Just when I had branded the entire genre brain dead, several smart and engaging romantic comedies popped up in 2012. The most inventive was Ruby Sparks,in which a shy writer writes about his imagined perfect love object until…she becomes real. Yes, suddenly he has a real life girlfriend of his own design. Ruby Sparks takes this fantasy of a perfect partner and explores the limits of a partner that you have designed yourself. The biggest star in Ruby Sparks is its leading lady Zoe Kazan’s ingenious screenplay – funny without being silly, profound without being pretentious, bright without being precious.
Also co-written by its female star, in this case Rashida Jones, Celeste and Jesse Forever is about a couple that is now working on an amiable divorce and are still best friends. Once you accept the comic premise that this couple is made for each other but not as a married couple, everyone’s behavior is authentic. Sure, he wants to get back with her when she isn’t in a place to do that – and, then, vice versa – but the characters resolve the conflict as they would in real life. Here’s a mini-spoiler – this movie is just too smart to end in rushing to the airport or disrupting the wedding or any of the other typical rom com contrivances.
Similarly, the best thing about The Five-Year Engagement is the authenticity of the situation. There are no wacky plot devices; this story could all really happen – and is the narrative for some couples today.
1 thought on “2012 at the Movies: a resurgence of smart romantic comedies”