My locked friend is running a romcoms bracket soon, and I've only seen like 20/64 of them, so gonna jam like 44 romcoms in the next month.

First up: 10 Things I Hate About You. It was great, holds up well (apart from some very 90s stereotypes, but that's the 90s for ya). May have been the first Heath Ledger movie I've seen where he's not The Joker. Fun.

Notting Hill: feels like it was written by Julia Roberts' publicist, if her publicist was pretty good at writing movies. Hard to buy in to the beginning, and hard to buy in to that being how celebrity work. Hugh Grant is too bumbling for me. But the whole movie consistently cute.

What's Up Doc?: perfect screwball comedy. Extreme manic pixie dream girl from Streisand (why does she do any of the things she does in this movie?), but who cares, this Rube Goldberg machine is such a trip. Didn't realize how much the Coens regularly pull from old screwball.

We had an argument watching this one about whether it counts as a romcom. I think you can argue either way depending on how strict you want to be about your definition, but the bracket includes this and not Singin' In The Rain, which I think is a disgrace. :)

Is Lady Gaga intentionally trying to look like Streisand? Is that just like a thing about Lady Gaga that I wasn't aware of?

Me, 12 minutes into Runaway Bride, Richard Greer has just been fired: "this was a solid short film. Why does it keep going?"

Runaway Bride: probly should've turned this one off. Considered it several times. Moves too fast. Enemies to lovers when one person sucks hard to start is really hard to bring around. Only ever like Gere (whoops) when being smarmy is the point (Chicago).

I like the eggs thing.

Also getting the feeling that these Julia Roberts vehicles are not my thing. She's great enough at acting (Homecoming!), but I'm thus far bored by this 90s type she had going.

My Best Friend's Wedding: Nice premise. Jessica Walters! And randomly Paul Giamatti? Is that... a kid who looks exactly like Orlando Bloom but imdb says it wasn't him?? And a completely unidentifiable leading man?

This movie had nuance! A Gay Best Friend (~~the 90s~~) who's consistently great. Accurate portrayal of the straights not having their shit together. Early cell phone stuff (they're so big! Turn them off at book readings!) Good ending. Overall a thumbs up.

16 Candles is fucked up!

Didn't Molly Ringwald write about this shit? (Googles) https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/what-about-the-breakfast-club-molly-ringwald-metoo-john-hughes-pretty-in-pink

13 Going On 30: not sure the movie about a 13 year old girl is gonna make for a great romcom, but let's do it.

The 13 year old boy in this movie is who I remain to this day.

Not my jam exactly, and weird if you think too hard, but sure! Goofy! A digital cam selfie in 2004! Feels like it's for tweens. Not convinced this counts as a romcom without feeling squicky, something the movie mostly avoids. But it's got the run to a wedding, so sure.

Pretty Woman: a lot of thoughts about this one, definitely too many and too nuanced for twitter. But to try anyway: as a fairy tale, I liked it a lot. As anything else, much less (good guy billionaires!). More low key than all the others so far. Many unexpected things about it.

Also I feel vindicated in my "I don't love Roberts, but its because of the roles not her" takes. She's great in this. And this was clearly the one where someone looked at her and said "put that woman in literally every movie."

Also: https://time.com/3756689/pretty-woman-prostitute-julia-roberts-richard-gere/

The Holiday: At first I was like 2:15 is so long and then I realized it's actually two movies, and 1:07 each is a good rate. Really leaning into that adorable. Learning that I love basic jokes about stuff from when I was 15 (early AirBNB humor). Jude Law is super hot.

Side note: had to pause an hour in because I thought Winslet's ex and Jude Law were the same character lel

Also, there's a fairly important moment where Diaz, an editor, is reminded that the holidays are notoriously the busiest two weeks of the year for her work which is.......not true. Weird detail in a movie otherwise obsessed with the industry / LA (but plot comes first I spose).

Pretty In Pink: this 80s one wasn't horrific all the way through, yay. I don't know that it actually has anything interesting to say about class despite how it's dressed up. But cute. Ringwald remains great, and Cryer is fantastic (even if Duckie sucks sometimes). That lip-sync.

I think the movie's ending feels a little unsure of itself, probably because of its notorious change from Duckie to Blane. Not sure which way I would've preferred, but felt a little flat. At least Duckie gets to break the 4th wall.

"Why can't we start old and get younger?" straight into "You're gonna OD on nostalgia" feels like a full 50% of my brand (the 50% that's not Burn After Reading). Might be my favorite lines in any of these that I didn't already know as iconic.

As a side note: this whole project of watching 44 romcoms at a rate of ~1.5/night has definitely become an endurance task that I'm undertaking purely for nonsense reasons. Why am I doing it? Lockdown is fucked up, let's fire up the next one.

All these movies are so fucking straight.

Bridget Jones's Diary: (fun story, the first copy of this I found was in French, and for ~20 seconds I thought it was a French movie.) I guess of course they made super horny romcoms before Knocked Up, and I just wasn't old enough to see them. Grant is always better as a villain.

Pretty solid, this one. I put together a grading scale in my spreadsheet (yes, medium, no with +/-s as appropriate), and I think "medium+" describes it well. Like The Holiday: it's down-the-middle romcom done right. Sucks the last piece of credits footage is a transphobic joke.

Just discovered I was actually only starting at 19/64

While You Were Sleeping: outlandish premise on the order of 13 Going On 30. Listen, it's fine for a fairy tale to be cute, but gimme the version of this that goes +++farce ---cute. Bullock is cute. Everyone's cute. I think the romcomness of this many in a row is taking its toll.

Also: the ending VO is all casually "this man gave me the same thing my father gave me (the world / a stamp in my passport); I married a father figure." I know its the 90s, I know we still do this, but I'm beginning you, just be cute stop being fucked up also

I had my worst-yet lockdown-breakdown last night. The romcoms aren't at fault, but it's def coloring my takes. I can still feel it at my brain-door.

Romcoms are great. Romcoms are trash. Sometimes you feel great and note the great. Sometimes you feel trash and note the trash.

Bonus "I was falling asleep last night" While You Were Sleeping though: a good chunk of Chicago movies in here, of which this was the Chicagoingst. Makes me miss the midwest! Remember when they shot movies in Chicago?

But also, I love living in LA where every movie takes place literally down the street. Gere picks up Roberts in Pretty Woman less than a mile from my apartment!

Something's Gotta Give: I like these weirder ones! Everyone in this is great. Nicholson doing slapstick shit! Keaton doing anything! McDormand's fuckin face as she whips that symbolic rock into the ocean! Keanu could pick me up any time. Or Keaton.

Every single reaction shot is aces. An age gap is a great in to gender politics (as is getting McDormand to just exposit takes). And old people deserve romcoms too! I adore every instant message in all these early 00s flicks (and evidently so does Nancy Meyers.)

Incredible sex scene. Just for like showing so much of the interaction, all the levels of consent and aftermath... Old people sex jokes! Foreplay jokes! That weird thing with the sweater! Great sequence of scenes.

Lastly: "Schmucks are people, too."

Lastly for real: that house is like a reflection of romcoms at large: too wealthy, white, big, and perfect but also yes of course I'd like to live there.

Lastly last for last last: started SGG comments saying I like the ones that are weirder. But really what I mean is I like movies that are, unlike template romcoms, complicated and nuanced and really specific, that aren't just down the middle hetero white people gettin together.

Not that there's anything wrong with those! Besides everything that's wrong with those! Romcoms, yeesh.

I just realized I've been watching these in order of seeding, which means they're going to get gradually on average worse as I go.

The Cutting Edge: Great ice SFX (+car motors as they skate by). Random scratched up B&W shots in the hockey game! Frame-dropped shots every time we go out on the ice (or almost kiss, or get drunk...) (presumably to hide the stunt skaters). A PUSH IN ON THE ROAD SIGN TO GREENWICH.

LOCKE! SAUL TIGH! Gimme those 90s character actors turned 00s genre tv peeps!

The guy's dad in this is literally Zoolander's dad.

Real fuckin snow. You know how relieving it is to see that in one of these?

The girl Doug gets with at Nationals looks like Margot Robbie, which I assume means she was well cast as a Tonya Harding lookalike. This whole movie must've been capitalizing on Harding, except it found a way to take her aggression and put it back "where it belongs": in a guy.

Love the "she's too drunk and throwing herself at him" scene. Complicated feelings, easy misunderstandings, everyone a little too drunk to deal with it, no one taking advantage of anyone. Good execution on cliches. Fallout's a little bland though.

LOVE that this movie knows exactly where to end. LOVE movies that just go climax: cut to black.

Overall: this is a rom not a com. But that pairs great with sports movie because sports movie climaxes feel the same as romance climaxes, and sports movies always work even though they're so gd cliche

Takin a beat here to return to While You Were Sleeping, which I liked more than my previous tweets sounded. @wundergeek noted how much they love its Crazy Midwestern Family Energy (despite hating romcoms at large [hetero, awful]). Strong agree.

It's very representative of what is good about romcoms: they're just so comfortable, even in all their awfulness. And that cozy midwestern family wraps you in comfortableness from that bonus family angle that most romcoms aren't attacking from.

Also <3333333 Chicago, rip

Sleepless In Seattle: of all the ones in the bracket I haven't seen, I feel like this is the one with the biggest reputation. Nora Ephron. Hanks&Ryan. Long shadow.

It earns it. Hanks' & his kid are great off each other. Meg Ryan hiding in the closet. "He's 8." "He's good at it."

Kinda want the 1hr audio drama / one act play that's just the radio show, but also I don't listen to Beautiful// Anonymous, so.

Odd that the climax is the protagonists meeting. Almost subverts all the romcom True Love energy bc we don't know what's next, but the movie believes.

Meg Ryan feels so crazy in this movie but it's also so exactly how a crush feels. That's something romcoms do well. They capture that crush, those first 3 months of tingling. Part of me is like "Someone do a cut that's only Meg Ryan and let's talk" but honestly I bet it works.

Odds&Ends: "Hello"-->smash to plane flying gfx is my favorite kind of cut.

IMAGINE an 8yo flying by himself to NYC today. IMAGINE.

THE KID IS TJ DETWEILER!!!!!!! Wait no, he was the replacement TJ Detwiler! Still obsessed. Recess is the best show on Disney+.

Me, falling asleep last night: "Sleepless In Seattle is a movie that is 100% meet cute"

If you're enjoying this thread, the ro32 for the bracket is up: https://twitter.com/liz_the_lemur/status/1257345596555497472

so As Good As It Gets is next, but I cannot believe I'm watching a movie that was intentionally put on a romcom list. A good movie, complicated, that shows relationships and pain and the healthcare system even if I can't speak to its cliche depiction of OCD. But a romcom?

As long as we're detouring through some almost-romcoms, I saw Saved! on Sunday - great. That dude from Wristcutters in it, which is totally a romcom. I think. Do you need the primary plot to be romance? Clueless is on this list. Do you need jokes? The Cutting Edge doesn't.

But maybe As Good As It Gets is. It's funny. It's about a relationship. It has a gay best friend. But it doesn't feel like a romcom to me. There's nothing cute about it. It's so painful.

It walks the tightrope of "does Nicholson deserve another chance" so closely, every time he becomes irredeemable he redeems himself. And he does deserve another chance, every time, it just hurts that they all come from the same couple of people. It's not fair.

But also, that is in fact the way it goes.

Anyway, odds&ends: HELL yeah throw a dog down the garbage chute. Nice to see Nicholson be good! I always forget. Moving his car seat all the way forward, mwua.

Nicholson comes home and flicks all the light switches 5 times: "oh, hey, he's obsessive compulsive."

Nicholson opens his cupboard full of soap and washes his hands for 20 seconds: "and he has sensible hand hygiene!"

And can't believe I almost didn't say it, but Hunt! Hunt! *gestures wildly at screen*

27 Dresses: Back to basics! A down the middle tropey romcom! Big speeches about character growth! The song Valerie! At least the reporter who sleeps with their subject is male. Best part was Jessica Jones destroying her 4 lines / 5 total words.

This one was fine. Good central theme / character flaw of never putting yourself first (even if I like Amelie better). Gimme that specificity in the character arc; not enough of these do it. Is that what having a sister is really like? Oof. Remember taxis? I liked the driver.

Cellphones + hand crank car windows: I think you could date this movie to the minute.

Surprised by how few scenes at weddings there were in "27 Dresses". Plus One (not in the bracket; it's good until we have to spend 20 minutes with the guy being a drip) might set the bar for # scenes actually at weddings. 4 Weddings probably wins for % of runtime at a wedding.

Serendipity: This is where I get to talk about loving John Cusack, which means I get to talk about loving High Fidelity, which means I get to talk about how I started a full bracket-ranking and all the male protagonist movies were at the top. Representation matters or something.

I could write thousands of words about High Fidelity. I wrote hundreds for a grad school application once. And WHERE IS GROSSE POINTE BLANK ON THIS LIST. But I think we'll table all that for now. In the mean time, Serendipity:

Weird time-lapses. haha being gay is awkward and funny! That poor bride-to-be. I love Cusack's mannerisms. You know what I don't love is the belief in fate. Or faith. What I'm trying to say is that God is dead, and how DARE that best friend TAKE BACK some of that cash tip.

Taking one of the most toxic implicit themes of romcoms (True Love, Soul Mates) and making it explicit is not for me. Romcoms are fantasy. Fate is not fantasy. It freaks me the fuck out. DEVS.

HOW GREAT would it be if fate was real? HOW AWFUL would it be if fate was real?

LONG SHOT: Bold opening. Odenkirk's char is a nice angle on Trump jokes. Bathtub jumpcut nap is great. I'm not a beard fan. Charlize elevates everything. Really like the bouncing effect on Molly. But some of those "this would never happen in politics" scenes... wouldn't happen.

"Fred, do you have any grown-up clothes for tonight?" "He is wasted but he's also just stupid" prime Rogen shit. Never Forget how seriously he took the red carpets with Theron.

Can feel the Feig shaggy improv scenes influence (I don't like). At least they've done some trimming.

The premise bothers me: my romantic fantasy has no politics / if we're doing satire can we fuckin commit? Be escapist or be scathing. Ending is then saccharine and unrealistic in a way that bores me. I don't buy Theron's choice. Dancing On My Own is weird credits music.

The Big Sick: Good RomComs Are The Ones That Are Very Specific, and this is the most specific (Pakistani, medical, comedy). Romano asking doctors for spellings murdered me. And that scene with him confessing to Nanjiani. And Hunter! Wish Kazan had come back into the story earlier

Love ending on a place of "shit's not better yet, but it'll get there" in like 3 different plotlines.

The medical stuff is so well done in this.

This is the only one of these that's cleared what I've dubbed "The Singin In The Rain line."

Might need to take a break and watch something gay (maybe Portrait for the 3rd time).

My dad on the phone tonight, very agitated: "how did The Apartment lose????" @liz_the_lemur my dad is following your bracket

The Prince And Me: This back half is gonna be rough, huh. Bland, unfunny. Feels like an exec said "girls wanna marry a prince, yeah? Someone pump that out and sell it." The Denmark stuff feels like they had the premise for the sequel and couldn't help themselves. No tension in it

But honestly, all worth it for the funniest thing in any of these yet:

THIS MOVIE GOT 3 SEQUELS?

Sweet Home Alabama: This movie plays harsher in 2020. Remember when the culture war was light jabs? Me neither, but man it's got worse. I wonder if you could make this premise today. Def couldn't have all the "Southern" (racist) iconography. Does Bobby-Ray just... have slaves?

Love small towns. Always shocks how much the rural South reminds me of the rural Midwest. The speed of gossip. The trucks. Climbing the watertower. Her parents got a puzzle out. But they got a confederate flag pillow, so. Imagine being outed in Alabama in 2002 and it being ~fine.

Jean Smart is always good. This has more "well well, look who it is"s than John Wick. The lightning metaphor's nice: good on the nose. I like the fiance being fine when she leaves him. Does she just not go back to her NYC career? Overall this is fine + oof Southern cultural shit.

Also, this was officially the halfway point: Sweet Home Alabama was romcom #23/45 in 14 days. Lockdown is a hell of a thing.

The Best Man Holiday: holy shit a black movie, what an idea. And a sequel? Interesting to see a sequel make the list

"Exploit your friend for capital gain! This is America!" So perfectly broad in tone. Love all the musical mickymousing. Love these ones that are actually 4 movies

This feels more family drama than romcom, but that means there's enough complexity that it's good. Maybe it earns romcom since its predecessor clearly aws. Or it's a romcom where the A plot is a male friendship.

The male pride/anger/friendship stuff is really great.

Overall this was good. Reminded me of The Holiday: not doing anything extra special, but just being real solid all the way through. Stuff that's not down-the-middle romcom seems to be better, hmm, hmm, hmm. Wonder how this would stack up in the family drama bracket.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding: I'm glad The Best Man Holiday made me think of the word broad. All these romcoms are so broad. This movie is so broad. The voiceover is so much, though apparently its all coming from a one woman show, which *extremely* checks out.

The Windex stuff! Her ducking behind things! This family is an anxiety attack. I liked the guy more as the bf in Serendipity even if that movie was way worse. Weird how much conflict is resolved like "and that's how it is." Works, but different from most stories this propulsive.

Moonstruck: this movie is bananas. So neurotic & weird. Impossibly affected. The whole thing has the rhythm of Christopher Walken talking.

Dad: "You got married once before it didn't work out. The guy died."

Mom: "You love him?" "No." "That's good." Incredible.

Love everything about the proposal scene. Her making him kneel, the waiter upset about losing a "good bachelor customer," the peanut gallery. It's so down the middle but so weird.

"I'm calling from the deathbed of my mother." "Yeah? How was your plane ride?"

Why doesn't she instantly leave him for Cage? I LOST MY HAND. I LOST MY WIFE. Fucking iconic. His slight hunch. Their first kiss is insane. Where does it come from? A WOLF WITHOUT A FOOT. The table flip! What IS HAPPENING. "I want you in my bed. I don't care if I burn in hell."

I love this movie. It's simultaneously so-bad-it's-good and genuinely very good. Family! "Men cheat because they're afraid of death!" Nic Cage and Cher (get that 20-years-younger action my ma'am). What a ride.

Obvious Child: All movies should be 90 minutes by law. Hard to divorce Jenny Slate from Bob's Burgers' Tammy. She's has such great delivery and rhythm. The guy is so bland, which is clearly the point, and very funny. Appointment on Valentine's Day is perfect.

Mom saying you're wasting your 780 SAT scores, uff. All the stylistic stuff in the pregnancy test scene is great. (I like stylistic stuff.) Honestly, realism is lame. The clogs beat is so great and awkward and weirdly intimate.

Warming up the butter. The PP doc getting her name wrong. Shaving your legs pre-abortion. Talking about naming things (storms) in an abortion clinic. This movie is great at details, both about the process and the feels of an abortion. One of the best of these. Really loved it.

The Philadelphia Story: opening on those now-anachronisms I love so much, 40s edition: wooden golf clubs, smallpox, and domestic violence played for laughs (though apparently Hepburn "enjoyed him pushing her through a doorway so much that she had him do it to her over and over").

This is such a play (checks Wikipedia) yup, originally a play. Harder to watch old movies while also doing something else since they're slightly less familiar. Strange to see Jimmy Stewart as not the leading man, but it's hard to top Cary Grant.

The dad says the same thing as the fiance in Moonstruck: men philander because they're afraid of death. I feel like this thing deserves a deep dive into its opinions on gender roles that I'm not going to be able to provide it without watching again. But I'd enjoy doing so.

This marks my first, and hopefully last, triple-film day of this marathon. My brain hurts.

#ShaneCarruthMakeARomComChallenge

Live footage of me watching How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days:

How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days: this one was bad, folks! My least fav by a significant margin. What absolute monsters they are. The best part of this movie was when they're watching Sleepless In Seattle because I got to see a little of Sleepless In Seattle again.

I feel like the entire digital media hellscape is now indistinguishable from the 00s Cosmo clone in this movie. It's exactly Girl Croosh. There's not even chemistry between the two of them to root for. The middle hour is the same scene, remixed over and over.

God forbid-- tampons in the bathroom????? What's next, I have to keep a trash can in there? This thing actually believes in True Love in 10 days. And loves sociopaths. I hate it so much. Why doesn't Andy just stop dating him and lie in her column?

The Bullshit scene is good. Play card games.

How Stella Got Her Groove Back: I like seeing another take on the relationship age gap to complement Something's Gotta Give, and does a great job checkin out the nooks and crannies of it. Is Harold & Maude a romcom? I love how much of this movie is about money.

Young Regina King! Pre-9/11 airports! Fuck the TSA. Goldberg stuffin those mannequins. "I did not come all the way down here to turn into a slut." "I did." Love the opening long take spinning around her. The meet-cute CUs on Winston's mouth and arms? And what a smile.

This just has good scenes. Learning how to relax is a great romcom theme. Great Big Family Energy at that BBQ. Kinda preferred a "they don't get together" ending, but this is a romcom, so.

Overall I didn't quite click with this (I suspect too young), but I liked what it was doin

PS: a few screencaps I loved:

Whoopi Goldberg is great

Leap Day: This movie is such hot garbage. Such down the middle, "no one makes a decision that makes sense," hot garbage. But also it's the kind of hot garbage that I totally get it if that's your thing. SO MUCH ~*movie magic*~.

At the beginning, it's okay for her to believe that the most important thing in a woman's life is getting engaged, and that you have to fly to Ireland to make the woman proposing okay. Plenty of time to unlearn that. Except I *know* the end will see her engaged to someone else.

This marathon has taught me how much I like slapstick (plugging in her phone --> destroying the room is fun).

@liz_the_lemur says to me halfway through "you think his ex-fiance is dead or in Dublin?" gotem.

Overall: eUUghh.

Give Amy Adams her Oscar for Arrival.

Sliding Doors: Such an interesting structural experiment with such a disaster of an ending. First thought had been "no idea what a good ending for this looks like," but that ain't it. Second thought was "which one is gonna get visibly hurt to tell the timelines apart" gotem

Continue to like movies are two in one, probably because 60 minute movies are great, and cross-cutting lets you cover lack of conflict. Her catching Cheating Boyfriend in one adds irony to the other. Not a fan that Cheating Boyfriend is the secret protagonist of A-plot timeline.

From personal experience, I can confirm no one looks at you that way after you've done the entirety of the Spanish Inquisition sketch. The climactic intercutting is odd. The scenes don't share much beyond ~climax energy~. And then I get you gotta merge the timelines, but just no.

Final thoughts:

Never Been Kissed: This is marginally better than How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days because instead of every character being a sociopath, every character just makes no sense. A newspaper... sends her undercover... with no story... into a high school... to get big scoops?

ANOTHER PAPER SCOOPS THEM ON...........THE LOCATION OF THE COOL KIDS PARTY HOUSE. 21 Jump Street works because half the jokes are based on the movie's premise making no sense. And why does she want to go back to high school if she hated it so much? Who wants to high school again?

This movie also seems to have no empathy for how embarrassing it thinks Barrymore was in high school. It doesn't think she was cute, it knows she was a dork. It feels mean.

This movie's plot is 100% Hello Fellow Kids, but also the movie itself is Hello Fellow Kidsing.

Which is creepier: 25 year old posing as high schooler dating a high schooler, or 25 year old teacher hitting on his student who is actually 25?

This movie believes in Reefer Madness. It believes in True Love (barf). BLEGH.

So many lines that read inauthentic / nonsensical.

Anyway, third movie I've watched during lockdown that has someone smash into something --> adds a bowling strike sfx.

Definitely, Maybe: So relieving to watch a decent one in this home stretch. I'm not a HIMYM fan, but always liked its hook. Love how it undercuts True Love from the jump, and the movie commits to that. Even with a romcomy ending, the movie knows that ending != end of their lives.

Ryan Reynolds has perfect delivery, and the editor's got his back on timing.

Can't believe they shelled out for the rights to Happy Birthday.

This kid's a bit "movie smart/smart alec, too genre-savvy." Her questions are inconsistently deployed. But I dig it.

Wish it did better by the women. Feels like they were full people, we only get to see half the glass. Harder because of the format, but come on. Figure it out. Occasionally had a squicky "pick your favorite woman" vibe.

So relieving that the movie understood both that keeping the book was an atrocious thing to do, and also that he'd totally do it. Most of these would've just left that as a hole. Anyway, I got emotional enough to cry when they cut to a crowd scene.

There's Something About Mary: So broad. Refreshing to see one that is just about the jokes. But also: humor has changed, turns out! Enough racism, stalking, guy on crutches, and (oof) brother on the spectrum jokes to leave a bad taste in the mouth.

A couple good Airplane-esque gags (cop coming into bathroom through the window, PI busting out bigger binoculars, shocking the dog back to life with a lamp, serenade guys --> one gets shot). The lengths they push the stalker bit is funny, but it never stopped unsettling me.

She's All That: Cute. Turns out I'd seen half this one before. Sunnydale high school! 4:3! Oh, it's My Fair Lady. Cool, if predictable. "Kill All Artists [picture of gun]" t-shirt? In a school? "His dad owns Harrison Ford." "The actor?" "The car dealership."

Glasses are cute, contacts drool. Laney walking out in overalls, glasses, and a floral pattern shirt isn't poorly dressed, it's 20 years too early. Dad answering all the Jeopardy Qs wrong is great. Trebek sounds identical. The prom dancing is somethin. WASH YOUR HANDS, FOGGY.

10 left.

PS: Her brother is Roman Roy.

The Wedding Singer: I have so little so say about this movie. It's just so mild except when it's taking cheap shots at various kinds of """"""ugly"""""" people, which is on brand for '98. That ending is real cute though.

Taking a stop through Grosse Pointe Blank, my favorite romcom that wasn't on the bracket. I love Cusack, I love Driver, I love this premise, and I love this movie.

I think the thing romcoms are selling is comfort and familiarity. Hard to top "a movie I already love" there.

Not gonna play-by-play this one since it'd be like 10 tweets, but another pattern I noticed is I like the ones about nostalgia.

Two Weeks Notice: *someone* didn't do a great job screening this bracket.

At best, this fantasy (legal aid lawyer makes millionaire a good person) does not exist in 2020. At worst, this was always a fantasy meant to humanize and ameliorate the obscenely wealthy and justify the sacrificing of revolutionary values in the name of True Love.

The Wedding Planner: Another in the "well done down the middle" bucket. J-Lo is great (shocking). Love the opening long take, especially "running when behind a pillar, walking when people can see you" bit. Fred Willard :( . J-Lo talking the bride back into the wedding is great.

Early "J-Lo's engaged" stuff doesn't read since she's not (just correct people).

McConaughey and fiance breaking up at their wedding is the best version of "leave them at the altar" I've seen. "JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER!" he usually shouts, "like they do in The Wedding Planner!"

Roman Holiday: loved it. Fun contrast with The Prince And Me, which is still bad; I love "everyone knows she's a princess" much more than "no one knows." Endings where they don't get together remain best endings. The shoe stuff at the beginning: fabulous.

Wish the riverboat fight had turned into a hijacking the boat setpiece, but I guess movies weren't there yet. Themes of this one are all the good and none of the bad romcom themes imo. That closing scene is INCREDIBLE, communicates everything without saying a word on the nose.

Bride & Prejudice: this is the first time I've consumed any Pride & Prejudice content. Forgot how much I like Bollywood. So fun. So much *color*. Impressionistic montages. And of course, music. Subtext is overrated. Love how focused it is on examining one thing (marriage.)

"I have savings and bonds and stocks! You'll never have to worry!" checks date on movie, 2004, heh. Every movie on this list has become more charming with age. Henderson's accent is questionable. D'Arcy is totally an imperialist.

There was just enough going on in here that I was occasionally confused who was with who or not with who and why, but I think that's my fault for multitasking while watching. Overall: fun!

The Proposal: This is the movie How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days is trying to be: no real substance, but a good excuse for a bunch of gags. Bullock and Reynolds! Betty WHITE! Forgot to mention slapstick again with Roman Holiday, but bringin it back here.

0 undercutting of core romcom tenants: hetero, white, rich, monogamous relationship based on True Love. At least the woman is too old for the guy. Bullock is def ace until the script insists. Is it too much to ask for every farce to be the Todd meets his gf's family ep of Bojack?

Love, Simon: I'm reminded of a convo from the start of this about if high school movies count as romcoms. IMO it's clear they can (10 Things is a romcom) but don't always (I don't think Clueless is a romcom). "High school" feels like a different lane. As does this: "coming out."

I can feel all the tropes that would fit this lane (coming out at school/at home, wondering who else is gay, the straight best friend who's in love with you, etc) while the romance is almost an afterthought. It feels like such a deep lane to investigate.

This does feel like a romcom in that it's *safe* and *acceptable*. It's like Buttigieg: not in quality, but like being gay is mainstream enough that fuckin Buttigieg can be a candidate and him being gay is like a blip. It's both a huge deal and just, like, another romcom.

As always, I'm obsessed with the depiction of '18 technology in this movie. Maybe it's just always charming how slightly out of touch Hollywood is RE tech (SNAP ZOOMS for email!). Signing your name with a period kills me. Desperately hoping the kids don't (do they use email?)

Martin is intolerable and never stops being intolerable and makes everyone else intolerable and consistently destroys any warm or happy feelings I develop in the first half of the movie. Dislike.

The Shop Around The Corner: another "this was obviously a play." You can see why a boomer studio exec faced with email would immediately think of this and how to adapt it. It's a good hooky premise. Makes me want to give You've Got Mail a second shot (didn't like it 9 years ago).

Great at slow comedic builds. Matuschek, and also this movie, are so capitalistic up til he's desperate for someone to spend Christmas with.

Stewart leading her along after he knows is classic "cute and also fucked up." But him convincing her to get him a wallet is pure comedy.

I dunno, this one is real dated in some ways, but it's 80 years old. It does the thing it's doing well. That ending sequence is kinda horrible to sit through, but it also feels romantic and lovely. It'd be the perfect place to end this thread on, tbh.

But no. One movie remains.