This is pod Popular Podcast for the People, The Great Love Debate. It's the Great Love Debate, the Great Love Debate. It's a great loved Hi again, everyone's Brian Howie. Welcome to The Great Love Debate, the world's number one dating and relationship podcast since twenty fifteen. I'm here at the very fine studios of Pod Popular Podcasts for the People. I am, but the one in Greenwich, Connecticut. Gloomy Day in Greenwich, Connecticut, So I
don't know. That's not exactly a chamber of commerce material Gloomy Day in Greenwich, Connecticut. They don't put that in the ads. I want to talk about something that we have not talked about in a couple of years on this podcast. It's a fascinating subject to me. I have a lot of opinions on it. I think I'm fairly well versed in it. But I had to bring in a pro. I had to bring in a pro to break it all down and answer some of the questions that I had. We're talking
about rom coms today, talk about romantic comedies. We're talking about the good ones, the bad ones, Why it may or may not be a dying breed, why it does not get necessarily the recognitions that they want, even though rom coms are some of people's favorite movies. Ever, so I brought in a two decades at least film critic, entertainment writer, keen, social observer, and most importantly, the host of the Film Fury podcast. He did a great job breaking down Oscar season what should have won? He was
about one hundred percent accurate on his predictions. The esteemed Alan Zeitlin, how are you, OHI Brian grasive here? Thanks for having me. I think I don't count Shakespeare in Love. I don't. I don't think it's a romantic I don't think it's a comedy. I don't think I don't I don't think anybody if you take that out and I'm gonna arbitrarily just take that out equation, a romantic comedy has not I believe one and oz one best picture since Annie Hall nearly fifty years ago. Is that right? Or am I
missing why it's true? There's some debate, Like there's some debate. Is Silver Line Linings Playbook a romantic comedy? Is Jerry maguire romantic comedy? They didn't win thom right. There's a film that I love, Eternal time in the Spotless Mind that has little comedy, so I think, but they didn't win though, right, I think you're they all win something almost famous is I think a romantic comedy one screenplay, I think Silver Linings playbook, Jennifer
Lawrence. What. That's another thing. The Academy tends to honor the women, the female plenty of supporting actresses, but not the film as a whole. I think since Andy Hall, that is a long long time to go with a lot of very very popular movies, you know, without giving it the credit. I mean, comedies overall don't have a really did as good as it get win something. I think Helen Hunt won for that. Again,
the female lead tends to win for Best Actress. Means like comedy is hard for the romantic comedies off for the women, but the men rarely get honored in the category and the film overall. Yeah, and you were saying, is it a dying breed? I was checking in you have very few great rom coms that were made in recent years. You have to go back to the eighties where it was very high. In the nineties some but now it's you know, it's kind of like there's some cheesiness in every rom comm
that you have to accept. But it's kind of now that it's considered that it's maybe on life support. Yeah, there's some parody ish rom comms. The Rebel Wilson won Amy Schumer one, but sort of like the glory days when you had Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts, a little bit of Kate Hudson. In this fifteen year period of rom comms, I'm not sure that next generation. Even Drew Barrymore had a whole bunch of them. I don't think that next generation has come up. There was a rom com
this year that did fairly well with Sidney Sweeney. I think Sidney Sweeney is regarded as too hot to be in a rom com because you don't want to go to a romantic comedy with your boyfriend and have him like her better. I learned another hard lesson. I went on a Datsy movie and person Michelle said she wanted something heavy, So I went to see Manchester by the Sea with Casey Afflett. Oh God, and there's death and there's a lot of crying, so she was crying then. Needless to say, it did not
go well. At the end of the date. I later met the director of the film with Matthew Broderick a few years later, and I told him the story. He said, what are you stupid? You know movies or that's not a date movie. So he's like, if you're going to a date movie, pick something lighter, and like, I know, I really messed up. I know. I knew I lost in a relationship one time when I heard myself saying the words two tickets for must love dogs please,
I knew that I had lost my ability to have any say. I just asked a fourteen year old who was just in your fourteen year old, young lady, what's your favorite rom com And she said Titanic? And I said, I don't think there's enough comedy in Titanic, and she named like three things that she found funny. So what do we know? I would say, I would say drowning is not the most hilarious thing I've seen, but that generation looks at it like her pushing him off of the raft is hilarious.
So what a time are changing, my friend? I think another element could be because and again, if you go back in the forties, fifties, sixties, a lot of the Oscar winners. A lot of the best pictures were romantic comedies. They were now though, because a lot of that corner has been taken over by Hallmark and cable movies, and a lot of all the beats are the same. They say that if the first thing that AI is able to generate as a screenplay is romantic comedies, number two is
sports movies, underdog stories, all that. But they say that the AI has the easiest time replicating a screenplay for a romantic comedy. So I think that then it relies on the cast. It relies on finding that star to carry it, and a lot of them, you know, haven't come out of television the way you know, you would think it would have. That had sort of the next generation of that, And I think that's part. What was the name of the movie? You must have seen it with Sidney'sweeni
and the guy from Tom gunn Uh what's that now? Iman? The one? I don't know. It did like one hundred It did like a hundred million dollars this year, But I can't remember the name of it. Anything but you or anything but you. Yeah, I think that's it. Yeah, And I'm sure if I you know, you go see a romantic comedy. You can guess the beats right away, right. So part of it is they didn't want it to be too predictable. The other there's this resistance
from men that they don't want to see a quote unquote chick flick. That that's you know, it's hard. Even when I went to see Barbie, they were men that were embarrassed to go and they were laughing and they said, oh, I don't want to be here. I said, relax and enjoy. You don't have to say you don't want to be I think that could be true, that you don't want to But some of you ask any guy you brought up Jerry maguire, which is definitely a romantic comedy. Everybody
likes Jerry McGuire. Everybody likes almost famous, everybody likes the wedding singer. Pretty much every every Adam Sandler movie is pretty much a romantic comedy. Fifty First Dates is a popular one with Drew Barrymore where he asked to convince her each day that she likes him absolutely. And Drew Barrymore had a nice run. She was in Sandler movie, She was in Music and Rics with You Grant and You Grant is a big rom com guy, but there was that
period, you know that Julia Roberts the problem with it. Here's one of the problems that the quote unquote serious actress. They eventually feel like they graduate out of romantic comedies. They got to go do their Aaron Brockovich, they got to go do their Blindside, they got to go do their stuff to get their award or whatever. So they're not going to stay in it very long. I don't know why they don't circle back once they have that Sandra
Bullet kind of did. She's you know, kind of out of the movies for a lot of it. Now Julie Roberts might be aging herself out of the movies, which is part of it too. But there are people that do one or two or three and then they move on and it kind of kills the genre. I was looking at Vantity Affairs lists for their top ones. One that didn't make my top five was how to Lose a Guy in
Ten Days. So I wanted to know, Brian, what percentage of your male listeners would be willing if they liked a woman to go to a Celine dion Kant instead of a Knicks playoff him. Please please, I know that is a really good point. That's you know, that is a big rom Colm. That's a very popular movie. So last time we did this is
about three years ago. I made the argument and I stand by it that When Harry Met Sally is the number one rom com and if you google various lists, most people tend to agree with that, and it holds up. It holds up because you could believe the story. You could believe the obstacles. It wasn't so much guy trying to get girl out of his league,
even though Mega Ryan was super cute. It's guy trying to figure out this basket case and her trying to figure out why the man thought this way, and they went through all the kind of thing and they eventually got together. That holds up in any decade. Yeah, the knock on it is that there's too much dialogue, but I really, God forbid. I originally had
it as my number two, but I had to push it. We'll see, because it really I didn't think it would stand up as like the tenth time I've seen it, and I didn't expect it to stand up in twenty twenty four as it did so many years ago, and I was surprised that it did. I mean, it still works, and it still it hits all the things that it needs to. Meg Ryan had you Got Mail? She had Sleepless in Seattle? Was she and Joe vol versus the Volcano?
Was that her? I think so? I think that's her too, Like she had a run and then we don't see a whole lot of Meg Ryan anymore. She did one that came back this year with David U. Covenaney, but I think it was like a Netflix movie and nobody saw it. But she had that something about her where she's certainly cute enough, she was certainly likable enough, but there was a little bit of like basket case appeal that makes her relatable and makes it be like the guy who's going on a
date to the movie, he's not gonna I broughtup Sidney Sweeney thing. You might go to a fraternity house now and you might see a Sidney Sweeney poster on the wall. No matter how lovely the ones I just named Sandra Bullock, Julia up, You're never gonna see a poster of them on the wall. I think that is a key element of appeal, that the woman is going to bring her date to a movie and not think that the date's gonna
like the girl in the movie better. And then Jennifer Lawrence had no hard feelings in the Summer, but it was more it was a little different because it was a younger guy. And did she have I didn't see that. I know the movie. Did she have a romantic lead in that movie? Kind of, But it was more that she wanted to get money to pretend to like him, and it wasn't because he was younger. It wasn't like they're going to actually ever have a real romance. So it was more it
was kind of and but it was. She was good in it, but it wasn't. I'm hoping there can be a resurgence in rom comic because I like them, and yeah, I think everybody likes them. I think they're good. Silver Lining's Playbook was really off the wall, and again she played a troubled at best woman, so did he They got together. It was funny, but it didn't do huge box office. Silver Lining in Lining's Playbook is not part of the everyday vocabulary. People don't talk about it that much.
But it was great and it was honored, if not Best Picture doesn't get the top slot. What was your one? So you said, Harry met Sally is not your one. That would still be my number, but we'll we'll go from five. So the number five would be the Princess Bride Rob Reiner. Yeap, you had Carrie Ellis says humperd Ink and Robin Wright as this princess. So of course you have one of the best lines ever of Mandy Fittink and hello, my name is Anigo Montoy. You killed my
father prepared to die. So when you have a line like that, it's great. You have Andre the Giant making jokes and I don't know how he was able to do that. That was, of course grace. And you say, what would have got If you had a choice between the Celine Dion or beating up a giant, Andre the Giant, I would go with the I probably would too. I couldn't beat up Andrea the Giant, but that was very funny. And then of course you have the Wallace Shawn as Zini
tricking him. Is this class the poison? This class the poison? But that was really very classic, very true. But what I found most interesting is to show the wonder years that I liked Kevin Arnold is played by Fred Savage. He has Columbo Peter Falk there with a book, convincing him at the beginning, Hey, this is a story worth reading. He said, Oh, is this a lot of kissing in this? Is this kind of a girl? He said, No, there's pirates, there's violence, so
it's very meta. It's like convincing the male audience. You can like a rom com and there can be violence too, and there can be cool stuff. So that I thought was very well done. It was very pure and everything. Everything was solid. There wasn't great, great acting that I'll knock your shoes off, but it was funny and it had a sweet romance. Of course, I hope most men don't have to say, as you wish to everything the girl wants, but they don't. But that is a good
choice. When you bring up Princess Pride to the people who are familiar with it, everybody's like, ah, yeah, I like that movie. Right four, I would say Julia Roberts, I didn't love Pretty Woman as much as others. I like Julia Roberts much better in My best Friend's Wedding because in every movie we root for someone, and this is one of the rare movies that we start rooting for her. But of course you figure, okay, Julie Roberts, she's you know, all these people have a good friend
and they wait too long and they didn't pull the trigger. The trigger. Who's gonna beat out Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz at twenty or twenty one, could Peter. We're rooting for Julia Roberts and we want her to steal the guy away. Dermot mulrooney, Right, it's weird that Julia Robs is the less attractive one at that time. That never happens, and it never happens that she's doing something bad, and the viewer we shift and we're like, wait a minute, she's not the goodie too, She's not the one they're
rooting for. Let's we want Cameron Diaz to win. So I think that's against the cliche and against the norm. So that's something's very cool, and that's something that I like, Yeah, and I would give it a number before there. And of course that film shows a you know, a wedding where I think in real life, I don't know if it's happened to you, it happened to me that a friend of mine married a cool person.
I was happy for them, never a person I wanted to marry. But if that did happen, I know they say that ends justify the means. Would you think there could ever be a situation where if you're really to get the person you love? In the film, there's a he writes for a sports magazine and they she sent a fake email. Do you think it would be okay to do something quote unquote and marl if it means you'll be able to marry the person you loved? Yeah? No, Right, that's a
hole in the story that we have to gudes fairy tale. Right, But you don't think it's good to do something totally off the walls. I mean, I don't think it's good to do it totally off the wall. I think I think you got to respect the day. There are people that would throw their grandmothers down the stairs together the person they love. But I think so too. There's plenty. There's plenty of movies where somebody shows up at
the church and says stop. There's plenty of those. Number three to me is number one in terms of dating and a movie that's instructive that could give you good things to take away. But in terms of movie, it's not the best. Number three is still three hundred Days of Summer, which is five hundred days of Summer. That's so funny you bring that up. That is my second favorite. I brought it up on the last thing, and so many people hadn't seen it. The thing about that movie not to give
away the end or anything like that. They even say, this is not a love story. There's a story about the beginning. They tell you that right up. That is a fantastic movie. It's very well crafted, it's very well done. I think that's great. You bring that up five hundred I should have said five hundred of Summer. But one of the reasons is
great is because it's very real. It's things that have happened. It's dialogue I've heard and we all like to play Monday morning quarterback when a relationship doesn't work out. I tell everyone, it's okay to play Monday morning quarterback. Don't be Tuesday morning quarterback. Give it up by the next day, because you're not gonna know if you could have done this, What if I said this, What if I took her to this restaurant, what if I did
something different? And the truth is again without giving it away. You know, a person could say they're not ready for this, they're ready for that. But there's some hard truths that Zoe de Chanel The Summer says that she's such a sweet character and it's so nice, but she gives it to him straight at a certain point, and sometimes we do need to hear the real
things in life. We do need to hear the truth. And you could and when you look back, you could see all the signs that people didn't pick up all whatever she does give it to him straight, and there is nothing, and she's delightful, and you could just see again see the movie worrying and give it away. Could not get a higher recommendation out of me. I think that movie's fantastic, right, Yeah, I would say five hundred Day of the Summer. Definitely go see that number two. Some people
might disagree, but say anything with John Cusack. One of the things that reminds me is that I'm forty five. When I in my early days of dating, I had to pick up the phone, no cell phone, and a father would answer the phone, and the father might say, who's this? What do you want with my daughter? Why should I let you either. So you had a first obstacle to overcome. Now you're just texting you're there. There's no obstacles. People don't realize. So there's a scene where
he calls it. Ione Sky is the actress, and John Cusack is Lloyd Dobbler, a kickboxer. He doesn't really have such a strong life going ahead, but he has guts, and we talk about how do you get someone to go out with the all different ways, pick up lines that don't work. But she on the phone when he finally gets her, she's rejecting him, and he uses humor and he says why not, and he's funny, yeah, And she has to look in the yearbook. She doesn't even know
who he was. But because of humor, he still gets and he keeps it going, keeps it light, and he gets her to go out, and then anything can happen. You know, it's not always like the movies, but if you keep it light and keep humoring it, keep determined. I think that's a great lesson for everybody that Usac had a nice run. He was in a movie called The Shere Thing that was a great one where he traveled across the country speak Say Anything is another Cameron Crowe movie. Cameron
Crowe did say Anything. He did Jerry Maguire, he did almost Famous. He came out of a world of journalism, which to me, you know, almost Famous is famously based on his life story. A journalist, I think is able to pick up on nuances of character and behavior and dialogue, which I think did does lend itself to writing directing rom coms. And some could argue that humor doesn't go so far, but I have in real life.
I can tell you I've seen guys use humor to impress people and get dates, and a lot of people if they just give up at one no, I think if you're persistent, but in respectful way, the way, there's a way to do it in one conversation instead of just giving up. I think some women want a guy to show that they're special and show you know, I got a little metal and a little kickback, not just you expect me to say yes immediately from just hello. That's okay. So your
number one is Harry Metzone. My number one is when Harry met Sally. But I would say that the dialogue holds up. I think most people don't talk to it I would also say I've been to many restaurants in my life. I don't think in real life a woman would fake an orgasm in a restaurant like Mike Rand does. But it was a great scene. Well, I've had an orgasm of cats as Deli, so I'm not sure. The brisket, Oh my god, it's it's orgasm worthy. This podcast, I
hope is orgasm worthy. We're gonna take a quick break. I'm here with Alan zeitelnd. We're breaking down some rom coms. We've talked about the women. I want to talk about the men in a minute. We got to take a quick break to pay for things like romantic comedies and Pistrami at Kats's Delhi. We will be back right after this, and we are back. We talked about Sandler a little bit. Matthew McConaughey had a nice run at it. It's hard to be that handsome and still be enough of a goofball.
I think, though, the one who had the best run, and I think he can still do today is Hugh Grant. Hugh Grant had an amazing run. I mentioned music and lyric which a lot other people hadn't seen Nodding Hill, the one where he play about a boy. Is that another Hugh Grant movie? What was the other one that is a nodding noding Hill, Notting Hill. He had a nice he's he's charming. He has a
little bit of a stutter. He seems not It's tough when you get too good looking a man, they have to have some flaw so the woman be like, Okay, I could put up with that. I could deal with that right now. With Matthew McConaughey, they have one where the flaw is that he's too much of a player in some movies, or he has trouble a lot of these movies. Sort of the beat of whether it's a Vince
Vaughan movie or it's Sandler or whatever is. They have a hard time growing up, the failure to launch kind of thing, and a lot of women can relate to that frustration. If I could just get them to do if I could just get them to wear a pair of pants, everything might change in our relationship. That is a big part of what has appeal, at least for women romantic comedy as much as the fairy tale. They're always looking for, how can I change reform fix this guy, and how will that
trickle down in my relationship? And maybe if the guy sitting next to me while he sees this happen, see he did that and look at what happened. Oh if the young actors now of who might be in some you know, rom comes to the future. I think Timothy Shallon may might be in the future after he plays Bob Dylan. Yeah, that is I you know, I didn't even know he's playing Bob Dylan. That will go a long way to uh. And don't be offended if I if I say this term,
I'm gonna say it. Butchers up Chala may a little bit. It mans him up a little bit. He's a little too delicate, I guess is the word. I think that's a big that's a huge part to take on, to take on Bob Dylan and not just do it as like a pure impression. You know. I think he can pull it off. He's a fantastic actor. Good for him, you know. And one of the things that I liked about when Harry met Sally is that it wasn't formulaic.
They didn't start out Usually it's just boy meets girl. There's an obstacle and then they wind up together. You kind of did think you knew the ending, but it was still in a different way. And then of course they have the whole thing in New York City, which I love in New Years. But to me, I didn't feel bad on New Year's if I didn't kiss someone, wasn't real. So some people it's a huge deal. I've seen people crying if they're alone in New Year's and they're not kissing someone.
So I don't know why. And by no means was Billy Crystal then or what is Billy Crystal ever his career a leading man, he never really did anything else like that, so to be they didn't, You know, they put Meg Ryan in a lot of other movies. You clearly could believe that his character Harry obviously would end up with her. But he didn't get a whole series of romantic comedies. I didn't think he got another one. I don't think any women had his poster on as well. That's why I don't
either. But Sam, I mean, he's obviously comedian, and I mean Jack Black has had more romantic comedies than Billy Crystal did, who arguably did the best one ever. He went on after that and probably did city slickers and stuff like that, not romantic comedies. He was buried and loved his wife, and that sort of the story of all that. I think, as with the male actors, they either placed them in comedy or a drama, and then they try to do a few in between, and it's not
like, yeah, Julie robertson, Meg Ryan. I guess Tom Hanks for a while was the guy there A good point. Yeah, So Tom Hanks had a long, long run starting probably with nothing in common go way way back, splash. He was the non threatening good guy, non threatening good guy, good looking enough. You could see funny, goofy sort of you know the turf that eventually I think Vince Vaughan probably took over. You could see that. But then Tom Hanks, you know, you win two Oscars
back to back, you're probably you're not necessarily going back to that. I said that about Woody Allen, Like Woody Allen, if you go back to the to the Bananas, take the money and run the sixties seventies with on, he is as funny as everything. He hasn't made a really traditional funny movie in forty years. I mean long Clum maybe like hann and her sisters. You could probably see is a but it's been he really has gone.
And you know, for somebody who puts out a movie every year, which he pretty much does still to this day, he hasn't gone back to do that. And you kind of remember how funny what he Allen was as a writer and to cast himself, which he always did alongside beautiful women, which to give him credit, he did date a lot of them in real life.
You know, you think that right now in terms of the movie studios, they just don't think it can really do well in the box office, so they were reluctant or they don't have the actors that they think are the right combo of the leads that will make it a smash. You know, I don't know that is a good point. It is hard to hit that bullseye and a lot of times, you know, Heaven Can Wait is a
rom com, right, that was a remake. He was at the height at Warren Batty at that time was at the height of his powers and he decided, I'm going to remake an all movie and I'm gonna make a rom comm starring me. But like you kind of have to be willing to do that. Like I think Bradley Cooper if he wanted to just say, like I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna write, direct and be in a romantic it's probably gonna be awesome. He can certainly get it funded, He could
certainly get it made and it would probably be great. You know, I don't know if he is ever outside of silver Lining's Playbook, which had a lot of drama in it. I'm not sure he did a chef movie. Was that a romantic comedy? Not exactly, But it's interesting. You know, Netflix has to all the boys I've loved before, so they're trying to do something. They're good, but they're not on anything close to that, and you have Julie Roberts, Cameron Diaz are aging out, and the male
actors are also aging out of that thing. But you're right, Bradley Cooper should still do what he wants. I think we cheated Reese Witherspoon out of a spot on the Pantheon of she was during that same time. So it's amazing if you look at that run from Harry met Side was what like eighty eight. Yeah, for about a twenty year period, there were seven actresses who were top and probably had four or five each. That is a lot of rom coms. Now we're like, maybe did cut Bake Cake beckon Sale
do one? I don't know. Yeah, it's a dying genre. I think a little bit of is budget. They're not that expensive to do, so they're like, well, let's just do it and stream it, or let's you know, say all the Sandler movies now go right to Netflix. A lot of the if you don't get the star, that script then goes to Hallmark. You know, turn it turns into a Christmas movie where they bang those things out. They have a movie a day on the Hallmark channel
and Christmas season. So it's kind of that you got to hit that sweet spot, like what does a seventy million dollar budget get me in terms of a rom com? Because they're risky because they don't translate. That is the thing about comedies, which is why even if you look at Broadway shows, plays don't do as well. Because musicals translate any language. You can come watch somebody singing dance even if you don't speak a word of English. You
can't do that with plays. You can't always do that with romantic comedies or any comedies. No, it's definitely true. It reminds me one other thing from from a lot of romantic comedies. Will a guy on a date if his woman is dishonored and you saw it in five hundred Days of Summer and then some others, would you be willing to get punched and fight if it's a first or second date or even longer to show your manhood? Is that? Do you think it's the guy's obligation to show his man who in a
fight if it gets to that level where the woman is disrespected. Yeah. No, that's a good point that whoever's writing this is putting themselves in the in the role of the character that weren't willing to do that. Goodwill Hunting isn't really a romantic comedy, but that damon wrote those kind of scenes where they risk getting their ass kick for the for the love of a woman. I don't think that's funny enough to really qualify as a romantic comedy, but
still it was in there. I think some of the beats though, the you know, quirky best friend are crazy. You know that always comes up in every sort of thing, or his slob roommate kind of thing. Jumping in on him. These are things that we're familiar with, but in a good way. People understood. They're not like, oh, this is this
typical character like this, it has just gone away. I think it is lack of imagination in casting, and I think it's I don't know how to market this, you know, but if you can do comedy as an actor, and I it's the hardest thing to do. A lot of people can play the villain, it's the fun thing. But if you can pull off comedy, it opens a whole world. You know. Kristen Bell never quite everybody likes her de lifel actress. She never quite moved over to sort of
leading lady romantic comedy status. Did you like there's something about Mary? It was too much for you. I love there's something there's something about Mary, but that you know, you had to you had to have Cameron, you know, that was more of a quest for They don't really it's not like will they won't lie for a long time. That's I almost put something about Mary in the same category as Dumb and Dumber, where the chase of the woman sort of existed to have a whole lot of other plot plot things and
jokes going on, but yeah, something about Mary's fantastic. It's more of comedy than romantic, because we were saying, yeah, but it has a lot of great funny times. I think in the rom com the calm part of it always gets pushed the side and it's more of their own they do. And we've brought this up on the podcast before a lot of guys, you know a lot of you know people say, well, how could he think he could get her? Why would that guy ask? A lot of
women are like, why would he ask me out? I'm not clearly out of his league. Because we watch romantic comedies and we see it happen. We see the beautiful girl go for happy Gilmore, we see Jack Black get the girl. We see all these characters get the girl. And in real life, so the man you drag him there, he's like, oh, maybe I can get as crazy as in real life. I see people together and I'm like, what does this person seeing this person? But it's their
life. I don't know. Maybe there's something that you can is not so evident. What's the movie with a I brought Christen Belt, Jason Siegle, and Milaicunis, what is that what's that movie? Oh yeah, sagle, Uh it was. It's usually on the top. It's escaping. For the second though, we get some help from the gallery in here. What is that movie? I'm gonna stall while he googled, how can we forget? That's not a good sign that I forget the name of the movie. I
also forgotten. But it is good. That is goods on vacation and yeah, we're gonna say, I'm gonna this is gonna do. The audience is screaming at us listening to this right now. Sorry about that. We'll come back to me. Definitely could have been more if she wanted to. She did a couple of Timberlake, those kind of things. Yeah, Timberlake I think is too charming, smooth talents to slick. He's too slick to be to be the rom com guy. You need to see a flaw in your
rom com guy. But one we are leaving out he's turned into a punchline now is will Smith. Will Smith obviously had a long, long run as being that just the right amount of goofy. He was in Hitch. He was in hitch he could do a lot of things. Everybody liked him. Hold on I'm stalling while I look up this me Lacunas Uh Jason movie. It is called Forgetting Sarah Marshall. We've forgotten Sarah Marshall movie. That's a
great movie. It is. Russell Brand is great in that movie. If you have enough characters and you bring them together, and you do that. Two romantic comedies, and these are going to age people out if you have not seen them. They came out I think the same year. They also have the same beats to them, and they might be two of my if I had to make a list of my twenty favorite movies. They are both
in my twenty favorite movies. Broadcast News and Working Girl they are. And in both those movies you're taking guys who are not particularly seen as funny. In Working Girl you're taking Harrison Ford at the peak of his Harrison fordness with Melanie Griffith, And in Broadcast News you're taking William Hurt, who could not have been a less humorous person. You had the Albert Brooks sidekick and everything,
but William Hurt had to play the beats in that character right. He had to be a he had to play it straight to allow all the comedy to happen to allow the craziness of Holly Hunter's character. Those movies came out within a year and a half of each other. Melanie Griffith was nominated, Ally Hunter was nominated. The movies were nominated, didn't win, but that was part of that great era. I wonder if so is it a thing that in twenty twenty four are people still going on dates and wanting to see
a romantic comedy in the theater. Maybe they think people aren't. That is another part of it. So I don't think that the studios can gamble on people going to the theater. Made they know they're going to go to the theater because they need the imax, they need the comic book movies, they need the superhero movies, they need the action movies, because you don't really need that on the big screen. That's a good point. A lot of these are ending up on Apple. They're ending up as or if you you
know you want to write this. A lot of the talented writing it wants to have a series on HBO. But I think what's interesting that Adam Sandler in fifty first Dates. For any relationship that works, you wonder we always wonder what didn't go right, but we don't always wonder what did go right.
So in that film, he doesn't know what went right, so he tries the next day and the next day kind of like ground out day, to try to see, well, what did work, And sometimes we always it's hard to know what did and sometimes we'll never know, and it just sometimes it just clicks, and that's it. They you brought up. I brought up the television thing. David E. Kelly, who went on and made a bunch of movies still I think, married to Michelle Pfeiffer, so
props to him. He created Ally McBeal and Ally McBeal one not to get into television one Best Drama and Best Comedy in two different years. I can't even believe what a bullseye that is to pull off. And you forget how groundbreaking that show was, to the point where Robert Downey probably owes his career now to Ally McBeal, letting him, at at the peak of his bad boy behavior, couldn't get insured on any movie. Nobody could do it.
They allowed him to play like a little romantic interest sidekick of Ally McBeal. That sort of made him trustworthy in the Hollywood industry again. You know, No, that is something because it's a way of you know, getting back. We'll see if there are other actors that can do that. I wonder if we'll see some now try to get into that. A lot of actors that have never been comedy want to do that, and that's a vehicle to
try to get in. We might see some series or I think Netflix is going to do a lot where it's just straight to streamer that you have trilogies or books that are based on that. And they also want to go at the ya crowd of you know, high school age because a lot of these classics say anything, it's high school age, but the actors, of course are older, and they're like, yeah, the actor's really twenty five, but we're going to say it's high school kind of like Grease in that.
But I think we might see resurgence, but it may not be in movies in the theater. It might be for streaming. You know. There's also been this run of girl gang comedies, Bridesmaids, Perfect those series like that where there is sort of this very side tangential romantic interest, but it's not about that. It's about a bunch of girls who oddly don't need the guys to be funny and have a good time. They always have to bring one guy in at the end because somebody's studio is probably like, you need a
romantic interest or whatever. But a lot of that, a lot of the comedy air has been taken in a good way by a lot of those films. It's interesting. Someone said Swingers is the best bromance movie, but it's not quite a romantic comedy because the female character that he likes only comes out at the end. Same thing, Yeah, same thing. And I went back and I watched that. That's funny, bring that up. I watched that the scene when he tries to leave a message on the girl's answer,
which was again, doesn't date them. That wouldn't happen now. It doesn't date the movie now because you're like, but you can listen to that, like, oh my god, going down in flames. Now, that would be incessant texting or whatever. It would hold up. But yeah, that's a great movie. That's a bro movie too. But there always is a hope, even at the romance, even Harley's Girl girl group comedies, that somebody has either been hurt, they're trying to get over hurt or they're trying
to find hope again, and all that is related to romance. And then I wonder, with my big fact Greek wedding and a lot of wedding movies, it seems like there may be a little less wedding movies. Is that maybe they think that, you know, it's a little too conservative to say like you're not complete if you're not married, and maybe they're trying to say like it so, which is sad, because weddings are great set pieces. You know, you go back to the Godfather, great set pieces for characters,
conversation, action, all of it. As their funerals, you know, Hugh Grant for weddings at a funeral, that's another one. Anything where you bring a collection of characters, relatives, personalities, situations together that can lead to chaos is always ripe for comedy, and sometimes out of that storm comes romance. Have you ever been to a wedding where when they said, if anyone has a problem speaking now when someone says something, I have been
to that. My cousin was at that point in his own wedding and he passed out. He was hungover and dehydrated from the from the night before, at his at his, at the at the rehearsal dinner, and it got to that point as anybody, and he keeled over and so it didn't. That marriage did not last. So that that did it. Yeah, the traditional like waight stop. I have been to weddings where I knew somebody in the wedding either had dated wanted to do. There was some kind of energy
going on, weird in the crowd. I've I've been around that. Yeah, that's because I always well, I've been some crazy weddings, but I've never been to one where there was a ruckus like that. But I just wondered what would be like in real life to be that. But you're right, it does play because there's all that stress and that expectation. And that's why one of the greatest things about one Hundred Days of Summer, which I recommend everyone see, is that in the end they have expectation and reality by
side. I know and you see that, and it's so jarring that that happens in romance but also in our job, and we always have these expectations and then some people can't have movies, they cannot process somewhere they can enjoy them if they don't wrap up in a neat little bow. People, and if you have not seen this movie, cover your ears. I bring up La La Land a Lot, which is not a romantic comedy, although it is very funny and it's certainly romantic and it's musical, doesn't wrap up in
a neat little package the way everybody wants. And that leaves a lot of times the audience feeling empty that they needed to go exactly like this, or I can enjoy it, that's lazy movie. Well. We give out cards after and some people write, I want a happy ending, and there's something I want happy ending. I don't want so and so to die, I don't want this to happen. And they're influenced by the cards. They cannot take any chances on something like this not happening to me. Continue, I'm
going to hand here. A lot of people only like a happy ending. It bothers me if it just feels inauthentic, if it feels totally false, like the ending is something how it could never be. Like someone hates someone and they totally change and they forgive them for absolutely no reason, or there's no connection and suddenly they have a connection and wraps up too easily for me, when it's inauthentic, that's not a good way to end. So for me, if the ending is all well, I don't care if it's happier.
And again, you don't know the level of risk that some of these studios are willing to take is not that high when I'm sure a lot of writers, directors produce just like and then we're gonna do this twist and whoever's writing in the check for that movie or whoever is distributing with that, No, we're not. We're not doing that. It needs to go like this,
this and this. These two characters need to fall in love and that's it, happily ever after, or we can't put it out because there's a percentage of the of the viewing audience that will, especially in a rotten Tomatoes yelp world, they'll be like, No, way, that sucked. I hated that it didn't give me the whole warm feeling that I need. No,
I think that's definitely true. But I think that some of the ones I picked through these, of course, don't necessarily have appanding because I think, for me, I think movies should entertain, but it's also good to be educational. It's also good for someone to watch a movie and say, you know, hey, maybe that could work for me, or that makes
sense. And I'm not the only one that's going through There's a lot of people think they're failures and if they have a messed up relationship that didn't work out, it's only happened to them and they feel bad about themselves, and it could make them feel a little bit better to see, well, it happens other people too, and maybe I could learn from it and it's not the end of the world. Yeah. I like movies that are like this is the most accurate in capturing real feelings of what goes on in a real
relationship. The angst, the worry, the pain, the stress, the hope. All of those ingredients to me. But you know, I have imagination and I can see that not everybody wants that. People are like, you got two hours of my time, I got my popcorn, I got my big soda, and you better make me cry and then make me smile. So I think people should watch Swingers to know they never have to leave any a woman. Yeah, I know there are lessons to be learned.
I agree with that there's lessons in behavior, but there's there's lessons in feelings. How you process the movie that I that I that is the opposite of this, the movie that that I hate in terms of it. It pretends that it is it is dealing with real feelings, but I don't feel it is. What is the the divorce movie with Vince Vaughan and where the breakup? The breakup? Yeah, who's the word, Jenniferison Vince On. I
hate that movie. I don't think they would ever be together. I don't think he's like, it's not fun none of None of it is funny to me. None of it is like there were no redeeming funny. Yeah, yeah, there are no redeeming qualities in their relationship. You would never want them to be together or get back together. You know. I don't understand the appeal to that movie. And I know some people like it because some people like everything Vincewan does. To me, I liked it not because it's
just Vin Swan. I think it was a little bit gutsy. It was dark. It was not a pleasing normal one. I think it was. I think he's just a dick, you know. I think he's just like there's no reading qualities for like video games so much just whatever. I just thought he was nice to her. I think there was there was really an underlying feeling of like hate and anger in there that that that I'm just like, I don't want them. I don't want to see them together. I
don't hope. I do not. There's nothing here that leads me to believe I hope these two work out. I understand that. I thought it was a It was a different kind of movie that you see that says you know you can you can be cordial, and that you can you can end things and it doesn't have to be the end of the world. I think a lot of people wanted different things and wanted like amazing high moments, but then they get back. They like meet at the end, but they not at
the other the end, they just say hi and that's it. I thought they were like meeting for coffee or somewhere. He's like, I'm thinking, at the end of the movie, you know their friends and nothing's gonna happen. I think that what I think that movie helped prevent suicides. I think it was like, you can get divorced and it's not down to the world. See, I get I thought that it comes back around. Sorry if
you haven't seen, it's been out long enough. No spoilers on the breakup that we're supposed to believe, like, oh, they see each other again and maybe this will work out now, I think, and then you know it's not. I think my take was that it's not going to work out, but that you know, it's not the end of the world, and they'll see other people and don't you know, don't set the at ledge of
the roof, but some people do. I'm sure you know there are people that are locked in one relationship and ends and they're totally desponded and they feel they can't go. Well, I'm somebody who doesn't like in Castaway, how quickly Helen Hunt's character moves on. Well, the volleyball was very sex That was sexy volleyball. I know he moved on to the volleyball. I want her to wait a little longer. He's only gone like a year. She's
already like remarried. Right, that's a little a little hasty. What's the how long is it? What's the limit you think when someone could go for the next relationship two months after death one year in full black. That's what I would want, uh I. I would just feel bad for the next guy because the girls is going to be like like, listen, the best one's gone now I feel bad for I feel bad for my successor. But I think it's got to be. It's got to be at least a year.
I think it also depends on the circumstance. But yeah, no, I want a year in full black. Would you want to see Will Ferrell do a comedy where he picks up girls at chanerals? He said he was gonna do that in one of the films. This guy just says he's gonna do that. See. Will Ferrell can't be the leading man in a rom com could be a sidekick. Yeah, He's always got to be the sidekick, Which is weird because could could Will Ferrell have played a similar character because
he does have the acting chops and he does the serious roles. Steve Carrell has pulled it off. But again, you know, a forty year old virgin. The girl at the end is a little bit of secondary. It's a bromance. Will Ferrell has done a lot of romances. I don't consider the Anchorman movies to be romances because they're they're so they're playing characters and their ridiculous. Could Will Ferrell play a character similar to Harry met Sally now,
I think he probably could. I think that's the role picking up chicks at funerals. It's not a bad movie, though, Yeah, that could be. I want to see Will Ferrell do that. I think that could be a hit. I think it could be a hit too. All right, this is fun. We covered a lot of ground, We gave a lot of I can't believe you came in here with five hundred days of summer. I'm the only one who preaches that. People who last time I did this, which was years ago, were like, nobody's seen this. Why he
keep talking about it? I love it. I tell everyone in gen Z go see it. It's very instructive. Goo see it. Watch it. It's tream it. It's very instructive and help. My favorite movie you know movies enough to know this is I think it was Noah Bombback's first movie, Kicking and Screaming. Have you ever seen that movie? That is one again?
That is a little bit romance, life after college or whatever. But the way he handles the relationship that he wants to have with is it Olivia Dabo one of those one of the care It's not even like the major subplot of the movie is just like the Greatest movie for me. I love the writing of that movie. I like the beats of that movie. I like everything, not the Will Ferrell kicking and screaming. No Bomback kicking and screaming.
And he co wrote Barbie, I think the main lesson from any ram coming anything is that people should learn in all their relationships at least take a little accountability. It's not one hundred percent of the other person's fault. It's at least maybe five percent your fault. At least. All right, tell everybody where they can find you, and film fury, all right, film free podcasts. You can check it out wherever you get your podcasts. And
my name is Alan Zeitlin. Check me out on line and hope you enjoy it. Thank you. This was fun. I like doing this a little lighter than some of the subjects we have recently gotten into around here. We got a new batchel of listener letters coming up, not the next episode of the episode after that, so coming down the pike, please shoot us an
email. Great love debatedmail dot com for me Alan or anything else you want to talk about or to give feedback on, or tell us how much you loved five hundred days of Summer. Please like, share, follow, and review this podcast and film Fury. After all of this time ten years or so, your reviews mean a lot in the podcasting ecosystem because, as always at the Great Love Debate, we never stopped making love. See you next time the Great Love Debate. It's the Great Love Debate. De Great Love
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