April
11
Top Ten Romantic Comedies
What are your favorite romantic comedies? Billy Mernit supplies two top tens, one old and one new. His reasoning: you can't get any new movies onto the list if you include your favorite screwball comedies. Mine are: Philadelphia, The Lady Eve, Trouble in Paradise, The Awful Truth, It Happened One Night, Holiday, Bringing Up Baby, Ninotchka, Shall We Dance and His Girl Friday, to name a few.
And then there's the contemporary list---not nearly so easy to rattle off but some of my not so guilty pleasures include While You Were Sleeping, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Moonstruck, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones Diary, Notting Hill and What Women Want. I'm missing some better ones, I'm sure.
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If you liked You've Got Mail, you'd love The Shop Around the Corner. Also, being a guy, it's tough for me to admit liking My Best Friend's Wedding, but it's true. I'll say a little prayer for you...
Posted by: Jeff | April 11, 2007 at 04:48 PM
I love The Shop Around the Corner. It holds up really well and I like it even better than You've Got Mail. Now I'm willing to admit that Runaway Bride and Maid in Manhattan are guilty pleasures. But I'm not jumping in there with Best Friend's Wedding.
Posted by: Anne | April 11, 2007 at 09:05 PM
I would probably say that the two greatest romantic comedies of all time are THE LADY EVE and BRINGING UP BABY. However, I would also say that ANNIE HALL and TOOTSIE are up there. The four of these aren't only great romantic comedies but also great films.
In recent years, I would agree that MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING is one of the best. It's perfectly constructed and has a bittersweet ending that I can't resist. I think the other great one is 4 WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL. If both of these films have one failing it might be that one the leads in each film isn't quite up to the level of the rest of the film but that is easiliy forgiven.
Posted by: ryan werner | April 11, 2007 at 09:43 PM
I would have to add The 40 Year Old Virgin to the list. The first true romantic comedy exculsively made for guys
Posted by: Sergio | April 12, 2007 at 06:12 AM
LOVE "While You Were Sleeping"...but latest guilty pleasure is "Serendipity"!
Posted by: Carol | April 12, 2007 at 10:47 AM
I have nothing to add to the classics list, save to note that The Shop Around the Corner is probably my favourite of all. Of the modern ones mentioned, the one that suckers me every time is Notting Hill, which has a great cast, top to bottom. I would also add, in a foreign-language vein, the German/Turkish film In July, which is lots of fun.
Posted by: Gareth | April 12, 2007 at 01:32 PM
Classic rom-com: Mitchell Leisen's Midnight with Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche
Modern rom-com: Nancy Meyers' Something's Gotta Give with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson
Not really a rom-com but underknown and underappreciated film about married love: Howard Hawks' :Monkey Business" with Ginger Rogers and Cary Grant
Posted by: Carrie | April 12, 2007 at 05:49 PM
If you have WHAT WOMEN WANT, you must include the far-superior SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE. Also worthy in my opinion are SLIDING DOORS (Gwyneth at her best), LOVE ACTUALLY, and a little-seen French film JET LAG. PLAYING BY HEART is pretty darn cute also.
Posted by: Barry Dale Johnson | April 14, 2007 at 10:57 AM
I'm no fan of romcoms, but I love Groundhog Day, which manages to be breathlessly romantic despite the presence of Andi McDowell and hilarious because of Bill Murray. I also adore Amelie, which is pure Paris and tooth-worryingly sweet.
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