A friend of mine asked me if I have any romantic comedies in my collection, and I immediately said no. But I realized once I reconsidered my definition of the genre that I have a handful.
"Romantic Comedy" like most genres, is one that links movies only by their most superficial and conventional qualities. If you really believe in the power of genres, you're watching the wrong movies. Genre is the work of marketing. In fact, here on Cereal and a Movie, you will rarely ever see me come up with conventional genre lists of movies. Like a true and totally unlicensed film snob, I say such a thing would be a waste of time. Yes, I focus on the important things like, say, movies where people actually say "Bye" before hanging up a phone. Even one minuscule detail has more meaning than a crock-genre like "Action." How many movies have a lot of action? Maybe a movie is "action" if we went to the movie just for the explosions? But wait, Casino had a good explosion in it...
Waitress (2007)
This movie has romantic sub-plots, but like many of my favorite movies its just another canvas to tell a story of people. Overall, it has a skeptical view of romantic love. It has also been called a feminist movie, but like reality, this movie isn't so cut-and-dry. For instance, the main character Jenna has two destructive relationships with men, and an unscrupulous viewer would assume this movie is pessimistic about men. Yet a male character ultimately helps Jenna in the end. My favorite part of this movie is that there is a lot of old stuff in it, the time period is ambiguous. It is only confirmed as present day by one character who has the only new car in the movie and the technology in his office. In fact, no one in the movie uses a cell phone either, instead tethered by those old-timey land lines.
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1 comment:
This is a film I want to see Now.
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