Boy-being Meets Girl-being Under a Silvery Moon (Which Then Explodes for No Adequately Explored Reason): THE ROMANTIC COMEDIES POLL RESULTS THREAD

18 ballots, with 183 movies received votes. We will be counting down the top 50 (as above that the point spread narrows considerably and there are an awful lot of ties).

50. The Lady Vanishes (1938, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
3 votes, 88 points
http://hitchcock.tv/mov/lady_vanishes/images/ladyv.jpg

it's always nice to start with genre fraud

is michael related to vanessa?

49. Harold and Maude (1971, dir. Hal Ashby)
2 votes, 89 points
http://www.movieposterstudio.com/pimg/HaroldAndMaude_GBQ.jpg

was surprised this got so few votes tbh :(

It just wouldn't occur to me to consider this (The Lady Vanishes) an RC. (Can't bring myself to use the term romcom, for the same reason I hate "sci-fi.")

Love Harold and Maude--or at least, I loved it in my early 20s (haven't revisited since)--but I can understand it not coming to mind when one thinks "romantic comedy" (it didn't make my admittedly genre-strict ballot).

Amelie (2001, dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
3 votes, 90 points
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/84/8f/76/848f76ac6999832430324ad0c67337b5.jpg

yes, Michael Redgrave was the (bisexual) father of Lynn and Vanessa.

People who can't THINK of/haven't seen more than 5-10 true romantic comedies have to pull this shit with comedy-thrillers. Fucking amateur hour.

Those next two, otoh, i just hate on the merits.

btw Hitch did make at least one genuine RC

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/26/Smith_moviep.jpg/220px-Smith_moviep.jpg

Amelie is terrible garbage, I'll grant you that

i'm not sure if i remembered to vote for harold + maude but i def would have

fab soundtrack too

idk what Morbz has against it, I ranked it pretty high on my ballot. its idiosyncrasies and gags/editing make up for its more maudlin (*rimshot*) notes.

most significant now for being stripped for parts by Wes Anderson

is that to be held against it

What later directors take from a picture is never a reason to diss the original. In case that's what you were doing.

xp

Amelie is terrible garbage, I'll grant you that

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, August 27, 2014 11:50 AM

i like the part where she listens to the city orgasming

^^I saw it in the theater w/both of my parents. A.W.K.W.A.R.D.

47. Show Me Love (1998, dir. Lukas Moodysson)
2 votes, 91 points
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTM5Nzc4NDkzMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDU5Mjc4._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg

i hated amelie so much at the time it almost makes me suspect it's good

http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3xyq2tix91qaliojo1_500.gif

Well I nominated The Lady Vanishes so I guess I get the honour of causing the first Morbius tantrum in this thread

Mr & Mrs Smith may be a "genuine" romantic comedy but it's also not very good, and I voted for thirty from a shortlist of fifty so I'm quite capable of thinking of more than 5-10 romantic comedies you awful old bore

and yet you included one that... isn't... one.

Show Me Love is Fucking Amal, right? I'm p sure I haven't seen it.

misread that

It's got romance, it's got comedy, it's also a thriller. Who actually gives a shit?

I guess we'll just have to pray the poll can recover from the damage I've done with my disregard for the inviolable sanctity of the genre

btw i am not of the opinion that Mr & Mrs Smith should've gotten votes, just that Hitchcock doesn't belong anywhere among the greatest 50 romantic comedies in history.

Who actually gives a shit?

EXACTLY, let's ban the next motherfucker who votes in a poll.

feeling good about my vote for Midnight Run right now

yes Show Me Love is Fucking Amal idk why there are two different titles

bcz no US marquee would show the original title

there were def marquees in 1998.

46. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961, dir. Blake Edwards)
2 votes, 92 points
http://www.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/26/MPW-13067

one of those classics i've never seen

but i have heard the song

45. Moonstruck (1987, dir. Norman Jewison)
2 votes, 93 points
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSKe6X5XEf6zBshsT75lB_o_6_FG7imwPSGY397xevzzVW7rFz7

song is the best thing about it, most of the film is horrible and v dated imo. party scene looks fun.

in reference to BaT that is

xp

idk if mordy meant moon river, there are darker possibilities

44. Muriel's Wedding (1994, dir. J.P. Hogan)
2 votes, 94 points
http://www.pastposters.com/cw3/assets/product_full/(R)__MurielsWedding(teaser)3.jpg

43. Love Me Tonight (1932, dir. Rouben Mamoulian)
2 votes,95 points
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdreviews21/a%20Rouben%20Mamoulian%20Love%20Me%20Tonight%20DVD/poster4%20Rouben%20Mamoulian%20Love%20Me%20Tonight%20DVD.jpg

First of the all-time greats to show up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGNQ7TrVDrg

42. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953, dir. Howard Hawks)
(3 votes, 98 points
http://woodstockwardrobe.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/gentlemen-prefer-blondes-poster.jpeg

There's Something About Mary (1998, dir. Peter and Bobby Farrelly)
3 votes, 99 points
http://www.pastposters.com/cw3/assets/product_expanded/(JamieR-BX)__TheresSomethingAboutMary(teaser)2.jpg

er that's no. 41.

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/497404/Gentlemen-Prefer-Blondes-Movie-Clip-Anyone-Here-For-Love.html

Forgot to vote for Moonstuck.

TIE 41. Design for Living (1933, dir. Ernst Lubitsch)
3 votes, 99 points
http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Posters/D/Poster%20-%20Design%20for%20Living_07.jpg

40. Sleepless in Seattle (1993, dir. Nora Ephron)
3 votes, 106 points
http://www.parkcircus.com/assets/0009/5465/SLEEPLESS-QUAD.jpg

the pensive expressions on this movie poster crack me up, so insipid

Morbs is still waiting for his Wiener King.

you'd think morbz would be thrilled ilx voted a woody allen #1 even after the earlier hullabaloo

we're dealing with a poll where 9 people voted for the #1 pick and 7 voted for #10 so I wouldn't bother reading too deeply into the tea leaves re: a big comedy director's best picture winner taking the top spot

― da croupier, Wednesday, September 3, 2014 3:30 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

good point.

by earthbound i guess i just mean... it's an amusing character study. sometimes very amusing. but compared to a lot of other films on the list it seems very conventional, complacent even.

but you know taste etc.

but i think it'd be hard for me to understand someone who would put it in the league of something like "his girl friday" which on the level of performance and pacing is such a miracle.

but what da croupier said, really

but compared to a lot of other films on the list it seems very conventional

This seems like a surprising thing to say about Annie Hall but I'll admit that there's a lot I haven't seen on the list.

not conventional compared to motherfucking When Harry Met Sally

yeah I don't really get calling it conventional - its structure and pacing is p unusual

but compared to a lot of other films on the list it seems very conventional, complacent even.

http://585579096.r.lightningbase-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/0749852143.gif

comfort yourself that Groundhog Day didn't win, a great comedy THAT IS NOT A ROMANTIC COMEDY

And fwiw (not much) I don't put Annie Hall in the same league as His Girl Friday.

the fact that it's about a couple that split and move on to plausibly more momentous relationships also seems less than conventional for a rom-com

it's an anti-romcom bc the misanthrope doesn't get the girl at the end, he just gets to be miserable, desperately trying to figure out how to recreate magic that is permanently gone from his life

When I saw Annie Hall on release, it definitely felt like no film I'd ever seen before. I was 16, mind you, and everything seemed new, but Annie Hall still feels unique 37 years later.

yeah i guess you're right. it just feels kind of uninspired compared to some of the other films on the list, but looking at the full list i suppose it doesn't qualify as 'conventional'

sry

and then came India Song xp

To reiterate, "uninspired" in a list that includes When Harry Met Sally ...

india song is kind of funny if you approach it a certain way

xpost

sure fine

I'd have no objections to calling Annie Hall mundane in practically any other context. But this list ... I mean, girls, Lisa, boys kiss girls!

I would have liked India Song a lot better if there'd been two or three scenes involving lobsters and/or this guy.

http://media.cinemasquid.com/screenshots/1ad421b6-c0b1-49dc-ba96-2c302d6d001b/annie-hall-blu-ray-screenshot-0004929-I-824.jpg

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/y2glIlm0rGs/hqdefault.jpg

india song is kind of funny if you approach it a certain way

Le Camion has the real yuks.

point morbs for namedropping even more obscure duras film

i saw a screening featuring post-analysis by John Waters!

that's right, i remember reading his praise the budget-saving minimalism of le camion and bresson's lancelot du lac

there's a Marguerite Duras doublebill marquee shot in one of his '80s films

http://www.thecinetourist.net/uploads/7/0/9/9/7099213/8568482_orig.jpg

:)

i wish i liked john waters's films more :(

Stick to your guns. I'm f'n glad Howard Hawks bores me.

why would you be glad to be bored that seems sort of strange

he doesn't even hate what he hates

Glad that I didn't have to sit through 60+ Hawks films after the 5 or 6 (most of them acclaimed as being among his best) I watched did nothing for me.

you mean you don't like Hatari!

Fell asleep.

Everything I love about Gentlemen Prefer Blondes apparently has very little to do with Hawks (tho even the most recent re-watch didn't light my fire as the movie had in the past).

(Still voted for it in this poll tho I think.)

He's a jack-of-all-trades, silly... wait, that's MASTER of all. But you can't detect all his strengths in one genre.

like me

Hawks is a master of jack, trade.

jeez i haven't been called "trade" since Joan Rivers was funny

tasteless :(

[Dennis Perrin "Gaza hospital" tweet]

i can't even imagine loving movies and hating howard hawks, but there you go.

It truly is a democratic marvel of a medium.

that's one way to put it.

he's bored by men-in-groups

The AV Club's Fave RomComs

I revised my submissions.