It's real.
39:09We did it.
39:10We're good.
39:11We're really bloody good.
39:13Have we just been tricked by its charming leads and clever viral marketing campaign,
39:17though?
39:18It's possible.
39:19Then again, the rom-com, perhaps more than any other genre,
39:22is one that has always adapted itself well to changing times.
39:26We're at a wedding a million miles away from home.
39:31Who knows what could happen under the cover of a masquerade?
39:35In figuring out how to succeed in this drastically altered media landscape,
39:39Anyone But You is simply the latest in a long line to crack the formula
39:43that will win hearts and box office dollars.
39:46The culture may change, but the way we love a love story never does.
39:50We can't say for sure what's in store for the rom-com,
39:52but we know we haven't seen the last of it.
39:56Which is your favorite era of the rom-com?
40:09Let us know in the comments.
40:11It's as though a lovely breeze has swept through this whole house.
40:14Even though the breeze comes from the general direction of the garage?
40:19It's the 90s, Sabrina.
40:21So they say.
40:22Do you agree with our picks?
40:24Check out this other recent clip from MsMojo.
40:26And be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.