I have said it before and will likely say it again, but the romantic comedy is as stagnant a genre as there is today. For some reason, it seems to be given a pass more often than not, as opposed to, say, horror films that follow formula. Why is that? I could take a stab (pun intended), but that would lead into a completely different sort of column. Perhaps some other time.
The case at hand is The Ugly Truth and its attempts to inject a new perspective and how it ultimately falls back on the same cliches the genre has suffered from for decades, or benefited from, depending on how much you enjoy the genre. I cannot say I hated the movie, but it is definitely not all it could be.
Looking over the past couple of years' worth of romantic comedies, there are very few that stand out as taking any sort of chance. The first ones that come to mind are Definitely, Maybe and PS I Love You. Both of those films are easily accessible to mainstream audiences, but take a different angle on the genre and end up working. Then there are the movies that are your typical genre examples like The Proposal, 27 Dresses, and Made of Honor. These movies are not necessarily bad (although I would not rule it out) but they just exist as an attempt to make some money. Then there are the romantic comedies that try to offer something more to the male demographic, like My Best Friend's Girl, which fails to deliver. Sometimes I feel the genre exists solely so that those who act in them will have something to do.
The Ugly Truth comes in the wake of My Best Friend's Girl as a romantic comedy with aspirations of drawing in the male demographic. It has a good premise — it seeks to peel back the relationship veneer, to expose the sexes for what they are by revealing the reality of what everyone is looking for. While so many romantic comedies exist in some sort of fantasy land where you have love at first sight and the characters find their perfect match, this one tries to boil it down to its essence, remove the fairy tale elements, and allow the truth to shine through. Early on it works, but somewhere around the mid-point, where they decided they needed a definite direction, the fairy tale elements are brought back in as we steam towards the expected conclusion.
Article comments