Holidate: Movie Review

A romantic comedy missing that crucial element of humour.

Emma Roberts has built herself a nice career. A long string of comedies – some hits, some nots, but peppers them with roles that have a real bite to them like Scream Queens and American Horror Story. Such that when she returns to a typical romantic comedy, it feels like home. There’s a comfort level to casting Roberts and Luke Bracey in a holiday-themed romantic comedy, and that’s why Holidate will get its audience.		2020 Directed by: John Whitesell Screenplay by: Tiffany Paulsen Starring: Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey

Last Christmas: Movie Review

Sweetness and charm carrying a movie about nothing.

Marketed as a romantic comedy with the possibility of a twist, most viewers are shrewd enough to know that Last Christmas does indeed have a twist, otherwise the movie would be about nothing. And nothing is generally not enough to win audiences over. All three things are going on in this movie: it is a romantic comedy, except very light on the romance. There is a twist, more on that later. And apart from the twist, nothing happens. That’s not entirely fair, but the main issue is how slight the movie is in terms of plot and story.		2019 Directed by: Paul Feig Screenplay by: Emma Thompson, Bryony Kimmings Starring: Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding

Falling Inn Love: Movie Review

Cheap ploys, nice romance.

Falling Inn Love is another generic Netflix rom com/dramedy. It’s hard to call these pure rom coms when it’s very light on the comedy, and the conflicts are always built up as if they’re dramatic. But it’s all there, romance, comedy and the usual, predictable conflicts, all wrapped up in an easy-to-watch package.		2019 Directed by: Roger Kumble Screenplay by: Elizabeth Hackett, Hilary Galanoy Starring: Christina Milian, Adam Demos

Little Italy: Movie Review

Clichéd romantic comedy about family rivalry.

I’ve heard Little Italy most often being described as lazy, but I don’t think that’s entirely fair. Is it lazy to hire Emma Roberts, niece of Julia Roberts, in a movie which borrows from Mystic Pizza both on the surface and in its design? No, it’s more luck that the filmmakers were able to get a capable and known actress for their little movie about pizza. That’s what this movie was originally - a celebration of pizza and the unique cultural cross-section of Toronto’s Little Italy.		2018 Directed by: Donald Petrie Screenplay by: Steve Galluccio, Vinay Virmani Starring: Emma Roberts, Hayden Christensen

Crazy Rich Asians: Movie Review

A heart beneath all the glitz and glamour.

Crazy Rich Asians is an enjoyably funny romantic comedy because it succeeds with two distinct but equally important fundamentals of the genre: lead characters who are real, relatable, empathetic and decent people at their core, and supporting characters who are funny and/or conniving, and not necessarily decent people at their core. It’s a world of money and glamour and so much of both that it can be very hard to imagine that any humans actually live like this.		2018 Directed by: Jon M. Chu Screenplay by: Peter Chiarelli, Adele Lim Based on the novel by Kevin Kwan Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding

When We First Met: Movie Review

Funny and cute.

A time travelling romantic comedy with shades of Groundhog Day and The Lake House. The fact that When We First Met doesn’t just immediately drive itself off a cliff is a mark of success in and of itself. That’s mostly thanks to the comedy of Adam Devine and the rest of the main cast. As romantic comedies go, the romance element is fairly predictable (trust me, it could have been a lot worse), but the film sticks to the comedy of the simple premise.		2018 Directed by: Ari Sandel Screenplay by: John Whittington Starring: Adam Devine, Alexandra Daddario

The Incredible Jessica James: Movie Review

Not as incredible as she thinks she is.

The Incredible Jessica James is only partly a misnomer. The title Jessica (played by The Daily Show’s Jessica Williams) thinks of herself as incredible. She also likes to use many other adjectives to describe how wonderful she is, but it doesn’t take long before the audience just finds her annoying and incredibly insufferable. Oddly the movie around her is mostly non-descript. An unremarkable comedy-drama mixing together a little quarter-life crisis with a romantic comedy.		2017 Directed by: James C. Strouse Screenplay by: James C. Strouse Starring: Jessica Williams, Chris O'Dowd

The Big Sick: Movie Review

Funny, heartfelt romantic comedy with real characters (literally).

The Big Sick explores several topics including the struggle of artists as they try to make it big, the clash of American and Pakistani cultures, relationships with in-laws, and how near-death experiences can change people and their loved ones, and it does all of this while being framed as a romantic comedy. Which is just one of the reasons it’s a good movie: an accessible and entertaining romantic comedy but approaches it from more interesting, and refreshing, view points.		2017 Directed by: Michael Showalter Screenplay by: Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan

Table 19: Movie Review

Random quirkiness doesn’t elevate a romantic comedy.

As a romantic comedy, Table 19 doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, nor does it try to change anything; it just is. And as an indie comedy, Table 19 doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, nor does it try to change anything; it just is. The romantic comedy genre is satisfied by the fact that Eloise (Anna Kendrick) has just been dumped by the best man at her oldest friend’s wedding. She attends anyways and with the help of a handsome stranger, might find some closure.		2016 Directed by: Jeffrey Blitz Screenplay by: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass Starring: Anna Kendrick, Wyatt Russell

La La Land: Movie Review

A movie of love, music and soul.

La La Land couldn’t have a more fitting title. An homage to LA, but more than that, an homage to the dreamers of LA and the life-as-a-musical that they could have. La La Land sells itself strictly as a romantic musical. The characters sing and dance as they fall in love – and even if that’s all it is, it would still be a pretty good movie. It's a movie that survives on the pure cinematic experience, but also provides a bit of soul.		2016 Directed by: Damien Chazelle Screenplay by: Damien Chazelle Starring: Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling

Split: Movie Review

A romantic comedy in a world of bowling and video stores.

Split takes place in a slightly off world. Everything is just a little bit off-kilter. Characters are weird, jokes aren’t quite as funny as they probably should be, which makes it that much harder for the audience to get invested in the story or just be entertained. The plot is pure rom-com: Cassie has read a study that concludes that the average woman gets married between 26 and 30. Since Cassie is almost 30, she has to get married right now.		2016 Directed by: Jamie Buckner Screenplay by: Jamie Buckner Starring: Tracy Weiler, Sean C. Keller, and Christopher Guetig

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates: Movie Review

An idiotic plan leads to some screaming, some comedy and some heart.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is, appropriately enough, as advertised. It’s a comedy, an immature comedy, a dirty comedy, and follows the title’s plot that Mike and Dave need to find dates for their sister’s wedding and surprisingly (unsurprisingly) things don’t go as planned. It’s also reasonably funny. Over-the-top in many places, but for the most part it finds the somewhat funny side of each situation.		2016 Directed by: Jake Szymanski Screenplay by: Andrew Jay Cohen, and Brendan O'Brien Starring: Zac Efron, Adam Devine

Love & Friendship: Movie Review

Quick and funny romp through Jane Austen’s English countryside.

Love & Friendship is both a Whit Stillman movie and a Jane Austen movie. And while credit-wise, that seems like a rather matter-of-fact statement, it’s actually the marriage of the two that makes it the movie it is. Stillman is known for his deliciously witty dialogue; modern characters that can muse on about life. Whereas Austen movies are postcards from a by-gone era with easily digestible plots of romance and fortune.		2016 Directed by: Whit Stillman Screenplay by: Whit Stillman Based on novella by Jane Austen Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Emma Greenwell, and Xavier Samuel

Mr. Right: Movie Review

Combining rom-com with murder is funny but also inane nonsense.

A romantic comedy and a hit-man murder-fest. Comedy, sure, and with Anna Kendrick and Sam Rockwell, you’ve got the romance, chemistry, and quirky comedy to boot. If anybody can sell this violent, insane, romantic Mr. Right hero, it’s Sam Rockwell. He is fantastic. It’s just that the plot is so far-fetched and complete nonsense, that it’s just too hard to find him or this story interesting.		2015 Directed by: Paco Cabezas Screenplay by: Max Landis Starring: Anna Kendrick, Sam Rockwell

Sleeping with Other People

Perfectly imperfect rom-com characters.

Sleeping with Other People is a romantic comedy. It is. Writer/director Leslye Headland won’t deny it, but what makes it such a good film, is that while it does play up some of the rom-com tropes, it focuses on the characters and lets the romantic comedy plot line play out in the background while the audience gets to enjoy itself. The lead characters are Lainey (Alison Brie) and Jake (Jason Sudeikis), two people who would deny that they are the leads in a romantic comedy.		2015 Directed by: Leslye Headland Screenplay by: Leslye Headland Starring: Alison Brie, Jason Sudeikis

Trainwreck: Movie Review

Too many sex jokes almost derails this very funny romantic comedy.

Trainwreck opens with a perfect setting scene where a father explains to his two young daughters that he's divorcing their mother. Monogamy is not real and used a metaphor with the young Kim's doll. Why play with one doll when you can play with multiple dolls? And why can that first doll tell you which dolls to play with? Don't all dolls deserve to be played with? Younger sister Kim seemed to understand, but it was older sister Amy who took the advice to heart.		2015 Directed by: Judd Apatow Screenplay by: Amy Schumer Starring: Amy Schumer, Bill Hader

Aloha: Movie Review

A sometimes funny romantic comedy with a plot but it falls short.

Aloha is Cameron Crowe's latest romantic comedy about military personnel in Hawaii. It has three different elements, each carrying a comedic vibe, and while they do all come together rather nicely, none of them completely work on their own. The first is a plot – a somewhat ridiculous, strangely compelling story about a broken (literally in some aspects) and slightly volatile former NASA scientist working for investors trying to weaponize space. Then there are on-going stories about various Hawaiian myths. And finally the romantic subplot.		2015 Directed by: Cameron Crowe Screenplay by: Cameron Crowe Starring: Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone

The Longest Week: Movie Review

A romantic comedy that falls short of its aspirations.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” A quote by Charles Dickens seems like the best way to open The Longest Week review. A movie that is both the best and the worst that it can offer at the exact same time. A romantic comedy so desperate to be better than your typical romantic comedy that it gets bogged down by its lofty and literary aspirations.		2014 Directed by: Peter Glanz Screenplay by: Peter Glanz Starring: Jason Bateman, Olivia Wilde

Accidental Love: Movie Review (AKA Nailed)

A trip of nonsense and comedy.

Nailed is the film that spent 7 years in production hell, directed by David O. Russell. Accidental Love is the title it finally gets released with, with David O. Russell no longer involved and his name being replaced with a pseudonym. That type of turmoil is sure to spell doom, especially for a film that would be a hard sell in the first place. It's a satirical commentary on the American health care system (before ObamaCare came into existence) disguised as a surreal-ish, un-idealistic romantic comedy.		2015 Directed by: Stephen Greene Screenplay by: Kristin Gore, Matthew Silverstein, and Dave Jesser Starring: Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal

Playing It Cool: Movie Review

Forgets the structure of a rom-com and loses the romance and comedy.

Playing It Cool. A generic title for a generic movie. The premise attempts to poke some light fun at all the over-used elements in romantic comedies. Our narrator (Chris Evans) is a screenwriter who has to write a Hollywood rom-com before he can get the job for writing an action movie. But he hates it. He doesn't care about love, romance, nor movies which combine the above with clichés. I was all set for his life to play out exactly like the movie that he's writing that he hates.		2014 Directed by: Justin Reardon Screenplay by: Chris Shafer, Paul Vicknair Starring: Chris Evans, Michelle Monaghan