Screen Story Success from Lindsey Hughes

Romantic Comedy vs. Romance

I just saw 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, which was a charming, sweet movie.  People are calling it a romantic comedy and I disagree – I think it is a funny romance.  Romantic comedies and romances are kissing cousins.  Both are about two people falling in love, but they are different.  And it is possible for a movie to be funny, but not be a traditional romantic comedy.  What is the difference?  In Shakespearean terms comedies have happy endings and tragedies have unhappy ones.   But for modern romances and rom-coms it is a little murkier. 

Romantic comedies always end with the couple together.  No exceptions.  Think about it.  Meg always ends up with Tom.  Hugh always ends up with his co-star.  Ah, but what about MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING?  Julia ends up dancing with her gay best friend while the love of her life marries someone else.  I submit that MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING is not a rom-com, but a funny movie set around a wedding.  It’s a transformational story as Julia, who was too cool for school, realizes the importance of being open and vulnerable.  A recent movie with the same premise, MADE OF HONOR, is a romantic comedy because Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan declare their love and get married.

In 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, Tom and Summer do not live happily ever after.  (I’m not spoiling anything.  The narrator tells us this in the first five minutes.)  It is true that in many of the great cinematic love stories the couple does not end up together – CASABLANCA, TITANIC, THE WAY WE WERE, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.  However, true love can triumph too.  BEAUTY & THE BEAST, LAST OF THE MOHICANS, MOONSTRUCK, AN OFFICER & A GENTLEMAN.  You can see from this list that romances vary greatly both in tone and ending.  While 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, MOONSTRUCK, & BEAUTY AND THE BEAST all have funny moments and even scenes, at their core they are dramas. 

Romances have the risk of heartbreak driving the story.  Will the two lovers get together or be torn apart?  The stakes are huge.  In romantic comedies the question is not whether the lovers will get together, but how they will recognize that they love each other.  The danger is hurt feelings and miscommunications, never heartbreak.  That is part of the appeal of the genre, a guaranteed happy ending and love triumphant. 

Finally, the obstacles keeping the lovers apart are much smaller in romantic comedies.  It’s often that one or both are afraid to tell the other how they feel – TWO WEEKS NOTICE, MADE OF HONOR.  Another common obstacle is a bet or a lie – HOW TO LOSE A GUY, FAILURE TO LAUNCH.  The obstacles in romances are much bigger – a sinking ship in TITANIC, World War II in CASABLANCA, societal prejudice in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.  Even smaller scale stories have big obstacles.  The gulf of class differences in THE WAY WE WERE and AN OFFICER & A GENTLEMAN.  Family disapproval in MOONSTRUCK.  A young woman barely hanging onto her sanity in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S.  And in 500 DAYS OF SUMMER Tom faces the biggest obstacle of all, Summer just doesn’t love him the way he loves her. 

It’s important to understand the difference between these two genres and know which one your story is.  Remember just because it’s funny, doesn’t mean it’s automatically a romantic comedy.