Is
it the genre that is too limited or is it the viewer, whose frame of reference
is too narrow? Anyone with screening habits that range beyond the latest
multiplex release is probably not a big fan of the so-called “rom-com” in the
first place. However, a lot of us still have maybe seen our share of Asian,
Bollywood, or even Nollywood rom-coms. There is something universal about the
genre, but Elizabeth Sankey chooses to view them through a very Hollywood prism
that is obsessed with issues of representation in her documentary-essay Romantic Comedy, which releases today on DVD.
According
to her introduction, Sankey had always been a huge fan of the romantic comedy genre,
but she found it harder to relate to these films after her marriage. As we know
so well, they mostly end with a walk down the aisle or a drive off into the
sunset, rather than showing the real work it takes to make marriages and relationships
work. That is a fair point, as is the skewering of the creepily obsessive
behavior that is passed off as cute and quirky in films like While You Were
Sleeping.
However,
Sankey and her disembodied chorus of commentators (who speak over the constant
montage of clips like the weirdos dissecting The Shining in Room 237)
veer bit off base when they complain about the genre’s alleged lack of inclusion.
Frankly, they are largely revealing the lack of diversity of their own Netflix
queues. There have been plenty of rom-coms featuring predominantly African
American casts that were legitimate box office hits, including the Best Man movies,
Jumping the Broom, Think Like a Man, Love Jones, and About Last Night
(the Kevin Hart remake).
Sankey
merely shows a clip from Crazy Rich Asians in passing, while never
discussing the media phenomenon it spawned. Admittedly, that was a Hollywood
milestone for a film starring and directed by Asian Americans, but plenty of
Chinese-language rom-coms have had specialty distribution, like Women Who Flirt
and A Wedding Invitation, a pseudo remake of My Best Friend’s Wedding
that goes off on its own tragically weepy direction during the third act. Plus,
there isn’t even enough room on the internet to scratch the surface of the
Bollywood rom-com tradition, which were getting wider distribution throughout
the country (at least before the virus hit).
Probably
the biggest problem of Sankey’s film is that it devotes very little time to analyze
why films like Sleepless in Seattle work so well in the first place. It
also makes the mistake of equating the entire film industry with the Hollywood
studio system. Any survey film invites “what about this film” responses, but
that is especially so in the case of Romantic Comedy. Yet, somehow it is
always entertaining to partake of a That’s Entertainment-style buffet of
familiar film clips (and kudos for including His Girl Friday, the greatest
romantic comedy ever). Earning a decidedly mixed review, Romantic Comedy is
now available on DVD and VOD.
