Monday, September 30, 2013

RomCom that Make You Fall for the Characters

When I hear of an actor or a disgraced politician checking himself into rehab because he’s a “sex addict,” I’ll admit my first thought is the guy’s a serial cheater who got caught and this is the best way to rehabilitate his image.

Is sexual addiction a real thing, or a convenient excuse for the wealthy and the famous? “Thanks for Sharing” makes a convincing case that some people can be as addicted to sex as others are consumed by drugs and alcohol.

Take Mark Ruffalo’s Adam, who upon first blush seems almost too good to be true. He’s a handsome, down-to-earth, successful environmental consultant with an amazing home and a bounty of friends. But every walk down the street, every billboard for lingerie, even a passing flirtatious glance from a stranger, is fraught with peril, and soon Adam is clenching his fists, calling his sponsor or racing to the nearest meeting so he can keep from falling into an abyss of nonstop, self-destructive sexual encounters.



Friday, September 27, 2013

'Don Jon' is Not Like Any Romantic Comedy

Don't let the porn confuse you: Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut, "Don Jon," is a romantic comedy. It's just not the sort of romantic comedy you're used to.

The film centers around Gordon-Levitt's porn-addicted playboy Jon, who can't seem to connect with real-life women in the way he's able to with digital bed buddies. Even when said ladies look like Scarlett Johansson.

But Gordon-Levitt, who also wrote "Don Jon," isn't just singling out romantic comedies (or porn, for that matter) alone for their often fantastical visions of reality; it's all forms representing unattainable ideals.

"Well, it's sort of making fun of the movies that you're talking about, and not just movies — all kinds of media is constantly giving us unrealistic expectations about what men and women are supposed to be, about what love and sex are supposed to be," Gordon-Levitt told MTV News' Josh Horowitz recently.

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Thursday, September 26, 2013

'Enough Said' is Full of Wit and Humor

I loved Nicole Holofcener's witty and wise romantic comedy "Enough Said" for many reasons. Here are the top three:

1. It recognizes that in relationships, people are neither good nor bad, but a combination of positive and negative attributes. There are, however, good and bad combinations of people, and romantic chemistry remains one of the great unexplained mysteries of the universe.

2. It contains my favorite dialogue of 2013 so far.
The main characters — two middle-aged divorced parents with daughters about to leave for college — talk the way two real middle-aged divorced parents with daughters about to leave for college talk. A little wittier perhaps, but direct and unguarded. These adults don't have time to hide their feelings and second-guess themselves the way younger dating couples do.

3. After a long career playing gangsters, thugs and heavies, the late James Gandolfini finally gets to play his most endearing character: a regular guy named Albert, a slightly overweight, self-admitted slob with no pretenses or hidden agendas.

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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

'Baggage Claim' Hysterical Search for Mr. Right

WHO SHALL I MARRY, TOM, DICK, OR HARRY?: Thirty-year-old Montana Moore (right) is interviewing one of her old boy friends Quinton Jamison (Djimon Hounsou), who is also very wealthy, to see if he would do as a potential husband. Quinton is one of several on her list of candidates. Montana’s younger sister Sheree’s (Lauren London, not shown) is already engaged and Montana feels that she at least has to be engaged before her little sister gets married in 30 days. To find out who, if anyone at all, Montana chooses, see the movie.
Montana Moore (Paula Patton) has a problem. The pretty stewardess is practically 30-years-old, the age at which her mother (Jenifer Lewis) insists any young lady must be married in order to be considered respectable.

Meanwhile, her younger sister, Sheree (Lauren London), who’s a sophomore in college, is already engaged to a big man on campus (Terrence Jenkins), a Heisman trophy hopeful with a bright future in professional football. The blissfully betrothed are set to tie the knot in a month, and Montana is determined to turn one of her former boyfriends into a fiancé prior to Sheree’s wedding day.

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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Two TV Vets Dive to Big RomCom Film



Success can be limiting. While the late James Gandolfini probably didn’t mind the phenomenal long run of The Sopranos that made him rich and famous, I’m told he was glad to see it end, freeing him at last for a transition to the big screen in roles with irony, humor and charm. In the final season of an unconventional career that turned a portly, bear-like character actor into a viable, recognizable, worldwide superstar, he finally showed his charm. In Enough Said, his second-to-last feature film (there’s one more in the can, waiting to get out), he’s sweet, romantic and funny—qualities his friends say characterized the real James Gandolfini, more than anything in the role of Tony Soprano. Oh, and don’t forget the charm. There’s plenty of that to go around, too.

Written and directed by Nicole Holofcener (Lovely and Amazing), a keen observer of what makes complex contemporary relationships tick with the kind of truth that doesn’t come from a laugh track, Enough Said is a movie about late starts and second chances in the lives of two people too old for proms and too young for promises. They know the “forever” word is illogical after 50, but it still sounds good.
 
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Monday, September 16, 2013

Romantic Comedy Lovers Get a Walking Tour in Upper West Side


On a Sunday afternoon in early September, a casually dressed group of women assembled in front of an organic dry cleaner on New York’s Upper West Side.

Despite its ordinary appearance, the shop on Columbus Avenue and 69th Street is a mecca for romantic comedy lovers, entertainment journalists Jennifer Armstrong and Erin Carlson told the women.The exterior served as the site of the Shop Around the Corner, which fans of the 1998 Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks movie “You’ve Got Mail” might remember as the children’s bookstore owned by Ms. Ryan’s character, Kathleen Kelly.

This was the starting point for for Ms. Armstrong and Ms. Carlson’s walking tour of romantic comedy film sites.

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Friday, September 13, 2013

Romantic Comedy Divorce


After Nicole Holofcener cast James Gandolfini in her divorcee romantic comedy “Enough Said,” the “Sopranos” actor kept suggesting she rethink her decision.

Alec Baldwin, he insisted, would be far better suited.

“He would list some actors he thought could do a much better job,” Holofcenter said in a recent interview. “I felt confident he could do this part. More than he did. He was quite certain that he couldn’t pull it off.”

What began as a stretch outside Gandolfini’s comfort zone is now debuting, tragically, as one of Gandolfini’s final performances. “Enough Said,” which premiered recently at the Toronto International Film Festival ahead of Fox Searchlight’s Sept. 18 release, was filmed about a year before the actor died of a heart attack in June. (His final film, the Brooklyn crime movie “Animal Rescue,” is expected to be released next year.)

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Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Mental Institution, a Great Potential Setting for Romantic Comedy

EXCLUSIVE: A mental institution will live up to its funny farm nickname as the setting of a half-hour NBC comedy project written and executive produced by playwright-screenwriter Neil LaBute (The Shape Of Things) and executive produced by Aaron Kaplan of Kapital Entertainment. Harmony House centers on a young psychiatric resident who finds the woman of his dreams in the most unlikely of places: as a patient in the psychiatric facility where he recently has taken a job.

The single-camera project is a romantic comedy that reminds us that love can drive you a little crazy. 20th Century Fox TV is producing. The Harmony House sale comes on the heels of ICM Partners-repped LaBute signing a deal with DirecTV  to produce a series of 10 short films about human relationships. DirecTV’s limited series Full Circle, based on LaBute scripts, premieres next month.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

'The F Word' Provides Delightful Romance


In the delightful world of romantic comedies it's always hard to stay fresh when so many of them hit the big screen every year. But there's always one or two hidden gems to be found, and the latest one to appear in 2013 is Michael Dowse's The F Word. Playing at the Toronto Film Festival, this stellar romantic comedy stars Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan and addresses in a comically fun way the dreaded "f" word in relationships - "friend". It's very sweet, shot exquisitely around Toronto, and endearing in all the right ways.

While it doesn't reinvent the romantic comedy wheel, it doesn't really need to. I enjoyed every second of it.


As one might expect, the film starts by introducing us to the two friends at the center of the story - Wallace (Radcliffe) and Chantry (Kazan) - at their very first meeting at a friend's party. Their relationship is complex as the two instantly connect, and quickly become friends, but continue to remain that way as Chantry has a boyfriend of five years (played by Rafe Spall). Each side has their own set of friends (including Adam Driver) both encouraging and discouraging their attempts to push them closer together or drift farther apart. The film does run across a few romantic comedy clichés with the typical chasing after her moments that obviously won't work out the way we want, but those are minor issues in an otherwise entertaining film.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Monday, September 9, 2013

Asian RomCom 'Wedding Palace' Will Take Place in US Theaters

Asian-American Romantic Comedy WEDDING PALACE will open in select U.S. theaters on Sept. 27 it was announced today. Currently, the film is slated to open at Times Square's AMC Empire 25, and Los Angeles/Orange County's CGV Theater, Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena, and Edward's University Town Center 6 in Irvine.

Abandoned at the altar, Jason's (BrianTee) family quickly introduces him to other eager brides in waiting but to their horror, he rejects them all. The clock is literally ticking on Jason's life as his 30th birthday is fast approaching, bringing along an old family curse. On a business trip to Korea, Jason meets the girl of his dreams, Na Young (Kang Hye-jung). They embark on a cyber love affair fueled by imagination and videochats. Jason proposes and his family is beyonddelighted. However when Na Young arrives in Los Angeles with a surprising revelation, Jason has hesitations and his wacky family goes overboard causing a rollercoaster of ups-and-downs at every turn in this modern romance. Jason will have to bridge the gapbetween family expectationsand being true to himself to find his true love.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Friday, September 6, 2013

'Rush' Stars Go for RomCom Invention


'Rush' stars Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl "invented" a "romantic comedy" between their characters.
The actors play Formula One racers James Hunt and Niki Lauda, who were known for their fierce rivalry during the 1976 F1 season, in Ron Howard's new biopic, but the stars were much friendlier than their real-life counterparts.

Quizzed on whether he and co-star Hemsworth tried to emulate the famed feud between their characters on set, Bruhl said: "No, we didn't. We tried to at first, we always teased each other. But in fact, in between the takes, we invented our own relationship between Hunt and Lauda which would have been a romantic comedy!"

The German actor has received high praise for his portrayal of racing legend Niki Lauda in the pulse-racing new movie, but he reveals he was incredibly nervous about playing Lauda and recalls their awkward first encounter.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?


Thursday, September 5, 2013

First Week of September Play List

‘All the Faces of the Moon’ (in previews; opens on Wednesday) Too late if you want to catch all 29 parts of this new piece by the monologuist Mike Daisey (“The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs”), which he describes as delving into the secret history of New York. Each night of the current lunar cycle he’s performing new material, each night onstage with a different oil painting commissioned just for the show. Fear not: If you start on Friday, you can still see 28 of the bunch. Joe’s Pub, at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 967-7555, joespub.com. (David DeWitt) 

‘Arguendo’ (previews start on Tuesday; opens on Sept. 24) After nearly seven hours of parsing American literature (in the acclaimed “Gatz”), Elevator Repair Service and the Public Theater can be forgiven for shifting their collective attention to something a little racier. Their latest collaboration focuses on a 1991 Supreme Court case over whether exotic dancers ran afoul of a law about public nudity. Elevator Repair Service’s reputation for bold visuals will come into play, but get your mind out of the gutter: the collaborator of note is the visual artist Ben Rubin, who is contributing animated text projections. Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, East Village, (212) 967-7555, publictheater.org. (Eric Grode)

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

'Burt & Me' Sets Up the Guidelines for a Good RomCom

Sometimes, first impressions can’t be trusted.

The preppy khakis, buttoned-up plaids and white knee socks were initially off-putting to me, although the white-bread costumes may have suited others in the Broadway Palm audience.


I also cringed at the stilted choreography during the Burt Bacharach song-and-dance numbers in “Burt & Me,” running through Oct. 5.


But within minutes, the characters won me over. They’re just so likeable.


“Burt & Me” is the quintessential romantic comedy. It’s heart-warming. It’ll make you laugh out loud. And for us softies, it’ll make you tear up.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

'Populaire' RomCom Reflects the Lovely 50's

LOS ANGELES (AP) — ‘‘Mad Men’’ meets ‘‘The Artist’’ in ‘‘Populaire,’’ a superbly crafted, finely acted but somewhat shallow retro rom-com about a young French secretary who, with the help of her highly persuasive boss, hammers her way to becoming one of the fastest typists on the planet.

This impressive debut feature from writer-director Regis Roinsard is boosted by terrific lead turns from Romain Duris and Deborah Francois ("The Page Turner"), as well as some stunning old-school cinematography from Guillaume Schiffman of ‘‘The Artist.’’ Still, there’s something formulaic and all too overtly crowd-pleasing about this sepia-toned tale of female empowerment and lost love, making for a rather soulless affair.


For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?