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.