The 4th Annual Asta Awards

The Best in Romantic Comedy 2008

[Our Astas are named, of course, for the terrier film star who upstaged Cary Grant in such screwball classics as Bringing Up Baby and The Awful Truth.  Award winners from 2007 can be found here, 2006  here, and 2005 here.]

Funny how this works: In 2007 I took for granted the surplus of good-to-great rom-commery released, and now, glancing at those Astas, I'm thinking, "Compared to 2008?  Damn, 2007 was smokin'."

No, this isn't going to be On the Death of Romantic Comedy.  Some years happen to contain a classic or a few near-greats, and some years don't.  In fact, the rom-com is like the Energizer bunny of movie genres -- regardless of industry turmoil, it just keeps puttering along. 

And maybe this momentary doldrums is due to our genre paddling in the wake of a big kahuna rom-com wave: the Macho Chick Flick.  Post-Apatow peak, we can't expect to see another major trend crest quite so soon.  So what we've got in this slim Awards presentation bodes nothing in particular for the genre, beyond a mixed bag of middling and one blockbuster knockout.  Maybe it's the calm before a New Wave rom-com storm.

Best Female Lead in a Romantic Comedy: Last year's Most Valuable Player (for Knocked Up), Katherine Heigl, like a lovable smiling stealth bomber, has swiped the "New Meg Ryan" spot for her work in the guilty pleasure, 27 Dresses.  An irrepressible mugger who nonetheless never over-shticks herself out of credibility, she made the most of a "why are we watching this?" set piece featuring said bridesmaid dresses, took a great "thanks, I needed that" punch from Judy Greer and delightfully mangled Benny and the Jets.

Best Male Lead in a Rom-Com: Heigl's partner in Dresses, the increasingly reliable James Marsden, was pretty much the only competition in a male-weak year, and when you're on a streak, you're on a streak: Michael Cera, after Superbad and Juno, hit faux indie sleeper Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist out of the park, not surprising moi.  A Jedi master of the self-effacing shrug, Cera continues to seduce the camera without the benefit of classic movie star looks or moves, and I'm way looking forward to what he does with Harold Ramis at the helm in next year's quirky The Year One.

Most Believable Couple in a Rom-Com: Cera might not have shone so brightly as Nick without a perfect Nora in their Infinite Playlist.  While a savvy screenplay by Lorene Scarafia (based on a canny novel by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan) certainly supplied the chemistry on the page, the on-screen credibility between Cera and welcome addition to the rom-com world, Kat Dennings was a pleasure to behold.  Yeah, you knew they'd be perfect together in the end from even before they actually met (kudos should go, I suppose, to Joseph Middleton's casting), but it was some of the year's best fun watching them spar and twinkle, en route.

Best Rom-Com Ensemble: Speaking of sparring and twinkling (and flirting, angst-ing and in one instance, shooting), the bunch of neurotics I most enjoyed hanging out with in 2008 were Vicky Cristina Barcelona's band of lovable nut-jobs.  Penelope Cruz (sigh) has gotten her props with a Golden Globe nom, but it was her back-up group of Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson and under-appreciated newcomer Rebecca Hall (along with the always intriguing Patricia Clarkson) who made this golden-hued late Woody Allen pic sing.

Best Rom-Com Stimulus Package: Meanwhile -- and I know this is a wildly subjective matter of taste -- I was less than thrilled with the formerly dependable band of femmes from Sex and the City.  Like, what was up with the character assassination of poor Miranda?  Somewhere, an insulted Cynthia Nixon is no doubt grinning and bearing her way to the bank, but this is my point: love it or hate it, Sex's whopper of an opening weekend this year opened a lot of studio eyes to the possibility of female-driven films (and romantic comedies) as good box office -- and for this our genre, along with a lot of work-hungry actresses, is grateful. 

Rom-Com Breakout Performance of 2008: I didn't even have to think twice about this one, since this fellow was really the only reason to watch the imminently forgettable Forgetting Sarah Marshall again.  And no, it's not just about the hair: Russell Brand is already a comedic star across the pond, and he's soon to become the same on this side, I'll wager, when his Forgetting character, the inspiredly obnoxious British rocker Aldous Snow, takes the lead in Get Him to the Greek.

Best Young-at-Heart Rom-Com: This award is totally a cheat, since truth be told, I haven't seen the movie (it opens next week).  Nevertheless, the sadly true fact is, despite the success of Nicholson and Keaton's Something's Gotta Give, a 71 year-old Dustin Hoffman and 49 year-old Emma Thompson in Last Chance Harvey is the closest we've come since to a major studio romantic comedy featuring (gasp) over-40 leads.  Let's hope the Golden Globe noms for both stars are an indication of good, as the film's trailer is surprisingly lackluster.  

Best Bromantic Comedy: Yes, it's an official sub-genre of its own, now that heterosexual boy meets, loses and gets boy stories have become if not the rage, oddly enough the norm on America's movie screens.  Superbad paved the way for the most recent crop of "I love you, man!" rom-coms, and there's so much of it going around that competition for this Asta was tough.  Tropic Thunder's deliriously wrong buddy love match-up between Ben Stiller and Robert Downey, Jr. in blackface was pretty great, but finally Pineapple Express has to take the prize: who can forget odd couple Seth Rogen and sloe-eyed James Franco in this ode to manly hugs and bitchin' bong hits?

Best Romantic Comedy Chemistry: Last year it was Pam and Jim (Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski) who lit up TV's The Office with their spot-on, low-key charm, and this year, while they continue to shine (their opening episode marriage proposal was just, like, perfect), they've been matched in quirky rom-com high jinks by the unlikely union of Rainn Wilson and Angela Kinsey (aka Dwight and Angela) and something marvelously new: Steve Carrell's Michael Scott met his match in human resources rep Holly Flax, played by Amy Ryan -- the one woman in the world who really, really got Michael.  This being The Office, it was of course too cringe-laden good to last.  But next season, maybe a return visit...?  We can only hope.

[Updated Entry: I've been recusing myself of any judgment on one romantic comedy/dramedy released this year because its writer-director is a friend (I actually did a little bit of work on it myself), but with a helpful nudge from my reader comments, I hereby present Adam Brooks with a Most Admirably Ambitious Rom-Com Asta for his form-tweaking Definitely, Maybe.]

And while we're at it, let's give a Best Attempt to Revive the Screwball Asta to David Koepp's underrated Ghost Town, and hope that Ricky Gervais gets to make more American movies.

Best Romantic Comedy (That Most People Don't Think is a Romantic Comedy): How much do we love Wall-E?  You can count the ways by checking just about every movie critic's "10 Best of 'o8" list, or read Living RomCom's take on it, for the details.  We'll toss in Best Rom-Com Screenplay (despite a third act that some find tiresome) for doing the first forty-odd minutes with almost no dialogue, and Best Direction for auteur Andrew Stanton.  But whether you think it's really cool (if you're a lover of genre hybrids) or really sad (if you're a purist), this year's inarguably best romantic comedy was about the funny love that developed between two robots in a post-apocalyptic future. 

Not sure what that has to say about the future of romantic comedy, but if you haven't seen it yet...  Love is a force of nature and stockings must be stuffed, dude.  Resistance is futile.

Comments

[simone]

I've only seen one of those films, vicky christina barcelona which I loved completely. must amend netflix queue. x

[E.C. Henry]

Billy, even in a year when the romantic comedy genre is down, you mananage to forage enough to fill an awards show.

You AMAZE me.

Even your new topics are SOOOO today: "Best Rom-Com Stimulus Package," "Best Romatic Comedy Chemistry," "Best Bromantic Comedy," "Best Romantic Comedy (That Most People Don't Think is a Romantic Comedy)."

This year I have NO PROBLEM with your lists and winner. Heck, I'm amazed you found enough fodder to chose from to say there is even a competition.

The only two things E.C. has to add to this years Astas are as follows:

Best Romantic Comedy of 2008:
"Definately, Maybe"

Best Romantic Comedy Triangle of 2008:
Dwight Shrute/Angela Martin/Andy Benard from "The Office:" Some of the funniest stuff on TV right now, miss it at your own peril!

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

[pjw]

In the category of pretty good romantic comedy, I'd put Definitely, Maybe. And in the category of the chick from a movie I'd most like to meet in real life, Isla Fiscer (as April Hoffman) in the same movie. The character was great, and Isla was also great playing that character.

[j]

How does The Office manage to ALWAYS be completely and utterly human?

They've got the magic mixture. Whatever it is.

[AJA]

M.
I second another commenter’s testament to your ability to spin (the silken-hued at any rate) out of a dross of a year, but with Vicky Schmicky Backmatova you go too far. You mistake the charm of the players for the worth of the play. I’ve a long, committed relationship to the Wood, and have often smiled upon him when others frowned (for which he thanked me not a whit), but he can often coast, and in VSB he is committedly carried along by cliché, particularly in the voice-over narration, in which the narrator strikes for the characters countless tired, arty and bohemian poses. Every situation and emotion – every enunciation about art – is characterized by bland generality because Allen hasn’t made the effort to invent individual characters, even within their type, who might have individual, idiosyncratic ideas about photography, painting, or whatever. In one of the hallmarks of an artist making bad art, he confuses his facility with worthwhile effort. The only authentic scene in the film is when Cruz reacts with deep (and unexpected) pain at Johansson’s dump job and Bardem (surprisingly) accommodates it with real, emotional wisdom. For that one moment, we had real people on the screen.

Otherwise, our condolences to you and the Tater about Molly. You know we know.

[mernitman]

Simone: I think you'd like Wall-E...

EC: You're right about the Triangle Asta, and as you can see, I amended the post, after your comment and pjw's re: DEF MAYBE.

PJW: We heart Isla.

j: Yes, and if only they could bottle it...!

AJA: Well, that's what makes horse-racing (see Simone's comment above). I'm not at all a blind-deaf-dumb Allen devotee, myself, btw, but what can I tell you: I was thoroughly entertained by this one, largely due to the players, yes, which is what prompted my "Ensemble" pick. I'll just respectfully suggest that you're being a bit harsh on VICKI, which I honestly don't think of as "bad art." There are so many other ill-intentioned products out there that would more rightfully earn that label -- but let's just agree to disagree.

Meanwhile -- more importantly! -- thank you for the condolences. It's just awful. I hope your four-leggeds are thriving and healthy and enjoying the open road!

[best romance movies]

Vicky Cristina Barcelona had a great ensemble cast. But I miss Woody Allen's early slapstick work. But, that's just me.

[free movie]

It was very good post, i have seen most of the films and can say that they deserve to be mentioned here. I was surprised with the Wall-E entry but its truly romantic film.