It may not be a pernicious trend, but it is a trend none-the-less. Whether it shows a growing sensitivity in male moviegoing audiences, the interchangability of female leads or is just a sign in the death of the romantic comedy genre, something is changing in the rom-com genre. What am I talking about? The rise in romantic comedies with male leads.
The rom-com, as has been established over the last twenty years, is about the only genre of film where woman can successfully headline the project. You can think of Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore et al, with their name above the picture. Sometimes they are double billed with a bloke – often a comedian to show this is going to indeed be funny (enter Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler). But usually in a romantic comedy the viewpoint character, namely the one without wacky tics and spunk in their hair, goes to the female lead. She is the one who eventually makes the decision to be with the thoroughly unsuitable bloke, usually dumping the nice Baxter she was supposed to be married to. If there is an ostensible male lead (and often in the case of love triangles there can be two) he doesn’t have a lot to do but accept his fate.
Except this year three highish concept romantic comedies have given the agency, and the lead, to a man. This causes a problem because the man still needs to be the source of pratfalls and boorishness, and yet he is given the space to realise his errors and plump for the right woman. Made Of Honor, a wonderfully bland gender swop of My Best Friends Wedding barely touches the side of your brain as is slips down. Its not exactly a film one might use to justify a radical gender shift in cinema, rather its a film which film execs try to work out what exactly the appeal of a grown Patrick Dempsey might be beyond TV (ans = NONE!). I’ve already spoken about Definitely, Maybe – the thankfully non-Oasis based nineties nostalgia rom-com where Ryan Reynolds (plus daughter) are given the agency to act. I thought it was a sweet rom-com, unusual enough to be interesting, both with its nineties nostalgia and its male lead.
The film which suggests that this is a real actual trend is How To Lose Friends And Alienate People. Simon Pegg plays Toby Young, a less likely hero for romantic comedy I cannot think of outside of prison. And the film is not really billed as a rom-com, rather the pratfalls of an unpleasant Englishman in New York. Except Pegg can never be that dislikeable, and to give the film any kind of likeable structure they meld it into the shape of a romantic comedy. There would have been a time which Kirsten Dunst might have headlined this picture, but instead Pegg gets to bumble around being an arse until he accepts true love. In another time pratfall structure would have been enough for this film, it still wouldn’t have been that good but it might have had teeth. But Pegg is a weird leading presence, not all that attractive but with boundless puppydog charm (also completely unlike Toby Young). When watching you are suddenly reminded of Run Fatboy Run, a more wacky comedy which nevertheless when you think about it a bit closer is again a rom-com starring Pegg*. Suddenly a trend becomes an avalanche. One which threatens romantic comedy because none of these films from the good (Definitely, Maybe) to the bad (Made Of Honor) have been significant hits.
*You are mainly reminded by the fact Pegg’s Young interviews Thandie Newton in How To Lose Friends And Alienate People.
they’re all “rentals”.
Fever Pitch (the UK film, not the US one aka The Perfect Catch) is something of a prototype here, no?
Yes, and High Fidelity too. Infact it may all be Nick Hornby’s fault. John Cusack’s career has been very much building up to this too (he certainly headlines Serendipity) and there is a potential that the softening of the raunch sex comedy into saucy romcom’s leads to this too (by the time American Pie go to American Wedding it was straight romcom stuff). The Jason Biggs starrer Wedding Daze could have also fit in this trend if his star had not fallen and Isla Fisher’s star risen so much.
I am sure there are examples in history with romantic leads as well (Cary Grant in My Favourite Wife perhaps?)
My Favourite Wife? That’s treading into the “can screwball comedies also be classed as rom coms” debate that causes feuds at the Radio Times film desk that cascade down the generations…
One movie that was intended as a vehicle for its male star is Roman Holiday – Gregory Peck was a substantial star, Audrey Hepburn was a complete unknown – but she became big news pretty much as soon anyone saw the film. My feeling is that traditionally romantic comedies were meant to match equal-weight stars (Rock Hudson/Doris Day, Ryan O’Neil/Babs Streisand, even Matt McConaughey/Kate Hudson I suppose), and might be only in recent times we’ve had the Sweet Home Albama-type total imbalance.
I dunno about this, Notting Hill had a male POV character and it’s still one of the more popular romantic comedies. When Harry Met Sally has the male character at least on equal footing with the female character and that’s way up there as well.
When a male POV character’s in love with a beautiful woman, it’s hard for sure.
I think you’re right Mark, I think the current female star power rom-com is a recent 90’s development (and previous to that women could headline Musicals, melodrama and more stand romances). Musicals often had what might be teased out as rom-com plots so there is potentially history there as well (if we are talking Audrey then Funny Face has a nicely creepy rom-com plot).
The Radio Times debate is an interesting if eventually futile one. Screwball is almost dead these days, but wacky rom-com isn’t. (I can’tthink of a successful screwball comedy since Overboard).
The pairing of similar level stars I think is another good point (which the twofer of Hudson and McConaughy does neither side any favours). I’m surprised to find I can’t think of a McConaughy rom-com where he is actually the POV character, or out stars his compatriots.
Anyway How To Lose Friends has bombed in the States so I think this trend may be going away quiet soon!
Actually I think “Shaun of the Dead” is one of the best romantic comedies of the past 50 years. I’m tempted to see “Run Fatboy” (which I heard was mediocre) and “How to Lose” (which is getting terrible reviews) solely b/c of the sublimely great Simon Pegg. But they’re probably both “renters” as intl said.
In EdTV, McConaughey is the POV character and his star outshines Jenna Elfman (though maybe not so much at the time).
ps I totally agree with your assessment of the merits on Definitely Maybe and Made of Honor.
I don’t think of edTV (as a rom-com). And despite the rom-zom-com tag Pegg and Wright gave Sean Of The Dead, ditto.
Having now remembered there is a place for Hitch in this schema above, I am probably willing to admit that the thesis above is massively flawed and admits to at least one counter example a year that I haven’t worked out yet. Whilst I wouldn’t want to stuff Apatow movies directly into the romcom genre, the non-absurdist ones do often rely on romcom tropes for plotting.
I haven’t seen How To Alienate, but it seems to intersect with the Apatow flicks in that the woman is both beautiful and generous, whereas the guy… isn’t. While often in the traditional romcom the man is often prettier than his co-star (Gable, Rock, Ryan, Hugh Grant, bongo-playing Matt)*, the pairing of the Apatow shlubs and their girls is closer to fat bloke, hot wife sitcom territory (According to Jim, Ground for Life, parodied in Family Guy).
*Rule suspended if the man is Jewish: ie Billy Crystal/Ben Stiller/Zach Braff… or dough-faced Tom Hanks.
It does this in a lot worse way than the Apatow films. What might be seen as galling to pore ole Kirsten Dunst is that here she is cast as the ugly but nice proper girlfirends as opposed to Megan Fox’s starlet. She is still considerably more attractive than Pegg, but then Pegg is also considerably more attractive than Toby Young – which where the problem really lies. he is a genial presence, fun to watch but cannot stretch to being Youngishly twatish, much as he was woefully miscast as the titual Fatboy in Run, Fatboy, Run.