The rom-com renaissance

Lauren Prattis, Contributing Writer

A good romantic comedy needs to have three things to work: an amazing soundtrack, an easy-to-follow storyline and a semi-cliche plot. 

If there is one thing the 1990s and early 2000s did right, it was fantastic romcoms. “10 Things I Hate About You,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” are universally agreed to be some of the best movies to come out of the golden age of romantic comedies because they follow the scientifically proven rom-com formula. 

The two main characters meet and fall in love. Then, when the film is a little over halfway done, the boy screws up and the girl gets a dramatic makeover. Right before she thinks all hope of them getting together is lost, the boy makes a large and dramatic romantic gesture to win her back. It works — of course — and they live happily ever after. 

The predictability of this era is what makes hopeless romantics like myself come back for more and what makes it able to stand the test of time.

Where, then, did the modern wave of romantic comedies go wrong? 

I feel they are trying too hard to be reminiscent of the good old days — being almost exact replicas, just so much worse. Take “The Kissing Booth” trilogy that came out in 2018 on Netflix, for example. 

These movies use almost every classic romantic comedy trope, just entirely incorrectly. All of the typical cliches like “enemies to lovers” or “forced distance” feel too contrived in these films. Their target audience is high school-aged girls, but they add to the unrealistic expectations of what high school is supposed to be like — with just a touch of toxic relationship behaviors. 

I have noticed this in a lot of straight-to-streaming movies. The plots feel sloppy because the filmmakers rush the films to maximize profits instead of taking time to write a good story and develop likable characters — making these new movies a mockery of the classics. The genre has been looked down upon for about 20 years because of this. 

There have been some rare gems in this rom-com drought like “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Set it Up” — conveniently also starring Glen Powell — but for the most part, the movies from this time were all misses. “Anyone But You” came out at the end of 2023, and is a breath of fresh air for the 2020s.

“Euphoria” actress Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, take us on a journey through forced smiles, fake laughter and fake dating to maintain the peace of a family affair.

“Anyone But You” had the music, the characters, the storyline and, of course, the hypothetical running off into the sunset together to live happily ever after. 

The majority of its success came from the fact it did not go straight to streaming. This is important because it adds to the nostalgic aspect of going to the theater to see what would become a classic. 

I love the anticipation of buying a ticket to see a movie in the theater with my friends. It makes the first-watch experience more special than it would have been if I had just had to open my laptop and watch it on my couch. 

“Anyone But You” is proof that romantic comedies will make a major comeback in the next few years. Of course, this movie is not getting nominated for any Academy Awards, but it is still a great start for a rom-com renaissance. 

It uses the aforementioned formula that most people call boring, but romantic comedy aficionados like myself call comforting. It is proof that not every film needs to be philosophical and mind-bending — it is OK to turn the movies on and your brain off to be whisked away into a different world.