I like lists. They make the world so tidy. In particular, I like lists of great movies and books, and occasionally a dos-and-don’ts list. Some of my faves are below.
PDF List of Crusie Novels and Novellas
Top Ten Greatest Romantic Comedies (and some other good movies)
The Popcorn Dialogues Movies Rated Five Pops
Things I Will Never Do If I Am A Romance Heroine
I have very strong views on romantic comedy movies (check out the podcasts she and Lucy March (aka Lani Diane Rich) are doing for The Popcorn Dialogues Project), so here are my Top Ten RomComs in American film.
Greatest Romantic Comedy Movies
10 Things I Hate About You
Teen Love done right. Also great music.American Dreamer
Every romance writer I know loves this movie.Charade
Murder, great clothes, a plot that ties itself in a knot, Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant doing some great banter as they fall hopelessly in love, and that theme song . . . just go rent it.Grosse Point Blank
Okay, so he killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. Nobody’s perfect.His Girl Friday
The perfect screwball comedy. Having Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell as the hero and heroine doesn’t hurt, either.How To Steal A Million
Yes, it’s dated and prefeminist. I don’t care. It’s also Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole in a great caper/romance/comedy.It Happened One Night
The first romcom, it set the standard for all to come. Without flaw.Little City
I love the way this plot works. Josh Charles is a bonus.Moonstruck
One of the most perfectly constructed scripts ever. Especially that scene where Cher slaps Nicholas Cage and tells him to snap out of it.A New Leaf
The only really sweet black comedy about murdering your wife I know. Also it’s Walter Matthau and Elaine May.Return to Me
Nothing blows up. Nobody calls the cops. People just fall in love. Plus Bonnie Hunt is a goddess.When Harry Met Sally
For the dialogue alone you have to love it, even if that scene in the deli is a complete character violation for Sally.Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(even though it’s a TV show) Skipping over the Riley years, of course.Romantic Movies with the Dumbest Mistakes
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Brilliant script but the guy ends up with the wrong woman.Message in a Bottle
Drowning while throwing a bottle into the ocean is not tragedy, it’s Darwin.Miss Congeniality
Bullock is wonderful but she ends up with a weasel. If only Michael Caine hadn’t been gay in this…Pretty Woman
Street hooking in LA is not romantic.I-Cried-Until-I-Threw-Up-It-Was-That-Good Movies
Shadowlands
Not a romcom (did you miss the part about crying until you threw up?) but Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger do everything right. Watch it alone with a new box of Kleenex whenever you’re tempted to doubt that real love exists.
Lucy March and I do a weekly movie critique on romantic comedies, analyzing the romance, the comedy, and the technical aspects (structure, character, etc.) It’s not often that a movie gets five pops for being a truly great romcom, so I thought I keep a running list here of the films that got 5 pops from both of us. See The Popcorn Dialogues for more information and podcasts.
5 Pop Movies from The Popcorn DialoguesIt Happened One Night (1934)
His Girl Friday(1940
Desk Set (1957)
The Argh People (aka The People of the Blog) and I once compiled a list of Stupid Things Romance Heroines do.
“If I am ever a romance heroine, I will not…”
- Go up in my nightie to see what all that screaming in the attic is about. (Jenny)
- Have a baby and not tell the father to protect him and his future. (Jenny)
- Decide to barge into a dangerous situation just to show him! (Corrina)
- Tell the hero I’m a virgin as I’m about to have some really incredible sex. (Corrina)
- Let my breasts taunt and/or tease the hero. (Jenny)
- See him talking to another woman and turn it into a Flaming Affair without asking him about it. (Jen)
- Go into the basement to see what that strange noise was. (Beth)
- Permit my bosom to heave, especially while wearing a bodice. (Beth)
- Ever permit my bodice to be ripped, though I may rip it myself. (Beth)
- Wear a bodice. (Beth)
- Be more beautiful, thin, and/or rich than anyone else on the planet. (Cindy)
- Conceal my identity, or if I already have, put off telling him who I really am. (Darla)
- Have the longest legs the hero’s ever seen, especially if I’m only five foot tall. (Darla)
- Borrow clothes that are too snug in the bosom. (Darla)
- Be at the absolute pinnacle of my profession when I’m 22. (Darla)
- Get in front of the hero and his gun when the villain is confronting us.
- Limit…the breathy pauses in…my sentences…to only one…a phrase. (lslcw)
- Have a “creamy” anything. (cyn/blinky)
- Have sex with a hero who has a “velvet covered manhood” because of the annoying lint this would create. (liberryshortcake)
- Keep reminding the hero that I am independent and can take care of myself, while constantly getting into situations where he has to “save” me. (Carolyn)
- Insist I am independent then allow the hero to dictate my life. (Jen)
- Struggle futilely to break free from the hero’s punishing embrace before being overcome with desire. Either I want him, in which case I should not be fighting, or I don’t want him, in which case I should break his nose, foot, finger, and anything else handy. Enough with the wimpy struggles. (Jen)
- Tell all my suspicions to the nice looking, totally sympathetic “other” man only to find out he’s the killer. (TheTwoJeans)