A Ronda Rich Novel Based RomCom

Ronda Rich said she never writes anything in her column that would cause her embarrassment if her pastor read it. So, when it came time for a television movie adaption of her book, “The Town That Came A-Courtin’” she made sure the film stayed true to the clean content of her writing.

“If you’re looking for good wholesome family entertainment, with no sex, violence, or cussing, then you’re going to enjoy this movie,” said Rich, whose columns appear Sundays in the Citizen’s East Metro section.

“The Town That Came A-Courtin’,” a romantic comedy about a community’s love for their mayor and how that appreciation plays out in the life of an author visiting the town, airs on Sunday, Jan. 19 at 7, 9 and 11 p.m. on the UP network.

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

'That Awkward Moment' Spins on Male RomCom

(Reuters) - Actor Zac Efron navigates the tangled, complex web of dating and the New York singles scene in "That Awkward Moment," a film that puts an uncommon spin on romantic comedy: the male perspective.

The movie, due to open in U.S. theatres on Friday, follows the lives and loves of best friends, 20-something men in the big city trying to remain emotionally unattached as they manoeuvre the tricky terrain of jobs and relationships.


"This is the first look, I think, of what it is like to be a guy dating at our age and what it's like to be out there," said Efron, 26, who is also an executive producer on the film.

"Sometimes it takes your best friends to get through it," added the star, who shot to fame in the Disney "High School Musical" TV movies and more recently starred in the historical drama "Parkland" and the thriller "The Paperboy."

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The Growth of Cinematic Romance

The year 2013 wasn’t a good one for the romantic comedy.

Pickings were slimmer than they’ve ever been, and the few entries that did garner some attention—like Admission, Austenland, and Baggage Claim—weren’t your typical rom-com, nor did any of them make more than $25 million at the box office. The Atlantic’s own Christopher Orr wrote extensive autopsies of the failing genre, and his critique of Love Actually (as a classic and romance) inspired think-piece wars. The rom-com’s cause of death, he wrote, is not just a dearth of willing (or talented) stars, studios and audiences, but the fact that there are no longer “[obstacles] to nuptial bliss for the budding couple to overcome.” According to Orr, “new complications must be invented, [and] test-driven”—which nobody is invested in doing anymore.

With these kinds of conversations painting a grim picture around what isn’t working in cinema’s most visible form of amour, it’d be easy to believe all romance has vanished from the movies.

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'A Middleton' to Spark Up the Theaters

The films At Middleton and That Awkward Moment hit theaters this weekend, adding to the limited offerings available to theatergoers in the romantic comedy genre. At Middleton centers around two adults who meet and share a connection during their children’s campus tour at Middleton College.  The two leads are played by Vera Farmiga and Andy Garcia.  

That Awkward Moment stars Zac Efron (High School Musical, Valentine’s Day), Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station), and Miles Teller (yesterday’s Sundance Prize winner Whiplash) as three friends encountering the dating world in that awkward moment before it is decided where a relationship should lead. The films add to the offerings in a genre that many have called lackluster and uninspired at worst (Why are Romantic Comedies So Bad?) and described as morphing and evolving at best (The Romantic Comedy is Dying, but Cinematic Romance is Thriving). This spate of recent articles in The Atlantic and Cineaste has discussed the standing, fate, and future of the genre, through critical analysis such as Drinking Buddies: This is How Romcoms Should Work and a wave of spirited discussion on the film Love Actually and its purported merits or lack thereof.

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How Pursuit of Love is Played

Narcisse Mondoux has but one passion left to pursue in life.

Unfortunately, the retired, widowed master plumber has one major obstacle to overcome to fulfil it — himself.

Those are the broad strokes of the plot in Gratien Gelinas’s little gem of a romantic comedy, The Passion of Narcisse Mondoux, now on at the Grand Theatre and starring the masterful Rod Beattie of Wingfield fame in the title role and Brigit Wilson as the object of that passion, the recently widowed Laurencienne Robichaud.

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

Debra Messing's Quest for Romance in 'Outside Mullingar'

Debra Messing, a nice Jewish girl, slides effortlessly into a foursome of otherwise Irish actors in the wistful “Outside Mullingar,” a new romantic comedy — that is, by the time it resolves an identity crisis — from award-winning writer John Patrick Shanley (“Doubt”).

A world premiere, “Mullingar” has just opened at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

That Messing makes for a fine ensemble actress is hardly astounding. We saw it for eight seasons on TV's “Will & Grace,” in which she played a neurotic interior designer, and later in the Broadway-centric “Smash." What is surprising is how convincingly she plays an Irishwoman in her Broadway debut, which finds her cast as a thirty-something introvert on a farm in rural County Westmeath.

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

'Obvious Child' Attempts to Bend RomCom Rules

Director and screenwriter Gillian Robespierre debuted her romantic comedy “Obvious Child” at Sundance last week about raunchy Brooklyn comedian Donna Stern (played by actress Jenny Slate) who loses her cheating boyfriend, job and then gets pregnant after a drunken one-night stand. The movie subverts a whole bunch of traditional romantic comedy rules. Slate’s character remains makeup less, with tangled hair for most of the film and has a strong penchant for joking about her bowel movements. When her one night stand with an earnest and sweet guy ends up in pregnancy, she struggles with how to tell him about her plans for abortion.

Robespierre and Slate talked to the Wall Street Journal about their desire to portray real women and how they struggle with unplanned pregnancy.

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

 

 

The Appealing Strangeness of 'Ghosts of Love'

Romantic love in the films of David Lynch is more than passion; as often as not, it is a dangerously morbid obsession expressed in songs that thread through the soundtracks like the tempting voices of sirens. The title song of “Blue Velvet”; Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams,” from the same movie; and Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game,” from “Wild at Heart,” are prime examples of songs that dangle the keys to supernatural mysteries. 

They were given evocative platforms on Saturday evening in the theatrical cabaret “Ghosts of Love: Songs From the Reel World of David Lynch,” now at Stage 72 (formerly the Triad Theater), in which the singer and actress Lauren Fox and her frequent collaborator, the bassist and singer Ritt Henn, play an archetypal Lynchian couple. The title is that of a terrifying song from Mr. Lynch’s “Inland Empire.”

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

 

'Feed Me' Opens in Birmingham Theatre Downtown

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Meet Kevin, a New Jersey park ranger in the upcoming play "Feed Me (a fairy tale for adults)" who falls in love with a bear. 

Will Kevin's interspecies relationship outlast the challenges that arise? Find out when the play opens at the Theatre Downtown on Jan. 23 at 8 p.m.

The romantic comedy starring Jonathan Sweatt as Kevin is written by Daniel Martin, who has brought plays like "Abraham Lincoln's Big Gay Dance Party," "The Eight: Reindeer Monologues" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" to the stage at Theatre Downtown. Martin co-directs "Feed Me" with Flannery Hooks, who once played Janet in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

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

FAMU Grads Deliver 'Black Coffee'

LOS ANGELES – Tri Destined Studios, a company comprised of several Florida A&M University (FAMU) alumni, debuted its romantic comedy, “Black Coffee,” in a limited theatrical release this week. AMC Theatres offered exclusive showings of the film in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

FAMU alumni involved in the project include N.D. Brown (producer), Veronica Nichols (consulting producer), Gregory Anderson (executive consultant) and Shoneji Loraine (actress).

“My business partners and I built our foundation for success at FAMU,” Anderson said. “FAMU gave us the fortitude to handle the roller coaster that is Hollywood, while providing us with the entrepreneurial spirit that can’t be found in a text book, and the moral fiber to do our business with integrity.”

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

Paul Rudd - Amy Poehler Delivers RomCom Spoof

Formulaic, generic romantic comedies are a dime a dozen in Hollywood today, but with his latest film director David Wain is doing what he can to turn the genre on its ear - and he's doing so by making a romantic comedy that is more formulaic and generic than any romantic comedy you have ever seen before. It's a concept that's difficult to get across in writing, but today, thanks to Buzz Feed and The Film Stage, the movie can now speak for itself. Above you'll find the first clip from the spoof They Came Together, and once you get over the initial awkwardness of it you'll begin to see that this idea may be kind of genius.

The movie will be making its big world premiere as the Closing Night film of this year's Sundance Film Festival, and in advance of the screening Wain has also published a director's statement about the project. It's filled to the brim with sarcasm, but fans will instantly recognize the filmmaker's sense of humor:

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

 

'I Need Romance' Cable Series Comeback

The third season of the cable channel tvN's new Monday Tuesday drama "I Need Romance" differentiated the drama from the first and the second seasons, which focused on the career and love of the three women in their thirties, by painting a larger picture and introducing more supporting characters in the workplace of the two main characters.

On the first episode of the cable channel tvN's new Monday Tuesday drama "I Need Romance" which aired on January 13, 2014, Shin Joo Yeon, played by Kim So Heon, and Joo Wan, played by Sung Joon, introduced their romantic relationship which started since their childhood, and how the two have changed after nine years of working at big corporate companies.

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

Ronda Rich Novel-Based RomCom to Show on Jan. 19

Ronda Rich said she never writes anything in her column that would cause her embarrassment if her pastor read it. So, when it came time for a television movie adaption of her book, “The Town That Came A-Courtin’” she made sure the film stayed true to the clean content of her writing.

“If you’re looking for good wholesome family entertainment, with no sex, violence, or cussing, then you’re going to enjoy this movie,” said Rich, whose columns appear Sundays in the Citizen’s East Metro section.

“The Town That Came A-Courtin’,” a romantic comedy about a community’s love for their mayor and how that appreciation plays out in the life of an author visiting the town, airs on Sunday, Jan. 19 at 7, 9 and 11 p.m. on the UP network.

Read more

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

 

 

'Maggie's Plan' Makes Its Way in NYC

The hearts of a million mumblecore fans – don’t call them that! – skip a beat every time actress Greta Gerwig gets attached to a role in a film, and almost certainly stopped for two beats once she signed on for yet another Noah Baumbach movie, this one a currently untitled future project. Gerwig will next star in the upcoming film from The Private Lives of Pippa Lee director Rebecca Miller, a filmmaker who has an affectionate fanbase of her own.

The film is called Maggie’s Plan, and Miller described it to Deadline as a romantic comedy of manners that will tell "the story of a young woman and the joys and pitfalls of trying to make your own way in New York City." I’d like to get a poll on who groaned louder after I read that.

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

'Magic in the Moonlight' Highlights 1920 RomCom

NEW YORK -- Woody Allen's upcoming film "Magic in the Moonlight" will be a 1920s romantic comedy set on the French Riviera.

Little had been known about Allen's next film before Thursday when Sony Pictures Classics announced it will distribute "Magic in the Moonlight." It stars Colin Firth, Emma Stone and Marcia Gay Harden
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Sony Pictures Classics said it's about "an Englishman brought in to help unmask a possible swindle." The film is set "against the backdrop of the Cote d'Azur, jazz joints and fashionable spots for the wealthy of the Jazz Age."

Allen shot the film last year in southern France. His 2011 hit "Midnight in Paris" also drew on the romance of '20s France.

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

ABC Spots Single-Camera RomCom Project

ABC continues to be aggressive this pilot season, handing out early orders. The latest pilot green light has come for a half hour single-camera comedy project from writer Jeff Lowell (John Tucker Must Die) and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. ABC Studios, where Brillstein is under a TV deal, is producing. Former Brillstein TV president Peter Traugott is in negotiations to executive produce, marking a reunion with the company where he spent 15 years before moving to NBCUniversal in June 2011 with a three-year overall deal.

Traugott, who originally developed and executive produced the Jeff Lowell project that was set up at NBC during the 2010-11 season through BEP and ABC Studios, is still based at Universal TV but has asked Uni TV for permission to return as an exec producer. Written/exec produced by Lowell, the untitled half-hour is described as a romantic comedy that exposes the unfiltered internal monologues of a young couple embarking on a new relationship. For Traugott and his producing partner Rachel Kaplan, who also worked at BEP, the Jeff Lowell comedy had been a favorite project. 

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