The Rom-Com List
The Notes app of an iPhone is arguably the best way to get insight into someone’s mind. Bad poetry, grocery lists, quotes, books to read, random thoughts, good poetry… the list goes on. If someone were to delve into my personal notes app they would find, along with some of the above, a list documenting a guilty pleasure of mine: rom-coms. Romantic comedies, if you will. And this is no simple list, no wimpy little list hidden deep in the app. This is an extensive list of every rom-com I ever remember seeing. 89 rom-coms, to be exact. This list is separated into three categories, but I need to preface the below opinions by saying I strongly believe that a “good” movie does not have to be a good movie. Ya know? Like, a movie can have a million plot holes, some strange dialogue choices, and 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, but if I like it then I will tell everyone I know that it is a “good” movie and will defend it till I die. Anyway.
The first category is simply labeled “Like”. In other words, rom-coms that I have deemed worthy of rewatching multiple times. This section is full of classics, my top few being You’ve Got Mail (1998), Notting Hill (1999), and Groundhog Day (1993).
The second category is labeled “Neutral”. These are films that I could be persuaded to watch again, but hold no strong love for. 500 Days of Summer (2009), Rumor Has It (2005), and Love Actually (2003) are a few of the films that fill this category.
The third and final category is labeled “Cheesy horrible brain killing (please for the love of god do not watch these again sober!)”. So a bit of a longer title and one that I think also aptly describes the category. Some of these include He’s All That (2021), Love Hard (2021), and Holidate (2020). I blame quarantine and boredom for my entrance into the world that is Netflix Original romantic comedies, but I have no excuse for my continued engagement. Perhaps they are the true guilty pleasure.
“But Ruthie” you might begin to object “you’re a film major! Surely you have more class than this, more regard for your own brain cells that are surely rapidly decaying with every passing second of this Netflix Original trash??” And to that I say, fuck you! Let me have this, and don’t call me Shirley (< little rom-com joke for you, you’re welcome).
My only defense is that these are not movies you watch for the plot. These are movies you watch with friends to laugh at, to belittle. To ironically pick up vocabulary that will most likely— and worryingly— become unironically part of your everyday language. You don’t have to use a single part of your brain to watch these movies. Let yourself zone out while consuming media as a little treat! Do it, I dare you.
I refuse to stop watching them, and you can’t make me.
Comments
Post a Comment