I’m a sucker for romantic comedies. The rom-com is my go-to genre on Netflix and, for me, a solid rom-com beats a night at Shooter’s any day. On my list of guilty pleasures, watching rom-coms places in the top five, somewhere between indulging in Panda Express more than once a week and spending a shameful amount of time book bagging the second courses are released.
Yet, much to my dismay, many people are oddly averse to rom-coms. There are those who prefer action movies filled with an excessive number of explosions. How could we forget the unbelievable fight scenes that make you really question the firearm training, or the lack thereof, the villains received. In some dark corner of the movie preference spectrum, there are also the somewhat strange individuals who are absolutely enthralled by horror movies—once thought-to-be-dead girls crawling out of wells in rural towns, some psychopath killer with a chainsaw and random hitchhikers who the main characters always naively decide to pick up.
But coming from a guy who is scared of riding roller coasters, I guess I’m in no position to judge. To each his or her own, right? On the other extreme of movie—watchers are those like me—the romantics. (I hope you read that in the intended luring, Spanish accent. If not, go back and reread).
Now, let’s clearly define the word “romantic” before we continue. According to dictionary.com, there are several definitions of the word “romantic.” Here is one of them—
Romantic [roh-man-tik], noun – a romantic person.
Bravo, dictionary.com. Bravo. Let me try again.
Romantic [roh-man-tik], adjective- imbued with or dominated by idealism, a desire for adventure, chivalry, etc.
Given the latter definition, I’d like to think that I strive to be romantic. I wouldn’t say I’m the whole Ryan Gosling in “Crazy, Stupid, Love” style of romantic where I reenact that lift move from “Dirty Dancing” to woo girls. Please, like I have the upper body strength to do that with anyone. Rather, I feel like I would be more of the awkward, daydream-y type of character who would probably be played by a younger version of Steve Carell or maybe even the beloved Michael Cera. If I were female, I’d hopefully be played by Amy Poehler or Mindy Kaling.
All the rom-com critics ridicule the unrealistic plots. For those of you who have been deprived of the wonders that are romantic comedies, here’s how the usual storyline plays out—boy meets girl or they’ve been friends forever, boy and/or girl has issues X,Y or Z with the relationship, boy and girl break up for a bit, realize they are happiest when together and the two live happily ever after. Throw in some good ol’ top 100 chart songs (sometimes the acoustic versions) of the movie’s release year that may or may not be relevant to the movie, an unforgettable best friend character who never fails to crack you up and voila! You now have about an hour and half of high quality entertainment.
As much as these unrealistic and exaggerated parts are criticized, they are exactly why I love rom-coms. I’ll be the first one to admit that they are absolutely ridiculous. The cheesy lines, the outstanding success rate of the love-at-first-sight relationships and even just how insanely attractive all the characters are. Frankly, they are unbelievably idealistic. But when did being idealistic become a bad thing?
Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit jaded. Perhaps it is the truly infamous sophomore slump hitting me close to halfway through the year or the stress of midterms and the upcoming finals season, but I’ve had the yearning for some romance to fill my life. I don’t mean some prolific love-life type of romance, but rather an idealism and desire for adventure. Something to inspire me to jump out of bed, see the best in everything and live my life as if it were a rom-com (hopefully minus the heartbreak and whatnot, of course).
So if you feel the same way or just have an hour and a half to kill, maybe it’s time to go watch “Love Actually” or “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” because, objectively speaking, rom-coms are the best. A few tears will be shed (or maybe that’s just me), many laughs will be laughed and you’ll come out feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. Don’t feel guilty if you do because I think everyone needs some romance here and there.
I suppose it is only appropriate that I end this column similar to how a rom-com would end. So work with me here and imagine “Time of My Life” faintly playing in the background as I type the final words to this article. I slightly smirk, amused at how meta this entire ending is and the scene slowly fades into the never-ending credits as the song crescendos. (Don’t worry, it’s not a Marvel movie so there are no extra scenes afterwards.).
Don’t be afraid to be romantic, Duke. Here’s to comedy, here’s to romance.
Brandon Choi is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs every other Thursday.
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