Rom-Com – ETB

Yesterday -Extraordinary vs the Ordinary

Extraordinary vs the Ordinary – Yesterday

#TypesTuesday – Immigrant Stories and Power of Love

#TypesTuesday – Immigration and Assimilation Stories are Romantic Comedies

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When Harry Met Sally – Breaking The Mold

#WritingAdviceWednesday – Emotion transcends Genre

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Did You Hear About The Morgans – Day Twenty Five – #40movies40days

This movie demonstrates conclusively that an actor’s persona is no replacement for actual character development in a script.

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The Awful Truth – Day Thirteen – #40movies#40days

The Awful Truth is a 1937 screwball comedy film starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. It’s the start of Cary Grant’s comedic persona in films.

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Rom Com Cliches to Avoid

Here is an interesting survey of 24 Rom Com cliches and in what movies they appear.

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Terrible Romantic Comedies

This is a great piece by Moviefone. What are your worst of the worst 25 Rom Coms?

When the Moviefone staff started trying to name the worst romantic comedies of all time, the discussion quickly got heated. Is ‘The Sweetest Thing’ a crass, tasteless mess or an underrated gem? What’s worse, ‘Swept Away’ or ‘Who’s That Girl?’ Which is the worst Freddie Prinze, Jr. rom-com of all time? And are we remiss not to have a single Lindsay Lohan vehicle make the final cut?

We’re sure you’ll have your own strong reaction to our list, especially if you worship Kate Hudson and Dane Cook. (Note to Hollywood: That is not a suggestion to pair these two up. Thank you.)

Don’t get us wrong, when rom-coms are great, they’re great, but more often than not these days, they’re very, very bad. We have to take it on faith that Female Star and Male Star are destined to be together because the script says so, not because they have anything resembling chemistry. We have to endure ridiculous set-ups, annoying characters and, ever since ‘There’s Something About Mary,’ new heights (or rather, lows) in gross-out humor. Can we get a little actual romance here? And maybe a few laughs that aren’t because we’re cringing in horror?

When the Moviefone staff started trying to name the worst romantic comedies of all time, the discussion quickly got heated. Is ‘The Sweetest Thing’ a crass, tasteless mess or an underrated gem? What’s worse, ‘Swept Away’ or ‘Who’s That Girl?’ Which is the worst Freddie Prinze, Jr. rom-com of all time? And are we remiss not to have a single Lindsay Lohan vehicle make the final cut?

We’re sure you’ll have your own strong reaction to our list, especially if you worship Kate Hudson and Dane Cook. (Note to Hollywood: That is not a suggestion to pair these two up. Thank you.)

Don’t get us wrong, when rom-coms are great, they’re great, but more often than not these days, they’re very, very bad. We have to take it on faith that Female Star and Male Star are destined to be together because the script says so, not because they have anything resembling chemistry. We have to endure ridiculous set-ups, annoying characters and, ever since ‘There’s Something About Mary,’ new heights (or rather, lows) in gross-out humor. Can we get a little actual romance here? And maybe a few laughs that aren’t because we’re cringing in horror?

Get the full list of 25 on the Moviefone website: http://insidemovies.moviefone.com/2010/02/09/worst-romantic-comedies/

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Romantic Comedy Pitfalls – Recent Films

The three highest grossing Romantic Comedies in 2009 were The Proposal (Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds) It’s Complicated (Meryl Streep & Alec Baldwin) and The Ugly Truth (Katherin Heigl & Gerard Butler). Despite some terrific performances each movie manages to stumble into more than one of the RomCom Pitfalls.

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Nancy Meyers – It’s Complicated

PART AND PARCEL of her uniqueness is Nancy Meyers’s focus on making films that both feature and speak to middle-aged women, a demographic that studios traditionally ignore.

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Vulnerability Scenes

Everyone who has heard me speak or teach knows how fundamental vulnerability is to making a movie or television show memorable. The way an audience BONDS with a character is through scenes where the character is vulnerable. Here are some of my favorites– what are yours?

Abandonment Bridget Jones Bridget Jones' Diary Casablanca Character Characters Comedy Drama E.T. Emotional Toolbox ET ETB Film Films Home Alone Humiliation Jerry Maguire Laurie Hutzler Movies My Best Friend's Wedding Nine Character Types Rejection Rom-Com Romance Sci-Fi Screenplay Screenplays Screenwriting Script Scripts Scriptwriting There's Something About Mary Titanic Tootsie TV Unfairness Vulnerability Witness Wizard of Oz Writing