# Gentlemen: Do you like Rom-Coms? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 7, 2023, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178 "2023-08-07T08:47:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/61 "2023-08-23T20:05:18Z")
> [@MrLee](#): > > hink I saw that one… And you will see it again, and again. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2023, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/62 "2023-08-24T09:44:28Z")
Completely agree, great summary. Having said that, I do like the ones that have a bit of a twist to them, my favourite being the aforementioned _500 Days of Summer_ - annoyingly, it’s not on Netflix, I need to make more effort to rewatch that one. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2023, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/63 "2023-08-24T10:18:35Z")
It’s funny, I read 500 Days of Summer as being a movie about selfishness, particularly but definitely not exclusively Tom’s. … it made me uneasy. Apparently, that’s also how Joseph Gordon Levitt read it when he was in it, but this article does a good job of describing how even that is ambiguous. > **[After a decade of discourse, (500) Days Of Summer is basically the Fight Club...](https://www.avclub.com/after-a-decade-of-discourse-500-days-of-summer-is-ba-1837104854)** > > The film has inspired endless debates about what it’s trying say, how effectively it says it, and whether the fact that it can easily be misread is a flaw of the film or its audience. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2023, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/64 "2023-08-25T19:17:11Z")
Want to try a RC that’s a bit older? Harold LLoyd’s Girl Shy. One of my favorite silents. [https://youtu.be/PmWHJ2dewiU?t=33](https://youtu.be/PmWHJ2dewiU?t=33) ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/65 "2023-08-29T07:28:57Z")
My wife and I watched The Ugly Truth the other day. Well that’s 2 hours of our lives that we’ll never get back. But I could look at Katherine Heigl all day. [![](https://i.imgur.com/fgngWuT.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/fgngWuT.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/66 "2023-08-29T07:41:17Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > But I could look at Katherine Heigl all day. I can understand that. Fun little story: when my ex left me, she left me. Middle of the night. I knew she was leaving and would be going back to southern Ontario, but I didn’t know when. I woke up one morning, and she wasn’t there, and I knew she had gone. Okay, so a few weeks later, I was poking through our collection of DVDs. I decided to watch “Across the Universe,” but it wasn’t there. When I next spoke with her, which we had to do as divorce negotiations were taking place, I asked if she knew where our DVD of “Across the Universe” was. “Oh, I took it with me,” she replied. “I wanted something to watch on my computer on the plane to Toronto.” “So you took ‘Across the Universe,’ which I liked; and left me with ‘27 Dresses,’ starring Katherine Heigl, which you liked” I said. “Thanks so much.” Sarcasm fully on. No matter how easy on the eyes Katherine Heigl is, “27 Dresses” was relegated to the “Donate to Goodwill” bin when I cleaned out her stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/67 "2023-08-29T12:56:49Z")
Thanks for the tip. I won’t add it to my list. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/68 "2023-08-29T18:46:02Z")
Sure, from time to time. I don’t see why a movie about a relationship should only appeal to women. Also, some rom-coms are more interesting and less formulaic than others. For example, I found Four Weddings and a Funeral quite original. Or Kate and Leopold, which had an element of fantasy (and great chemistry between Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman). I have to admit I’m also in the camp of those guys who have watched some rom-coms because of the ladies in them. So “While You Were Sleeping”, for example, I rented as a teenager, because it starred Sandra Bullock. Or I watched “The Nanny Diaries” because it starred Scarlett Johannson. (Actually, romance is only a part of this movie, it actually is about a nanny to a dysfunctional rich family, and it makes some very good points on that topic). Or “The Sure Thing” drew me, because of Daphne Zuniga, on whom I had a crush back when she was on “Melrose Place”. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/69 "2023-08-29T20:39:46Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > I have to admit I’m also in the camp of those guys who have watched some rom-coms because of the ladies in them. I can’t think of any times I’ve done that, although I may just be forgetting. I think it’s hard for an actress in American films to be funny and sexy at the same time, because the funny characters have to be idiots. In a typical rom-com, the female lead is as generically appealing as possible. I can’t think of very many where they get much personality of their own. Despite rom-coms being targeted at women, the role of the heroine is usually to be a MacGuffin, pursued by the hero until she falls into his arms at the end. The exception, to me, is one I’ve already mentioned, _L.A. Story_. I always fall for Victoria Tennant a little bit when I watch that. In other roles, she doesn’t do a thing for me. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/70 "2023-08-29T20:46:27Z")
Not much of a moviegoer, but an insatiable reader. Cranky old cis dude. Georgette Heyer and Jennifer Crusie are two of my favorite authors. Lois McMaster Bujold and Nathan Lowell weave romance into gripping science fiction, and I just can’t get enough. Plain old bodice-rippers don’t quite do it, and I’m VERY confused by the new? genre of HaremLit - but there’s no accounting for taste! ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/71 "2023-08-30T21:13:47Z")
My wife and I watched The Ugly Truth the other day. What a piece of shiitake. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2023, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178/72 "2023-08-31T00:28:56Z")
I suppose “Honeymoon Killers” isn’t a rom-com, but I guess I roll differently than others on those things. Heh, “Wild at Heart”? “Nuts in May” “Being There” “Something About Mary” “Lost in America” “The Graduate” Again, probably stretching definitions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gentlemen-do-you-like-rom-coms/988178.md?page=3)