Four years ago, screenwriter Tess Morris e-mailed me from England to tell me that my rom-com book had helped her write a screenplay, beginning a correspondence that bloomed into a friendship, I'm happy to say. I'm especially happy to have watched her project grow from being "this script I've just finished" to "OMG this movie's getting made!" to this weekend's UK release of Man Up, starring Lake Bell and Simon Pegg, directed by Ben Palmer, which has opened to glowing reviews (check out these tomatoes).
It's great when you can see something that's been created by a friend and you don't have to make up something nice to say about it. In this case I can honestly report that in seeing Man Up I laughed, I cried, and I'm chuffed to see it again when the movie comes out in the USA - should be in the Fall. In the meantime, Living the RomCom readers may be amused to find Writing the Romantic Comedy's praises sung in print: here's Tess's thoughts on rom-com craft, and an interview with Ms. Morris and Mr. Pegg.
This being an American-born blog, predominately perused by stateside readers, I can't urge you to go see it tonight, but consider this brief post a kind of whet-your-appetite notice: Man Up provides delightful proof that rumors of the romantic comedy genre's demise have indeed been greatly exaggerated.
That's a cool story, and it's gotta be warm feeling for you, Billy, seeing the influence "Writing the Romantic Comedy" had on Tess Morris, and her later success.
Will be looking to see "Man Up" when it's available up here in the theaters in the state of Washington where I reside.
Did get to see Cameron Crowe's "Aloha" on Sunday night, and thought it was pretty good, despite a serious lag in its 2nd act, and overall plot which really lacked a compelling, good central conflict. But "Aloha" ended strong with three very good sequences. And I LOVED that final scene where the Bradley Cooper character watches his estranged daughter practice a native dance through the store window and his daughter breaks away and gives him a hug. To me that's a great scene worth wadding through this movie to see. Curious to see what your take of that scene is, Billy, IF you ever see this movie and so chose to comment on it.
"Aloha" is not a perfect rom-com, BUT it's a step in the right direction. And now later in June we get "Ted 2". Not sure if that's a rom-com, OR if Seth McFarlene plays it more closely tied to the John Bennett and his pot-smoking teddy relationship that worked cinematic magic in the first movie, but irregaurdless, I gotta see that movie for curiousy's sake if nothing else. Just wish the whole New England Patriots/Tom Brady angle wasn't there. Growl! Still bitter over the outcome of the last Super Bowl...
Still, there are some tangible reasons for optomism; rumors of the romantic comedy's demise greatly exaggerated indeed!
Posted by: E.C. Henry | June 01, 2015 at 12:45 AM
Hi EC: Yes, I plan to see Aloha at some point, as I've always been a major Cameron Crowe fan... though clearly, he's been off his game for a while (if you look at the Crowe filmography, everything before Vanilla Sky is either great/classic or really good, and everything from that point on is... um... problematic).
My fellow story analyst at Uni who worked on Ted 2 tells me that it's funny; sounds like a rom-com hybrid, and in truth, the Ted pics are bromances (i.e. the central relationship is between a man and his bear)...
Posted by: mernitman | June 01, 2015 at 12:09 PM
I watched the clip for "Man Up," where Nancy and Jack meet. Looks like a great film. Excellent writing and brilliant acting in that scene. I had to watch it twice, once just to watch Lake Bell's face.
What a perfect synergy of a character who is completely bewildered and another whose Catherine wheel of confidence is eclipsed only by his cluelessness.
Can't wait to see the movie.
A little perplexed by the title of the book in the scene. Who died?
Posted by: Cheyenne Dhraga | June 04, 2015 at 10:19 PM
Cheyenne: It's a great cute meet (or "meet cute" if you prefer the more archaic form). The book is the agreed-upon "I'll wear a rose in my lapel" method of Blind Date Recognition, which the Real Date left behind on the train, and Lake Bell's character picked up, hoping to return it to her... and voila.
Posted by: mernitman | June 06, 2015 at 11:48 AM