An in-depth celebration of the romantic comedy's modern golden era and its role in our culture, tracking the genre from its heyday in the '80s and the '90s, its unfortunate decline in the 2000s, and its explosive reemergence in the age of streaming, featuring exclusive interviews with the directors, writers, and stars of the iconic films that defined the genre.
Meslow tells lots of engaging making-of stories...but it’s his overarching theme, that romantic comedies are much more than lovey-dovey fluff, that really holds our interest.
A delightful and humorous love letter to the romantic comedy flick ... Meslow also provides tantalizing tales of script overhauls...casting controversies...and tensions between costars ... Fans of the popular but often under-appreciated genre of romantic comedy will appreciate Meslow’s book, which offers insight on the development of landmark films and how some of Hollywood’s biggest names launched their careers.
Breezy ... Along the way, Meslow makes good points about a lack of diversity in the rom-com world but devotes little space to non-heterosexual film examples, and while the chapters are individually satisfying, they don’t build to make a bigger case. Still, romance fans will find plenty to enjoy in this punchy retrospective.
