Third Finger, Left Hand

An adorable, fun film starring two of my favorite unsung actors...Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas. Loy stars as a single lady who pretends to be married to keep all unwanted suitors away...one in particular. Through a series of comic events, Douglas begins passing himself off as her husband, who was supposedly away on business. Myrna Loy has never been better than she is here. She is vibrant and full of life. She is constantly irritated at Douglas' character, even though we know she's madly smitten with him at the same time. And Douglas, who always has a knack for comic timing, is spot-on here as the goofy, long-lost hubby. The chemistry between both of them is perfect and sure to please all. I had seen this film once ages ago on Turner Classic Movies and wanted to re-watch it instantly. Unfortunately, it was never put on VHS (at least not that I could find) and took a while coming out on DVD...so now that it is out, please do yourself a favor a check it out!

Midnight in Paris

http://niles.patch.com/articles/allens-new-leading-man-lights-up-midnight-in-paris

Friends with Benefits

http://niles.patch.com/articles/make-friends-with-this-adult-comedy-to-reap-the-benefits

The Switch

http://niles.patch.com/articles/switch-to-a-more-complex-rom-com

Love and Other Drugs

http://niles.patch.com/articles/romantic-drama-aided-by-comedy

Letters to Juliet

http://niles.patch.com/articles/letters-to-juliet-offers-rom-com-fun

Valentine's Day

Not being the biggest fan of multiple vignette movies, I didn’t have high expectations here. I find that usually, in vignette ensemble movies like this one, ala Short Cuts, Crash, I get so upset with one story that no matter what is happening in the others, I lose interest in the whole thing. But, this had such a great cast, how could I pass it up? And, thankfully, it’s MUCH sweeter and more enjoyable than I expected. The storylines are all pretty much what you would expect from a Garry Marshall-directed romantic comedy. They are all about love in its various forms…broken love, falling in love, old love, love that’s not really love at all, friendship love, etc. The sweetest storyline would have to be the two friends who THINK that are having great fortune in the love department. Then, all of a sudden, one of the relationships crashes and the other soon does as well. The friends come together to find solace in each other and end up finding love as well. Also, the plotline with an older couple (played by Marshall rom com regular Hector Elizondo and the fabulous Shirley MacLaine) finding their way back together after a past betrayal is heartfelt and endearing. Basically, this film lives up to its goal…to make us all feel like going out and falling in love! If only it were that easy…

Leap Year

Yes, it’s a cutsie rom com. We know this because there are two good-looking, youngish people starring in the film and on the cover of the DVD, etc, plus there is instant sexual chemistry, though, naturally, the two do not like each other at first. Your typical rom com fare. Here the good-looking couple who are determined NOT to fall in love are Amy Adams (so irresistibly perky and vibrant) and Matthew Goode (so brooding…doing his best “I do not want to be lovable” routine). The two of them almost make us forget that not only have we “sort of” seen this type of material before, we have seen almost EXACTLY the same material in a 1995 Lawrence Kasdan film, French Kiss with rom con queen Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline. There, Ryan, like Adams, runs off to follow her boyfriend abroad where she meets Kline, a Frenchman, and naturally nature takes its course and soon the boyfriend is forgotten and Kline is the ONE! So, Goode is Irish not French and plotwise, the boyfriend in French Kiss met another woman in Paris and in Leap Year, it’s that said boyfriend hasn’t proposed yet. But, still, they are pretty similar. And, to top that off, I LOVE French Kiss. It’s one of my favorite films from the 1990s and definitely one of my favorite contemporary romantic comedies. And I still like Leap Year, with its copied and clichéd characters, plot, etc.? Yes, I do. Amy Adams and Matthew Goode are so likeable (separately, but mostly together) that we do not care that we already know the ending and have heard much of the dialogue and seen much of the plot before. Another bonus here is Ireland…the lush scenery, the vistas, the gloom and rain... Well, you can’t have sunshine everyday, right? Think again – it’s sunshiny everyday in Romantic Comedy Land.

Classic Love Stories and Romantic Comedies for Valentine's Day

Adam’s Rib
Affair to Remember, An
All That Heaven Allows
Annie Hall
Apartment, The
Awful Truth, The
Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, The
Barefoot in the Park
Born Yesterday
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Bride Came C.O.D., The
Brief Encounter
Bringing Up Baby
Casablanca
Come September
Desire Under the Elms
Desk Set
Doctor Zhivago
From Here to Eternity
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Gilda
Glass Bottom Boat, The
Gone With the Wind
Graduate, The
His Girl Friday
Holiday (1938)
Houseboat
How to Marry a Millionaire
Indiscreet
Intermezzo
It Happened One Night
It’s a Wonderful Life
Lady Eve, The
Last Time I Saw Paris
Love in the Afternoon
Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
Love Story
Lover Come Back
Magnificent Obsession
Manhattan
Meet John Doe
Move Over, Darling
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
My Favorite Wife
My Man Godfrey
Ninotchka
Notorious
Now, Voyager
Pat and Mike
Philadelphia Story, The
Pillow Talk
Place in the Sun, A
Random Harvest
Robin and Marion
Roman Holiday
Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Sabrina (1954)
Same Time, Next Year
Sandpiper, The
Send Me No Flowers
Shop Around the Corner, The
Summer Place, A
Talk of the Town
Teacher's Pet
That Touch of Mink
Three Coins in the Fountain
Thrill of It All, The
To Catch a Thief
To Have and Have Not
Touch of Class, A
Two for the Road
Way We Were, The
Wife vs. Secretary
With Six You Get Eggroll
Women in Love
Young at Heart

Contemporary ROMANTIC COMEDIES for Valentines's Day

10 Things I Hate About You
American President, An
Away We Go
Best Man, The
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Brown Sugar
Bull Durham
Chasing Liberty
Chocolat (2000)
Continental Divide
Daddy’s Little Girls
Dave
Definitely, Maybe
Doc Hollywood
Down with Love
Failure to Launch
Family Man, The
Fever Pitch (2005)
Four Weddings and a Funeral
French Kiss
Good Year, A
Groundhog Day
Hitch
Holiday, The (2006)
Honeymoon in Vegas
How to Deal
How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days
Intolerable Cruelty
It Could Happen to You
Jerry Maguire
Jersey Girl
Just Like Heaven
Just Married
Kate and Leopold
Keeping the Faith
Kissing Jessica Stein
Laws of Attraction
Leap Year
License to Wed
Little Black Book
Lot Like Love, A
Love Actually
Made of Honor
Maid in Manhattan
Mickey Blue Eyes
Moonstruck
Music and Lyrics
My Best Friend’s Wedding
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Mystic Pizza
Never Been Kissed
New in Town
No Reservations
Notting Hill
One Fine Day
Only the Lonely
Phat Girlz
Pretty Woman
Proposal, The
Return to Me
Roxanne
Runaway Bride, The
Serendipity
Shakespeare in Love
Sleepless in Seattle
Someone Like You
Something New
Something’s Gotta Give
Sweet Home Alabama
There’s Something About Mary
Tin Cup
Two Weeks Notice
Valentine's Day
Wedding Date, The
Wedding Planner, The
Wedding Singer, The
What Women Want
When Harry Met Sally
When in Rome
While You Were Sleeping
Wimbledon
Working Girl
You’ve Got Mail

CC's Top COMEDY/ROMANCE movies of the decade -- 2000-2009

Bridget Jones's Diary
Danny Deckchair
The Darjeeling Limited
Death at a Funeral
A Good Year
The Holiday
Kate and Leopold
Last Chance Harvey
No Reservations
Wimbledon

The Shop Around the Corner

OK – I know. The setting for this film is a little bizarre. It’s a Jimmy Stewart film set in Budapest. Jimmy Stewart—the all-American boy living and working in Hungary? Strangely, neither Stewart nor Maureen Sullivan have Hungarian accents. Or dress Hungarian. Or act European in any way. Basically, this movie could have (and should have) been set in America, but since it’s based on a play by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo, film director Ernst Lubitsch must have decided to leave the setting alone. Getting past that, this is a charming, endearing film that will surely become a favorite if you like romantic comedies. This is one of the best of the genre. Lubitsch is known for his stylized and sophisticated romantic comedies and even though this one lacks a little of the polish of some of his earlier works, it still satisfies. Stewart plays a head shop clerk and Sullivan plays his co-worker/nemesis/pen-pal. Even by today’s standards the dialogue is crisp and alive, with nothing to date it after all this time. And Stewart and Sullivan are a great pairing, seeming just as perfect together when they are bickering as when they are kissing. You’ve Got Mail was a re-make of this classic, but the 1998 film lacks the style and wit of the original.

Roxanne

A modern day Cyrano de Bergerac story starring Steve Martin as large-nosed C.D. Bales, who falls for Daryl Hannah, who falls for Rick Rossovich, who does not know what to say to Hannah or how to say it. Enter Martin, who writes her beautiful letters, saying and meaning things she thinks are coming from Rossovich. This one shines because of the smart, snappy dialogue, written by Martin.

Priceless

A little bit of French Kiss mixes with the screwball elements of The Valet and The Closet for a fun, wild romp in this romantic comedy set in the French Riviera. Audrey Tautou stars in this fabulously funny film about a woman looking less for love and more for money in a beau. Being devastatingly beautiful helps her snag some rich gentlemen, but it also snags her a bartender, whom she mistakes for a wealthy playboy and he does little to correct her misperception. From there, the two set about together trying to out-do each other in the "rich" loves department. The bartender, who was hilarious in The Valet, is played by comic French star Gad Elmaleh. Between Tautou and him, they make the movie…his expressions of terror and her naivety make for a highly entertaining film.

Scoop

Scoop is no Match Point. Woody Allen’s VERY serious and VERY Allen-less film Match Point was a favorite of mine in 2006 (it was released the end of 2005). So, when Scoop came along, I was excited…I mean it has a couple of the Match Point similarities. 1. It is set in London…of which Match Point was Allen’s first film set outside of the New York area. 2. It stars Match Point’s Scarlet Johansson. And, it also has Hugh Jackman, who I love as a actor. So, three pluses. Now, the minuses. 1. Allen goes back to his COMEDY roots…I think all of his gags have been treaded over one too many times. 2. Allen puts himself in the film. His neurotic New Yorker bit was funny in the beginning but now it’s just annoying. That’s it. So, three pros and two cons. Not exactly a ringing endorsement but enough for a good night in front of the DVD player. The story is the one that really sold this one for me…I was able to over look the neurotic Allen and the bad jokes since the story was pretty fresh and original. It revolves around a dead reporter who gets the “scoop” of a lifetime after he’s dead. He escapes the Grim Reaper just so he can try and get the story in the press through another reporter. He picks naïve Johansson as the person to give to “scoop” to and she tries her best to run with it, even though she falls in love with the person the “scoop” implicates. Complicated? No, it’s just hard to explain…but it is fun to watch. If only Allen would stay behind the camera…and try his hand at a little less humor…his genius for storytelling would continue to shine for years to come.

The Philadelphia Story

A sophisticated romantic comedy directed by George Cukor about a rich, spoiled socialite (Katharine Hepburn) who learns some things about who she is and what she really wants on the eve of her second marriage. Cary Grant co-stars as her former husband who cleaned up his act and hopes to make amends with his ex-bride. Jimmy Stewart (who won his only Best Actor for this role) also stars as a reporter who gets caught up in the whole mess. Definitely the perfect film cast, the three stars do some of their best comic work in his film, especially Hepburn, who rose back to the top of Hollywood after this starring role. Reconceived as the musical High Society in 1956 with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Grace Kelly, but this original film didn’t need music to be a fun, entertaining ride!

No Reservations

I liked Mostly Martha, so it’s always hard when a film that was good to begin with gets the remake once-over. It happens quite a bit with older films…many black and white. I guess Hollywood feels the attention span of movie-goers is about 30 years or less. But, what’s usually really frustrating is when a RECENT foreign film is remade into an English film. Um, excuse me, we CAN read subtitles, you know! So, here we go with another contemporary film…this time a very well-received German film…that is getting the Hollywood touch so Americans can go to the movies and not have to spend two hours READING. The horror, the horror! And, I’m not even that big of a fan of foreign films! Imagine how insulted staunch devotees of international cinema are!!!!! All that aside (is that possible after my rant?), Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a tough, temperamental chef who runs her NYC restaurant kitchen like clockwork until her sister dies and she’s left with the responsibility of raising her niece. Enter Aaron Eckhart as a replacement chef and more than just cooking fires begin to heat up. This is a sweet, touching film…more than just your average romantic comedy. It has edge and some truly poignant moments between the Zeta-Jones character and the young girl. Is it better than Mostly Martha? Well, no. But, I honestly didn’t expect it to be. It is a remake after all.

My Man Godfrey

Silly but stylish comedy about a young ditzy girl from a ditzy family who, during a charity scavenger hunt, meets a “forgotten” homeless man. The man plays along with the scavenger hunt gag and allows himself to be turned in as the grand prize. To reward him, the young girl makes him the family’s new butler. Of course, everyone knows what is going to happen – somehow the unlikely duo will fall in love and, not to ruin it for anyone, the “happy endings” cliché does occur here. But, leading up to the ending is a film filled with fun, mostly because of the true comic genius of Carole Lombard. The chemistry between her and William Powell’s “forgotten” man allows the audience to believe that fantasies like this do come true. When you hear the word “screwball,” what/who do you associate with that word? After seeing this quintessential “screwball” comedy, you will think of Carole Lombard every time.

My Favorite Wife

Irene Dunne, supposedly dead, returns after being gone for years to find husband Cary Grant remarried and on his honeymoon. When she goes to the hotel and Grant sees her, his new wife is forgotten about. But, the couple does have other problems, such as Grant finding out that while Dunne was stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere, she was not alone. Remade in 1963 as Move Over, Darling with Doris Day and James Garner, who can't surpass the superb performances of the Grant/Dunne team. This is the second of three pairings with Dunne and Grant (the first being 1937’s social comedy The Awful Truth and the last was 1941’s tear-jerker Penny Serenade). Of all three films, this one, I feel, gives off the most laughs and chemistry between the two stars.

Melinda and Melinda

I have not liked the last several Woody Allen films. I would have to say the last one I didn’t want to turn off in the middle (or even at the beginning) was Small Time Crooks (2000). And, even that one, I only liked…a little. So, when I got Melinda and Melinda, my first thought was, “Why the heck did I put this on hold?” Regardless of the reason, I decided to watch it…mostly since I had no other DVDs to watch at the time. Had this been a week where my coffee table was filled with piles of soon-to-be-due DVDs, I would have probably passed on this one. Well, I’m glad I didn’t pass. The most striking thing about Melinda and Melinda (aside from the fact that it’s actually a funny, original, entertaining Woody Allen film with him NOWHERE to be found among the cast) is the premise, or the gimmick of the plot. Like another film I really liked from 1998, Sliding Doors, Melinda and Melinda’s gimmick is original…involving how ONE plotline pans out in two different ways. Sliding Doors focused on TIME…how a split second of time difference changes the course of everything that happens after. Melinda and Melinda uses a different but just as original twist…the same story told from two different angles—one, a romantic comedy and the other, a drama. The only “like” character in both story variations is Melinda, played in both the comedy and drama by Radha Mitchell. Aside from her, all of the other characters differ in each story, as not to confuse the viewer. In both stories, Melinda is a troubled soul with a good deal of emotional baggage who finds temporary help with a group of friends. I found it fascinating how her personal troubles easily transformed from comic to serious…just by changing some minor elements. Director Woody Allen is able to turn a dramatic character trait of Melinda’s around and use that same trait for comic effect in the other storyline. Pretty original for Allen…and the end result is a funny, touching film that might not be some of Allen’s best work ever but is some of the best work he’s done in recent years.