If you're a still a romantic (tough job these days), a lover and/or writer of these kinds of stories, or perhaps looking for an insomnia cure, you might check out this podcast: https://comedymasterclass.com/.../40-billy-mernit-the ..read more

[This series of posts - Romantic Comedies in the Time of Social Distance - has been created in response to people looking for good rom-coms to watch at home during our current crisis. Some are directly apropos and some will take you away from it all, but none of them are romantic comedies that suck.] At first glance, this one may feel a little too close for comfort, but the script of Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani's The Big Sick (directed by Michael Showalter) never veers into truly tragic territory, and especially people who've experienced loved ones being ill and/or hospitalized may fi ..read more

It's that time of the year again. Everyone who's got a beating heart knows that as soon as February rolls around, there's a major holiday to be reckoned with, one that's come to symbolize the meaning of love and romance for America, if not the world. I'm speaking, of course, about Groundhog Day (which this year on the numerically pleasing 02-02-22, we hear, bears news of more winter - how 2022 is that?). Granted, there was a time, long ago (i.e. before 1993), when this holiday lacked the romantic associations since bestowed on it, due to the efforts of Danny Rubin, the late Harold Ramis ..read more

[This Romantic Comedies in the Time of Social Distance series suggests good rom-coms to watch at home during our current crisis. Some are directly apropos and some will take you away from it all, but none of them suck.] In the "apropos" category, Shaun of the Dead may be the ultimate Stay Inside! metaphor movie for our moment. And for ye of narrow minds who question my genre classification (romantic comedy?!), well excuuuuuse me: Our story begins with Shaun (Simon Pegg) getting dumped by girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) because he's stuck in a passive rut. Can boy win back his girl? Well, due t ..read more

[This Romantic Comedies in the Time of Social Distance series suggests good rom-coms to watch at home during our current crisis. Some are directly apropos and some will take you away from it all, but none of them suck.] When I cite Billy Wilder's The Apartment as particularly apropos to our present moment, I could point out that it's all about the relationship between our workplaces and our homes, that it can make you feel better about not being in an office, and that watching Jack Lemmon get a cold, show up for work, and obliviously spew infection wherever he goes provides us with an object ..read more

[This Romantic Comedies in the Time of Social Distance series suggests good rom-coms to watch at home during our current crisis. Some are directly apropos and some will take you away from it all, but none of them suck.] This selection is both a "getaway" and a way to deal with one pragmatic current reality. What's a rom-com you can watch while stay-at-home with kids? Enchanted: Call me kinky, call me crazy, call me a sentimental tool of corporate capitalism, but to me, this Disney movie that's ostensibly for children is one of the most fun romantic comedies of the past two decades. Amy Adams ..read more

[This Romantic Comedies in the Time of Social Distance series suggests good rom-coms to watch at home during our current crisis. Some are directly apropos and some will take you away from it all, but none of them suck.] In the "apropos" category, this beautifully directed dark comedy certainly resonates with our current moment. Studying aloneness, the movie glories in its moments of visceral isolation. Largely remembered for its uproarious "Suntory time!" set piece, among other great gags, Lost in Translation is more a tone poem of melancholia than a raucous Bill Murray comedy. At heart, it's ..read more

[This Romantic Comedies in the Time of Social Distance series suggests good rom-coms to watch at home during our current crisis. Some are directly apropos and some will take you away from it all, but none of them suck.] In the category of rom-coms to Take You Away From All This, it's hard to think of a more enjoyable flight of fantasy (that is, fantasy by our current moment's standards) than Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor's Sideways. It's ostensibly about a hangdog failed novelist who goes searching, along with his philandering bad-actor buddy, for the best Pinot Noirs in the sun-soaked San ..read more

[This Romantic Comedies in the Time of Social Distance series suggests good rom-coms to watch at home during our current crisis. Some are directly apropos and some will take you away from it all, but none of them suck.] You may not think of Spike Jonze's Her as a romantic comedy - perhaps because it's also a sci-fi pic, a social satire, and a character-driven drama - but "Man falls in love with his computer's operating system" is about as contemporary rom-com as it gets, in my book, and the movie, despite its often melancholic tone, is filled with mordant wit and features some genuine LOL lau ..read more

[This Romantic Comedies in the Time of Social Distance series has been created in response to people looking for good rom-coms to watch at home during our current crisis. Some are directly apropos and some will take you away from it all, but none of them suck.] In the category of romantic comedies that will truly take you out of the present moment and into another world altogether is the recent Jane Austen adaptation Emma, fresh from our now empty theaters, which Uni Focus in its infinite wisdom has made available on pay-per-view. It also falls into the category of what my screenwriter friend ..read more