The 6th Annual Asta Awards

The Best in Romantic Comedy 2010

Maybe we’re just not in the mood.  Perhaps political argument has bludgeoned any penchant for witty flirtatious banter out of our current recessionist American moment.  Maybe a decade of male POV sex farce and wedding-obsessed chick-flickism has debilitated a once-hardy genre, but whatever: this was a dismal year for romantic comedy.  (A good year for Astas - named for the terrier who upstaged Cary Grant in such screwball classics as Bringing Up Baby - can be found here).

To cut right to the scoreboard, there was no Best Romantic Comedy of 2010, i.e. no one movie that struck a chord with the public and cognoscenti at large.  This was a year of a few great moments, here and there – little glimmers of genuine artistry and hilarity in otherwise uninspired and incoherent movies.

Some of the best rom-com bits – and entire relationships – showed up in movies that were not romantic comedies, the former exemplified by a leading man falling asleep in the midst of hot sex (Steven Dorf in Somewhere), and the latter embodied in a lesbian-heterosexual triangle (Julianne Moore with Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right).

Regarding what passed for certified Romantic Comedy in 2010, before kind-of celebrating what was Not So Bad, we might as well get the worst out of the way.  In this sphere, we have a clear, no-contest Asta winner.

The Worst Romantic Comedy of the Year – aka The Best Mercenary Marketing Ploy of 2010 – was Valentine’s Day, a movie of such soul-killing superficiality that it hurts a true genre fan to have to even try to remember it.  The public showed up for the holiday, and for the package of stars, making it the most financially successful rom-com of the year, but here’s the most telling fact: Valentine’s Day also had one of the year’s biggest second-weekend drop-offs (a whopping 70%).  In other words, we came, it sucked, and hardly anybody came after.

The rest of the worst ran the gamut from big-ticket bombs (Sex and the City 2) to ubiquitous negligible zom-coms, i.e. zombie romantic comedies that were dead before they were made (Leap Year, When in Rome, et al). 

In the realm of Squandered Potential, we’re giving out a special new award this year, called The Jen in honor of Ms. Aniston, who true-to-form, delivered two awful rom-coms in 2010 (The Bounty Hunter, The Switch).  This year’s Jen Award goes to Katherine Heigl, who only yesterday was a Great White Hope for rom-coms, but in 2010 wasted herself, and our attention, in both Life As We Know It (a could’ve-been-fun parental rom-com) and Killers (a heinous hybrid).  Speaking of hybrids…

Biggest Rom-Com Missed Opportunity: Date Night.  We so wanted to love this middling mediocrity of a concoction, we fans of Tina Fey and Steve Carell, two of today’s most appealing, often brilliant comedic talents, and the best everyone involved could come up with was… this, a disappointment that gave far too much credence to its disposable cops-and-robbers plot, and nearly allowed a buff, half-naked Marky Mark to walk away with the show, (occasioning Carell’s best line, “Will you, for the love of God, put on a f--king shirt?!”). 

Fey and Carell did provide a few of those aforementioned moments (e.g. a minute of inspired mugging as they pretend to be pretentious hipsters at a too-hot restaurant).  But will someone, for the love of the Gods of comedy, find these two a real f--king vehicle?  In the meantime, here’s what we were left with as – if not the Best of 2010 – the Better, and the Okay.

Best Teen Rom-Com (That Was More of a Coming-of-Age Movie): Absolutely no competition in the teen sex comedy category this year.  For sheer wit, cinematic snappiness, and all-around cool – and for introducing us to Emma Stone, future adult romantic comedy star, heading up a pitch-perfect ensemble cast – Easy A was this year’s next-best-thing-to-Clueless.

Best Rom-Com Hybrid: Living the RomCom realizes it may be a stone alone, but for our popcorn money, the much maligned Knight and Day provided the best smiles’n’stunts combo in 2010, giving Tom Cruise a good excuse to make fun of himself and giving Cameron Diaz a better workout than she’s had in some execrable straight-up formulaic rom-com fare (e.g. What Happens in Vegas).  Not taking itself seriously for a second, this entertaining escapist trifle delivered just the right blend of Romance Lite and action thrills, which is more than can be said for some (see Date Night).

Best Video Game Romantic Comedy: I thought Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, a love-it or hate-it room-splitter, was a hoot, Style In Search of Substance though it may be.  With great visuals from director Edgar Right, it earns a Best Supporting Buddy Asta for that young Master of Wry, Kieran Culkin.

Best Bromantic Comedy:  Another thin field this year, suggesting that sublimated rom-com homoerotica may have (at least temporarily) run its course in Hollywood, and leaving us with the overtly gay I Love You, Philip Morris.   An admirable performance from Jim Carrey, as a con man obsessed with Ewan McGregor, and a nicely stylized story that's a lot easier to swallow when you know it was based on the real-life exploits of one Steven Russell, a man who escaped from prison multiple times… for love.

Best Female Lead in a Rom-Com: Not many people saw, or warmed to, the darkly cynical depths of Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg, more of a dramedy than a comedy, but those who did came out singing the praises of Greta Gurwig.  After proving her indie cred in such films as Hannah Takes the Stairs, Gurwig brought a fresh level of risk-taking naturalism, vulnerability and loopy comic timing to the mainstream screen; we hope to see more of her, and soon, please.

Most Valuable Player in Romantic Comedy 2010 goes to the ever-charming Paul Rudd, who gave his largely unsung conviction to the reviled James Brooks project, How Do You Know.  Typical of this year’s disappointments, the bloated, indulgent and mostly wrong-headed Know (there's actually an intriguing idea for a movie buried in it) had one great set piece – a post-birth hospital marriage proposal scene done once, then reenacted for video – but otherwise would have been entirely unwatchable but for Rudd's enduring endearing-ness.

Best Chemistry in a Romantic Comedy: Yes, it’s a mess of a movie made of what feel like three competing movies, one-third awful, and one-third “Huh?”  But the third of Love and Other Drugs that features Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal in various erotic situations (while doing their damnedest not to fall in love) is genuinely, believably sexy.  They're great to watch together, and their lust, minus the old bedsheet-over-boobs, is portrayed with a modicum of realism, which is more than we got in most of 2010’s high-toned romantic dramas, thank you very much.  Speaking of realism…

The Most Decent Romantic Comedy in a Year of Diminished Expectations:  Its plot is pedestrian, its moves are predictable, but the only rom-com released in 2010 that made me laugh out loud heartily, and more than once, was Nanette Burstein’s Going the Distance.   Its intelligent, cliché-tweaking script (by Geoff LaTulipe) is filled with dialogue that sounds like people who might actually exist in the real world talking.  Leads Drew Barrymore – as a woman acknowledging her age, and having an understandable issue about it – and Justin Long, playing a guy whose flawed setup created the one truly shaky contrivance in the story (Dude, why don’t you just relocate?!) – make an unusually credible couple. 

The film is anything but epic, and its bar is generally not set very high; in another few years, its small pleasures may have faded from memory.  But as a believably representative picture of like, what the American rom-com culture was like in 2010, this little movie delivered the goods.  You can either see that as a sad indictment of the state of this genre’s art, or as a reasonable rental for rom-com fans to spend a few hours with this winter. 

Living the Rom-Com, thankful for such small favors, can only hope that things get bigger and better in the decade to come.

Comments

[E.C. Henry]

LOVE the new award category, "The Jen: for squandered potential in the romantic comedy genre." Jennifer Aniston is the embodyment of squandered potential. Made famous from her role in "Friends" I thought she was talor made to dominate the rom-com field. Yet it's never happened, though she's been in more than her fair share of female leads in romantic comedy vehicles over the years. Sorry to read that this year's "Jen" goes to Katherine Heigl. I just thought Katherine Heigl was someone I could believe in take that post-Meg-Ryan mantle and bring the romantic comedy genre to new hights never achieved before. Like Aniston, Heigl is very photogenic, but she still lacks that signature role that cements her in rom-com lore to be remembered favoribly, forever.

Still, solid 6th edition of the Astas, Billy. Thanks for reminding me of so many films that bear watching. For my money I see 2010 as being, "The Year Hollywood Forgot How to Love." Hopefully 2011 will be better.

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

[J]

I really wish Paul Rudd would marry me. Or at least star in one of my movies a then get the bright idea to marry me.

It's not a rom com, but "Role Models" has got to be one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. He's so damn LIKABLE. Someone needs to write him a meaty, oscar worthy part.

I'll do my best.

[mernitman]

EC: I'm pretty hopeful that Ms. Heigl will bounce back (maybe two tankers in a row will make her choose her next roles more carefully). Meanwhile, I love your title for the year.

J: Hey, go ahead and do that, will you? I'd love to see Mr. Rudd's acceptance speech.

[Rob in L.A.]

Not only is Living the Romantic Comedy a crisply, crackly written blog that’s tons o’ fun to read, but it also reminds me how I totally turn off my hard-won critical faculties when I watch romcoms, one of my favorite Hollywood genres.

While many movie mavens regard “Valentine’s Day” as a cinematic atrocity, I can just plunk down my box-office money, nestle in my cushy chair, and put my mind on hold for two hours. So, it’s nice to have someone like Mr. Mernit to remind me what I’m turning my mind off to. Perhaps one of these days, I’ll become just as critical of something like VD (insert joke here) as I am of the latest overblown comic-book or sci-fi franchise.

In the meantime, I’d like to say: I thoroughly enjoyed Disney’s animated romcom hybrid “Tangled” and think it deserves some kind of mention in LTRC’s year-end wrap-up. Also, I’d like to give kudos to “Love and Other Drugs” specifically for coming up with a new twist on the Best Friend figure: Josh Gad as Jake Gyllenhall’s annoying brother, not so much a “best friend” as a whiny one-man Greek chorus that the male lead can’t shake out of family loyalty. Nice touch.

[Judith Duncan]

Hey Billy,
Thanks for the Asta's and great to see a post again :)
I saw Love and Other Drugs during the week and (I'll try not to vent here) I thought it was awful,a love story without any heart. Yes,Jake and Ann have a wonderful chemistry and I could dive into Jake's beautiful blue eyes and swim around for a while,but they seemed to hit every paint by numbers structural beat of a rom/com without any triggers or believable set ups.

The obligatory masterbation scene (why are they in so many American films???) by his brother who was supposed to be comedic relief,but apart from the fact that he looked nothing like Jake was truly annoying. There were so many opportunities to go into the reality of what Parkinson's could do to a relationship,but it seemed that Ann only had to deal with an occassional handshake. The show don't tell maxim in screenwriting was thrown out the window. A great opportunity to to give us a hit to the gut was lost at the convention when the husband of the Parkinson's sufferer told Jake what it was like. Why not have the wife there in a wheel chair in front of Jake and Ann so they both see the decay that's in store,that would have been a reason to give them 2nd thoughts. As it was it became repetitious that Ann kept telling him to go.
Okay so this has turned into a rant,I should stop.Can't help it.

Miss you Billy.
Cheers,
Judith

[mernitman]

Rob in L.A.: Aurgh! You've busted me - I saw that TANGLED got surprisingly good reviews and was clearly a rom-com hybrid, but it was the one pic on my list that I didn't get to see in time for the Astas; my (bogus) rationalization for leaving it out was "animation." I hope to see it soon, and hope this lapse can be forgiven. Meanwhile, yes, the brother bit in LAOD was a nice tweak to justify the old "why does this guy have a roommate? (so he can have a buddy)" ploy so often used in such romantic comedies.

p.s. I took a gander at your blog and very much enjoyed the CITY LIGHTS post (for not only narcissistic reasons). Good, smart writing.

Judith: My favorite ranter! Yes, I agree with your rant, except the lack of heart accusation - those guys (Zwick and Herskovitz) are actually very heart-full; I think in this case they were taking on much more than they could deal with, so instead of doing one thing well, they did two out of three things superficially. Frustrating, but at least they tried? Anyway, good to hear from you. I hope you have an exceptional New Year!

[Annie]

Although I can give Emma Stone an A for effort in Easy A, I found her performance borderline annoying and the film to be unoriginal, often times boring, and out of touch. I think with a different director and script tweaks it could have entered the pantheon of teen movie royalty - Clueless, Mean Girls, etc. but instead is something to pass the time on a plane or on a lazy Saturday when there are no reruns of your favorite show to lazily watch over breakfast. Missed opportunity for all.

[Rob in L.A.]

Mr. Mernit, thank you for your kind words about my blog. All is greatly appreciated.

If you ever get around to seeing “Tangled,” I hope that you will take a hiatus from taking a hiatus and write a review of it on LTRC.

P.S. Shouldn’t the Astas also have a category for Best Bellamy? If so, I would nominate — despite the film’s other shortcomings — Owen Wilson in “How Do You Know[?]” Few other Mr. (or Ms.) Wrongs are so full of beans or seem so dangerously able (in an inept way) of stealing the female lead away from the male lead. Rare is the Bellamy who gets billing over Mr. Right.

[mernitman]

Annie: Fair enough. As they say, that's what makes horse racing.

Rob: There have been Bellamy Astas awarded in the past, and I did enjoy Wilson's work in HDYK... just not That Much. But I do look forward to seeing TANGLED, at any rate - thanks for the suggestion.

[Daniel Smith]

Great to hear some insight into the industry again from you.

I'm sorry to say I actually bought the DVD for that d*** Valentine's Day. Awful tripe. The best part was Queen Latifah on the phone and that took all of 30 seconds. We also saw Leap Year and Date Night. Neither deserves a second viewing but at least they weren't Valentine's Day. I hope Steve and Tina meet up again with a better script.

[mernitman]

Daniel: Tripe, indeed. Meanwhile, it's interesting to me that some of the best comedy writing today is happening on Fey and Carell's native turf - TV (see MODERN FAMILY, 30 ROCK when it's great, etc.). Maybe they can cherry-pick some top TV scribes for a feature project...

[Patty]

I checked every now and again each month to see if you had posted. So glad to read from you again! I don't have any comment on your picks, since I haven't seen any of them. I did see, belatedly, the Shakespeare Retold version of Much Ado About Nothing and found that to be funny and endearing. Haven't seen Sarah Parish in anything else and feel I have been missing something. Now would those two ever really ever get together? Doubt it. And that is the ultimate test, right?

[Rob in L.A.]

Patty, I'm glad that you saw Shakespeare Retold's low-profile updating of "Much Ado." I saw it a month or two ago (in fact, it was the last day it was streaming on Netflix — just in time), and it has to be my favorite rom-com that I've seen this past year.

I've just come from seeing "The Tourist," another hybrid rom-com worth mentioning. I enjoyed my time in the theatre but think the story went a twist too far.

[MaryAn]

Valentine's Day. Walked out. The only other time I remember leaving mid-flick was Interview with the Vampire and that was only because of my musophobic inability to watch anyone -- even a vampire -- suck a rat.

[mernitman]

Patty: Good to hear from you - I'll keep an eye out for Sarah Parish, and yes, that IS the ultimate test.

Rob: I think The Tourist is bogus.

MaryAn: You have an issue with rat-sucking? What's up with that?

I think your movie walkout association makes sense, given that VD's cast was a parade of quick-payday stars baring exceptional teeth...

[jenny]

"Valentine's Day" was awful, but the highlight was Anne Hathaway.- she is incredibly charming and has knack for accents.

Anne blew me away when she hosted SNL last year- wonderful comedic timing & killer impressions of Judy Garland from "Wizard of Oz" , Cate Middleton, and Katie Holmes. This is why she got the Oscar co-hosting gig. Hathaway needs to stop doing rom-coms and pursue quality comedies because she has the talent.

I have been hearing great things about Focus Feature's " One Day" ( July 2011) . Apparently, Anne Hathaway & Jim Sturgess are very good in this rom-com . The script to this movie was included on the recent "Black List" .

[mernitman]

Jenny: I, too, am a Hathaway fan, and having read the "One Day" novel, I'm way looking forward to seeing what they've done with it. Release got pushed up to July from its original Fall date, which is an indicator that Focus has high hopes...

[Rob in L.A.]

Happy GROUNDHOG DAY, everybody!