FROM DAMON’S DESK: NO STRINGS ATTACHED

How has no one commented on this? I thought this was a great piece. Romantic comedies are pretty much as old as the medium, yet few of them seem to be worth the time. I think Damon's right though that they tend to be better when coming from the point of view of the man (but maybe that's bias because we're men?) Off the top of my head the few that I enjoy would be Noah Baumbach's Mr. Jealousy, and 500 Days of Summer (which I just watched for the first time the other week), and The Apartment. It's interesting that in both Mr. Jealousy and 500 Days of Summer the lovers fuck on the first date, and the rest of the movie is kind of the breakdown of the relationship. Both are bittersweet, but both also have happy endings. I don't think that the genre is incapable of producing quality films, but like any other genre it's all too easy to follow formula.

Yeah I'll echo.  This was fabulous.  I really, really dig your whole complex-thoughts-and-ideas-in-a-casual-stream-of-consciousness-way format with these columns.  That article was insightful as shit and just the most casual thing to read.  And I agreed with everything said.  I wrote a few words on My Best Friend's Girl a while back and I pulled the same thing out of it - these movies are predicated on a central conceit and then everything else is built around them.  Just like with the worst examples of twist movies - start with the twist, build everything around it.  Nothing feels genuine.

I m curious (since you didn't mention it in the article) what your thoughts were on The Break-Up.  That's one of the recent rom-coms (can it even be called that, considering?) that I can remember doing it all the right way.

Well the thread also got posted in the Focus Films Forum.

Yeah, if writing a review causes you to go off on a tangent follow it. Because this was an excellent piece.

And I have to second your point about the lack of lust in current rom-coms. Even when physical attraction is supposed to be a defining characteristic in a movie relationship, I hardly ever get the "I just want to jump on you right here and now" feeling from the actors.

Really insightful piece, Dre. Love reading your stuff.

@stelios, on the lack of lust.

Perhaps it's a bad outcome of overexposure from the stars. Now writers are just throwing together X (you know she is hot, she is dating Y too!) and W together and that's all, no flirting or anything. 

Great article Damon.