Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler re-team for romantic comedy

Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler have starred opposite each other twice, and now it appears the duo is pairing up for the third time. Let's hope this romantic comedy is more like The Wedding Singer and less like 50 First Dates. Barrymore and Sandler will play two single parents who have a disastrous blind date, then find themselves trapped at a family resort with their respective kids together. At least in the movie world, this sounds like a recipe for falling in love.

Frank Coraci, who has made a career out of working with funny men, will helm. He directed Sandler in Click, The Waterboy, and The Wedding Singer, and Kevin James in his recent films The Zookeeper and Here Comes the Boom. The script was penned by Ivan Winchell, who has written for a number of sitcoms, and Claire Sera, who has collaborated with Winchell on a couple of IMDB-listed but as-yet unproduced screenplays.

From a demographic perspective, pairing up Sandler and Barrymore makes perfect sense. Sandler has the juvenile humor-loving dudes who have grown up with his comed and now likely have families themselves. That's one reason high school reunion-themed Grown Ups did so well. Barrymore hasn't had a big hit in a few years, but she's also been making and appearing in smaller films. Her style is more sweet than crude, which will help broaden the appeal of the romantic comedy. The blended family twist gets my approval, but in the struggling rom-com genre, it will be up to the actors and script if they can make the audience fall for the "I-hate-you-until-I-love-you" game one more time.

 

Hugh Grant signs on play the cad in a romantic comedy

Hugh Grant's most entertaining work, in my opinion, is when he plays the cad. Perhaps the best showcase of his work as a cad was in About a Boy--because he reforms in a rather heartwarming way. Grant appears to be going for a similar role in an untitled romantic comedy. He will play a
washed-up screenwriter whose success--including an Oscar win--over a decade ago has since faded away. He takes a job as a professor in at a small college on the East Coast, hoping he'll be put in touch with cute college girls. Then he falls for a single mom.

Marc Lawrence, who has directed Grant in Two Weeks Notice, Music and Lyrics and Did You Hear About the Morgans?, will direct the project, which Castle Rock is producing. Lawrence and Grant's collaborations haven't really been Grant's best work, with mixed critical reactions and waning box-office success. Two Weeks Notice, which co-starred Sandra Bullock, earned $93 million in 2002: a hit. The latter two collaborations did worse: Music and Lyrics earned half as much, $43 million, and Did You Hear About the Morgans? did worse, totaling just $29 million. Of course, cute About a Boy, my favorite, only ended up with $41 million, far below Grant's biggest success, Notting Hill, though Julia Roberts gets a lot of the credit for making that romantic comedy a success.

Another reason I'm behind this romantic comedy, at least in theory, is because it has a logical obstacle to romance. It seems like recently, romantic comedies have finally moved away from using  contrived circumstances or petty differences as obstacles as romance.  Dating someone with kids is a dealbreaker for some people, and I like the idea of Grant's character trying to wrap his head around dating someone so far away from his ideal. With filming starting this April, it won't be long before audiences find out if this one is a dud or up there with Grant's hits. In the meantime, Grant appears as a number of characters--including a face-painted cannibal--in Cloud Atlas, which comes out this Friday.

Is the romantic comedy transformation complete?

By Sarah Sluis

Just last year, I thought the problem of terrible romantic comedies would never be fixed. Jennifer Lopez's The Back-Up Plan sent me into this depression. Even with a modern "obstacle to romance" like the fact that she was incubating another man's baby, the movie was awful. It seemed like the formula that worked so well in the screwball era would never be updated for the modern audiences.

Now, it seems that every romantic comedy in the works has a different take on the genre (Celese and Jesse Forever, Seeking a Friend at the End of the World, etc). Instead of starting with the "meet cute," building the plot around mistaken identity or a misinterpreted gesture, and sealing everything with a kiss, screenwriters have been going for the messy and undefined. Breakups and existing relationships are frequently the starting points, not the "meet cute." And in an age where the average age of marriage is rising, divorce is common, and premarital sex is no longer frowned upon, these stories reflect the modern era.

The Five Year Engagement, whose trailer released today, follows this trend. Jason Segel and Emily Blunt star as a couple whose engagement is dragging on, and on, and on. Director Nicholas Stoller co-wrote the script with Segel, and if their Forgetting Sarah Marshall (which started with a breakup) is any indication, this romance-comedy hybrid will innovate on the genre norms.

The trailer has some funny spots but doesn't altogether hint at how the plot will play out--probably a good thing. It appears that Blunt's job makes the relationship long-distance and delays them setting a wedding date. Blunt's heartfelt speech at 1:55 kind of feels like a reconciliation after a breakup. This hints at a more familiar narrative. For a big studio rom-com, this movie still speaks to a big shift in conventions. The traditional romantic comedy may be dead--for now.

Are men taking over romantic comedies?

By Sarah Sluis

Yesterday, I caught Going the Distance, a well-executed, not-so-painful romantic comedy (at least according to me, not my viewing companion). That's pretty much the best the genre can hope for nowadays. Afterwards, this lackluster film inspired some discussion about romantic comedies we have enjoyed over the past few years. It was hard to name ANY.

Last year's twee (500) Days of Summer got a mention, as did Cyrus, I Love You, Man and the Judd Apatow movies. "But those don't really count," my companion said. "They're kind of the death of romantic comedies."

What all these movies have in common is that fact that they're guy romantic comedies. They're also about male friendships, in the case of the Apatow movies and I Love You, Man. Which makes them, technically, bromances and not romantic comedies.

Looking at back at some of my favorite romantic comedies from the past 20-30 years, however, I realized that a lot of them had memorable male characters. They also told the story from the male point-of-view or a combined male/female point-of-view. (Some of these favorites include Annie Hall, When Harry Met Sally, The American President, Jerry Maguire, The Wedding Singer, There's Something About Mary...)

Why are these types of romantic comedies so rewarding?

1) Speaking as a woman, there's always a level of curiosity about what the other half is thinking. When you're given a male point-of-view, women can see what's going on on the other side.

2) Also, when we see a male character in a romantic comedy, it's usually showing him pursuing or pining over a girl. Given a choice between seeing an empathetic man waiting by the phone for his love interest to call and a woman waiting for a man to call, I'll take the first one, hands down.

3) It's a sign that characters are well-developed. In many of the forgettable romantic comedies that I've seen over the past few years, I can barely remember the leading man. But a well-written, well-acted character can come across even with very little screen time.

Going the Distance tried to incorporate some of these techniques. Justin Long had plenty of screen time. We see him pick up the phone and call Drew Barrymore after his first date, not her waiting around for him to call (she also doesn't store his number in her phone, making her seem like the less interested one). The cast of male characters bolstered up our understanding of Long, and made him an equal character to Barrymore. Unfortunately, the whole movie lacked a certain naturalness and felt artificial, despite the best of intentions.

I've been eyeing the "bromance" trend for some time, and I wonder if this reflects a shift in American culture. Lots of older screwball romantic comedies, for example, involve prim women who are finally forced to acknowledge their love for someone else, which seems like a reflection of what was expected at the time. Now, it seems that romantic comedies often show male characters becoming more vulnerable and less "masculine." It's still a little transgressive and unusual, but also shows how American culture is changing over time.

'Sex and the City 2' is not (quite) a romantic comedy

By Sarah Sluis

The reviews are in for Sex and the City 2, and some of them are positively scathing. If you start with the New York Observer review, which opened with "The only thing memorable about Sex and the City 2 is the number two part, which describes it totally, if you get my drift," and work down from there, you have a pretty good idea of what people are saying.

Sex and the City 2 is an extremely easy target, with its over-the-top antics and tenuous connection to real life (at least in movie form). But it's also worth noting what it's not. It's not a story that ends when the girl and the guy get together. And, as I mentioned in my own review, the movie is about how sex, the city, and relationships bond the women to one another. The men in the story are always less important than the friendships, and that's what sets this series apart. It's also what makes some people call the show feminist, empowered, and things like that. It's like the teen movie Now and Then, but with cocktails and crazy clothes.

Writer/director/producer Michael Patrick King's interview with the Wall Street Journal best illustrates how this works (my bolding).

"Mr. King admitted that 'Sex and the City' and its great volume of stories has affected the romantic comedies that have come after. "It's not that they're stealing from us, but we stole from life," he said. "And we got there first. But they've lost the comedy in romantic comedies, or they've lost the romantic. Like girls are doofuses and they're sneaking into beauty parlors and dying each other's hair blue," Mr. King said, referring to the Kate Hudson film Bride Wars."

At one point (when "Sex and the City" was a series), it did feel like it was emulating (a more glamorous than yours) real life, describing the details of socializing in Manhattan and the silly quirks of relationships. I don't feel that the movies capture that feeling as well as the series, which had an added intimacy by being televised in one's own home. I also think the costuming got way out of control--I sincerely doubt anyone would wear a ball gown skirt and T-shirt in a Middle Eastern market. It just looks weird.

Sex and the City has its many detractors, including those that despise its particular brand of feminism. The series itself was supposed to be revolutionary, because it had independent women who were single long after they were supposed to be. As King says to the WSJ, "Sex and the City is about outsiders. Single girls as lepers, should have been married by now. It's the reason the whole thing took off." However, the fact that three out of four of the women are married by the second movie may negate this point. Was "Sex and the City" merely reflecting the fact that people were no longer marrying and having children in their early twenties?

I'm at the point where I hope there won't be a Sex and the City 3 (I've had my fill), but I will also be eagerly awaiting the box office returns from today, opening day. If I can choose between last year's juggernaut Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Sex and the City 2, I'd definitely like to see more of the latter.

Ron Howard to assemble Ludlum's 'Parsifal Mosaic'

By Sarah Sluis

Universal's looking for its next Bourne Identity, and it's chosen Ron Howard to lead the way. The Parsifal Mosiac, which is considered one of Robert Ludlum's best books, alongside The Bourne Identity, will be helmed by the Oscar winner. The globe-trotting espionage thriller centers on a man who sees his spy lover executed for being a double agent. The traumatic event makes him consider retirement, but then he encounters the woman, who wasn't really dead, in a chance meeting, setting off the typical twists and turns as he tries to get to the center of the intrigue. The international setting and intricate plot bring to mind Howard's earlier work on Dan Brown's two books, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. While both have been successes, particularly at the international box office (each earned about 70% of their gross abroad), they haven't been a sensation with domestic audiences. Perhaps the twists and turns seem more opaque when they're subtitled. Universal is hurting right now, so green-lighting a project from an author that has proven cinematic material, and bringing aboard a director who has successfully adapted a bestselling book seems appropriately risk-averse.

From the romantic comedy world, Jennifer Aniston signed on to Pumas, presumably a spin on the term "cougars," which refers to older women who "prey" on young men. She will play a thirty-something woman (Aniston herself is 40) who, along with a friend, has made a habit of dating young men. When they go on a ski trip, they run into a situation that "challenges their romantic expectations." My instinct is that this involves falling for an older man, which would be refreshing in that this would be portrayed as abnormal, as opposed to the usual May-December Hollywood age pairings (e.g. Six Days, Seven Nights). The screenwriter, Melissa Stack, found a place on 2007's Black List for her script I Want to ____ Your Sister, and, perhaps not coincidentally, the director signed on to the project, Wayne McClammy, gained acclaim for writing and directing the viral comedy short "I'm F------- Matt Damon" and its sequel "I'm F------ Ben Affleck." While this sounds like a fun set-up, I'm afraid it will hew too closely to the romantic comedy formula, in which a ridiculous hang-up (dating only younger guys) prevents someone from finding true love. One romantic comedy I am slightly more excited about is Liars (A-E), a road trip film in which a woman picks up forgotten items from a variety of exes on her way to President Obama's inauguration. While the inauguration inclusion could be a bit too nauseating a connection to young, spritely optimism, espeically a couple of years after it's happened, it's following the romantic comedy trend of focusing on a break-up instead of the initial connection. Emma Forest, recently named one of Variety's 10 screenwriters to watch, penned the screenplay after breaking off a year-long relationship with Colin Farrell. With Scott Rudin producing for Miramax, and Richard Linklater (School of Rock) directing, this looks like a niche romance that could ignite young audiences.

Audiences swoon for 'The Proposal'

By Sarah Sluis

Sandra Bullock had her best opening ever with The Proposal. It's been nearly two months since a romantic comedy debuted in theatres, and audiences turned out in force. The film made $34.1 million, $11,000 per theatre, a sign the showings were packed with laughing audiences.

Even with The Proposal's strong performance, The Hangover held strong, slipping just 16.1% from last weekend, an even smaller drop than last week's 27% dip. It brought in $26.8 million and grabbed the #2 spot. The jackpot film (especially for the studio, since none of the stars receive back-end profits) has coolly raked up $152 million. How the male-bonding film holds when the machine-bonding film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen releases this Friday is almost irrelevant. I've no doubt that any drop in performance will be a blip in its total box office, given its stellar results so far.

Up held onto its #3 spot, dipping 30% from last week. With a cumulative gross of $224 million, it already has surpassed the box office of last year's Wall-E, which finished 2008 at $223 million. Pixar always surprises: who would have thought the story about an old man, a boy scout, and a balloon-propelled house would beat the environmentally friendly, sci-fi comedy-action film? The studio's films are so original they defy comparison.

Opening at #4, Year One was the second primordial comedy to be received indifferently by audiences. Still, its $20.2 million gross surpassed Land of the Lost's $18.8 opening weekend. The Will Ferrell comedy has dropped 50% each weekend, now holding the #8 spot by bringing in $3.9 million. This summer, the teen comedy A-listers--Jack Black, Michael Cera, and Will Ferrell--just don't seem to be opening movies.

Despite its scathing reviews, Whatever Works ruled the specialty circuit this weekend. It brought in a stunning $31,000 per location, its nine theatres well-chosen for their proximity to Woody Allen fans.

This week, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen jumps the starting gun by opening Wednesday in 4,000 theatres. Interest for the sequel appears to be greater than for the first film. At MovieTickets.com, presales are outpacing all films with the top opening weekends. Transformers is going to open big. As a counterpoint, My Sister's Keeper will keep audiences in need of a good cry happy.

Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler to star in bounty hunting rom-com

By Sarah Sluis

Writer Sarah Thorp must have really got into watching Dog: The Bounty Hunter during the writers' strike,
because her recently greenlit script mines the subject for its meet-cute.  Gerard Butler (P.S. I Love You) will play a bounty hunter hired to track down his ex-wife (Jennifer Aniston), who has skipped bail.  If the movie dispenses with the ridiculousness right off the bat, I see a lot of potential: Romantic comedies often use unbelievable contrivances to get couples to hate each other (the sloppily executed misunderstanding is my pet peeve), but the premise itself makes the inevitable verbal sparring believable by default.

The project will be directed by Andy Tennant, who has made a career out of mediocre romantic comedies (although I really liked Ever After).  He most recently directed Fool's Gold, which, like this bounty-hunting film, placed its unhappy couple in the midst of a money-grubbing plot.  In Sweet Home Alabama, he directed Josh Lucas in a vulgar-but-redeeming hick role, which he could have a chance to reprise here, either with Butler, Aniston, or both. Given that the most prominent cultural
image of a bounty hunter is the blond, mulletted Dog: The Bounty Hunter I mentioned earlier, and his

similarly bleached blonde wife/assistant, I believe I'm making a safe assumption about their characterization.  Although romantic comedies are a pet genre for me, I'm constantly getting my hopes dashed.  This year's 27 Dresses was the most palatable of the bunch, but inspired this observation from our critic Daniel Eagan's review: "Romantic comedies are becoming an endangered species in part because they are so predictable."

There's hope: Most of my favorite romantic comedies over the past few years have deviated from the genre in a most important way: plot.  Legally Blonde and The Devil Wears Prada, for example, were female-oriented career comedies with a romance thrown in.  Judd Apatow-brand comedies (4The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad) place males at the center of the romance, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was a throwback to vintage screwball and Mean Girls (like Superbad) was a teen comedy with a side romance.  Do these films signal a new age of romantic comedy?  With the social conventions that blocked the love in most romantic comedies dead and gone, it appears career-romance or buddy comedy plus romance might be taking over.