Is the romantic comedy making a comeback?

The period between the mid-1990s and the end of the 2000s was a golden age for romantic comedies, with classics like The Holiday, Notting Hill, Sleepless in Seattle, 10 Things I Hate About You and You've Got Mail.

Then the rom-com genre fizzled a bit before coming back with a bang in the 2010s, giving hopeless romantics another roster of strong contenders like About Time; Silver Linings Playbook; Love, Rosie and Always Be My Maybe. 

Over the last few years, it seems like the romantic comedy has been on another rollercoaster ride. Hollywood studios have been focusing their attention on dramas — particularly historical dramas — and remaking beloved movies that no one asked for.

Some fans say the rom-com is a dead or dying genre, while others feel the contrary to be true. Especially because Anyone but You, the movie starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, has made $170 million at the box office.

To settle this debate and talk about what makes the perfect rom-com, why the genre has experienced so much turbulence over the last few years and what the future may have in store for happily ever afters on the big screen, writers Scott Meslow and Yulin Kuang join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud on Commotion.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, plus a review of Prime Video's Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot starring Donald Glover, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on YouTube:

Elamin: Does the success of Anyone but You signal to you that the rom-com is back in any kind of way?

Scott: It's definitely exciting. I mean, over the past few years, I feel like the narrative has been like, "Audiences will go see a rom-com in theatres as long as it stars Julia Roberts and George Clooney." Here are our proven stars, and we'll show up if they're there. But Anyone but You is something a little different. You know, it's got two hot young stars, who are not established rom-com favourites yet. Its success has largely been due to Gen Z moviegoers. Hollywood had basically written them off as an audience for this kind of theatrical rom-com.

And it's happening for a movie that didn't have an especially strong opening. You know, it opened to $6 million over Christmas and it's risen to $170 million, basically on word of mouth and often through TikTok. I know for a fact that literally all of the Hollywood studios are sort of looking at this as a blueprint. Maybe there is life in this genre and maybe there's a whole audience that we're not tapping into. It's pretty exciting to watch.

Elamin: Yulin, what do you think? Did the rom-com actually ever die, or were those rumours exaggerated? 

Yulin: I think rumours of its demise were greatly over-reported. I don't think the rom-com has ever died. I think there's something so timeless and appealing about it. It grows and it evolves and it finds new places to thrive. It's like an invasive species.

Elamin: Yulin, you're a rom-com author. You're a screenwriter. What are the ingredients of a great rom-com? 

Yulin: I think it's got to be good writing, crisp dialogue and incredible chemistry. I think chemistry is the most important thing.

Elamin: Scott, in a romantic comedy, you have to sell me on the idea that you're in love with another person with a look. And sometimes you don't get that chemistry. You watch a movie and you say, "These people are supposed to be in love, but I don't buy it even a little bit." There's an idea that we don't have as many chemistry reads as we used to have being the determining factor of whether a movie gets greenlit. I think that's a big shift. Talk to me a little bit about how you've experienced recent romantic comedies, in terms of the chemistry between the leads. 

Scott: I think that alchemy is really delicate. If I were a Hollywood agent, I would be telling the young stars to go make a rom-com. It's great if you get to do your superhero movie, but it's no secret that a lot of that is a stuntman in a costume and green screens. 

If you're looking for a chance to show what you can actually do, you can't do much better than a rom-com. I mean, charm is going to be the best special effect you have. If you can go on screen and woo an entire audience and also woo the person opposite you in the movie, and we buy it by the end, what better showcase could there be for a young talent to prove that they can genuinely anchor a film? I can't imagine a better genre to do it in.

Elamin: Nora Ephron's When Harry Met Sally… is arguably one of the greatest romantic comedies ever written. Scott, what was it about that time in Hollywood that allowed this calibre of rom-coms to be made?

Scott: My argument is that this kicked off what I'm calling the modern golden era of the romantic comedy. I think any conversation does have to start with Nora Ephron, who's this singular figure in the genre for the era. Not only did she write When Harry Met Sally…, she went on to write direct Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail. 

Elamin: Yulin, I want to talk about your reaction to people who tend to dismiss the rom-com genre as a little bit of a less serious genre than other genres. What do you think it is about rom-coms that invites that kind of criticism? And what do you say to these people? 

Yulin: I think there is something in the human psyche where when we enjoy something too much, we think there's no way this could possibly be good for us. I think the same people who are like, "Eat your vegetables," probably don't love rom-coms — boring people. I think we can feel good about things and also have them be good for us. I think we overestimate the power of experiences that make us feel bad.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Amelia Eqbal