The explosive Breakup Scene that drives all romantic comedies, the one so expected that it’s no longer a spoiler, happens in The Big Sick. But the stakes are graver than in your average rom-com. In this case, the leading man Kumail (played by Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani) is a Pakistani-American comedian who’s…
Love.com has languished in my Netflix queue for a few weeks now, simply because its description was so absurd to be irresistible: “When a fashion blogger falls for a video game vlogger, their romance goes viral. But separating their virtual life from reality gets complicated.” The alleged premise, clearly, was an act…
Netflix released a pair of clips for its upcoming rom-com Love, a series about moldy yogurt (j/k it’s about love!), starring Paul Rust and Community’s Gillian Jacobs.
Given the heavy relationship content in his last standup special and the success of Modern Romance, it would seem that Aziz Ansari is positioning himself as a romantic sage of sorts. But the trailer for his upcoming Netflix series, Master of None, depicts him as just another awkward fool (named Dev) who’s clumsily…
Beasts of No Nation director Cary Joji Fukunaga boasts a diverse repertoire, from the inaugural season of crime drama True Detective, to the 2011 adaptation of Jane Eyre, and now Beasts, which chronicles the experiences of child soldiers in West Africa. And don’t you think for one minute that he’s stopping there!
A comedic godsend, at least in the eyes of those who worship her, Amy Schumer is a current cultural beacon, and in many ways, a void-filler. So it’s fitting that her first major film is a rom-com. The hardest-to-reinvent Romantic Comedy—two words that instantly yield lowered expectations—seems at once in need of…
A few weeks ago, I lent my smartphone to my nineteen-year-old cousin while I was getting my hair cut. I thought she would use it to download Candy Crush or play Words With Friends, but when she handed the phone back to me, she smirked and pointed to the Tinder icon. And then I heard the "bzzzz" of an incoming…
A couple months ago, I deleted Tinder from my phone, fed up with the deluge of passive, shirtless guys on there. Great idea, thanks for the memories, but I'm gone. Some of my friends still entertain it, gathering stories to be published in Fangoria, I presume. There are so many awkward tales that network TV wants…
The finale of season two of The Mindy Project, which aired last night, was chock full of so many references and reinterpretations of three of Nora Ephron's most famous movies they were hard to keep track of.
What we did to deserve this, I don't know, but I will take my medicine: Iggy Azalea and Keyshia Cole have paired up to record a version of "I'm Coming Out" for movie of the year, The Other Woman.
If you liked the new Alfonso Cuarón film Gravity — starring America's Sweetheart Sandra Bullock and Professional Cary Grant impersonator George Chiseled Jaw Clooney — but wished it had just a leeeetle more flirty bickering, physical comedy and romance, you're in luck.
The RomCom is having enough time remaining culturally relevant without being stripped down to its bare, blocking-mechanism bones by our crippling reliance on social media to provide us with cheat sheets on prospective love interests. A Case of You, your soon-to-be OnDemand pick of the weekend, dispenses with clever…
Yes this is a trailer for a real movie and no, we have no idea why a man pretending to be Jewish to get a girl is interesting but that's apparently the premise of the movie Jewtopia, coming out this week in very limited release. Ivan Sergei plays Christian O’Connell, a man who wants to marry a Jewish "Because I never…
In January 2012, Melissa Dohme's ex-boyfriend stabbed her 32 times. In court this week, Dohme said: "I can't even look at it as anything bad anymore." Why? Because the paramedic who saved her life is now the love of her life. (She's also graduated from college and become a nurse since the attack.)
For those of you who can't wait until Valentine's Day 2014 (only 280 days left!!!) to see Paula Patton in another romantic comedy, FEAR NOT because she's in a new one that's not a subpar remake of About Last Night. This movie comes out in October, she plays a flight attendant and it is called...Baggage Claim.
Most everything you ever wanted to learn about relationships you learned from having your own, but everything else you ever wanted to learn about relationships, you learned by watching other people have them. And there is no better, easier more $3.99-kind-of-way to watch other people have them than vicariously, thanks…
In the midst of planning for a midweek movie night, I had an epiphany.
The New Yorker ran an excerpt from Mindy Kaling's book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, in which she discusses how women are portrayed in romantic comedies. Her stereotypes — the Klutz, the Ethereal Weirdo, the Sassy Best Friend — ring true, but here's what really grabbed our attention:
On romcoms: "I don't think I'm being very 'artistic' when I do them, but I'm not doing it for that reason. Romantic comedies make me happy. I watch Love Actually every Christmas."
The Bachelorette is slowly eating my brain. I blame Frank. And Chris. And Roberto and all the other rejected, Disney prince-esque castoffs. Because they have seduced me with their unrealistic, romcom ways.
