Top 10 Romantic Comedies...

Okay,  I hereby adhere to the promise I made in my previous post and present to you my choices for the top ten romantic comedies. You'll notice that they aren't your typical entries in the genre. Now, please remember the rules, any all time favorites are banned from this list. Frankly if a movie is good enough to be my all time favorite, it's unfair to compare it to other movies. So rom-coms like The Princess Bride and Groundhog Day are disqualified.

Second, these have to be FAVORITES. Movies that I'd be down to watch whenever the opportunity presents itself, no matter what mood I'm in. Happy, sad, depressed, hyper, etc. it's always a good time to watch these. Remember, I'm a guy so I'm not going to gravitate to fluff like "27 Dresses" or "Head Over Heels". These are going to be movies that I found funny (usually because of the side characters as opposed to the romantic leads) that just happened to have some romance thrown in, or had such a quirky display of a relationship that I was too intrigued to not watch.  Anyway, here it is, my top ten rom coms:

10) Return To Me - I watched this because of an interview that David Duchovny gave regarding the premise of this movie. Apparently, people could believe in a huge international conspiracy to hide aliens on Earth but someone falling in love with the recipient of their dead wife's heart is too out there to be believed. So, of course, I had to check this out. This is also a classic example of how a supporting cast (namely the girl's elderly relatives) can make a rom-com hilarious enough to be bearable.

09) This Means War - A classic story of two men falling for the same girl. Only in this case, both men are trained government agents & use their skills to sabotage each other. The battle between the two of them was SO much more entertaining than the romantic bits. My personal favorite parts: tranquilizer dart, paint ball, and hiding in her house!! *laughs out loud* When you watch it, you'll understand.

08) Hitch - I've only ever seen two movies dealing with a "love doctor"'s relationship issues. And this one was the funnier of the two. Love him or hate him, you have to give it to Will Smith. He is an amazing comedic actor! And pairing him with Kevin James was a stroke of genius! PURE GENIUS!

07) The Cutting Edge - An 80s take on the "Taming Of The Shrew" with figure skating doesn't seem like my kind of movie, but what got me was the pure joy in hating each other displayed by the two leads. Very few rom-coms can actually get that level of vitriol, usually because they are too worried about having to make up the ground to have it be believable that these 2 people could fall for each other. But Cutting Edge shows that passion is passion and it's a fine line between hate and love.

06) Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Most rom-coms dealing with a break up focus on the craziness of ONE side of things (girl side or guy side), but this one shows how crazy things can get for BOTH parties in a break up and how awesome the NEXT person you/they get with can be.

05) Joe Vs. The Volcano - Ever feel like the universe is trying to tell you something, but you're just not quite getting it? That's what this movie is about. This is one of the FEW times where the lead of the film is the most interesting character. And the soundtrack for this movie ROCKS! Plus, let's be real here, with all the rom-coms that both Meg Ryan AND Tom Hanks have made (usually with each other!) are you really surprised that one made the list?

04) Say Anything - John Cusack has a habit of picking the most bizarre projects to work on. There isn't a single uninteresting person in this movie. The leads, the side characters everyone is great. While this movie is a rom-com, I prefer to see it as a movie about having the courage to take the risk and say the words that you are too scared to say.

03) When Harry Met Sally - A movie that covers whether or not a man and woman can ever really be friends. Again the leads are interesting people. For a long time, they are NOT romantically involved, which does lead to some awesome conversations, including the ever so famous orgasm scene, but the great part of this movie is the interweaving of all the stories of random couple throughout the movie. They give such a great grounding to the story. No matter how crazy the movie seems to be getting, there's a couple with a weirder story out there.

02) The American President - Dating can be hard. Dating at work is harder. While you get a better sense of the person (since you're always at work), the job always seems to get in the way of the relationship. But when the job is being the President of the United States, EVERYTHING gets in the way. And let's not even THINK about when the relationship doesn't work out!

01) High Fidelity - This is just a weird one, folks. First off, it's a rom-com that starts with the leads BREAKING UP! And then there's all the black humor.(Not just cause Jack Black is in it, either!) And the reasons for the break up. And the explorations of the leading man's Top 5 break ups of all time. (Which incidentally is what started MY interest in making all these top 10 and top 5 lists!) And all the psychotic things that go through a guy's mind when he's broken up with a woman he still loves. And the kick-ass music! Like I said, John Cusack picks the most bizarre projects to work on. It's why he gets not 1, not 2, but THREE appearances on this list.


Honorable Mentions:

HM01) Mr. Fix-It - This is the Anti-Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Where FSM shows you how great the next person you meet after a break up can be, Mr. Fix-It shows you just how BAD they can be. The humor in Mr. Fix-It is more self referential than anything else. When they made this movie, it was just to make fun of other rom-coms. Especially the overly cheesy 80s rom-coms. While totally awesome, it just didn't have that last bit of oomph to get into the top 10.

HM02) Serendipity - This is John Cusack's third entry in this list and in this movie he tackles the concept of "soul-mates" and other people who are "meant to be together". It shows just how crazy that belief comes across and how detrimental it can be to you and the people in your life. 







And there you have it folks, my top 10 favorite rom-coms! Did any of your favorites make the list? Have any issues with the ones I chose? Please make them known! Sound off in the comments below!