Where Are All the Rom Coms?

I grew up in the middle of the golden age of rom coms (imo). The late 80s – mid 2000s brought a plethora of amazing, funny, heartwarming romance movies we just don’t see now. Before that, there were hilarious films with Katharine Hepburn and Doris Day, which I watched over and over and over.

But where are they now?

Please know I really don’t have the answer to this. It’s just a question I am posing. There are dozens of fantastic books that would make really delightful, hilarious movies (People We Meet on Vacation, Very Sincerely Yours, Well Met, probably anything by Christina Lauren, The Ex Talk, just to name a few.) Romance makes the bucks in the book business, so I can’t imagine they wouldn’t do well at the box office. There are plenty of adorable young actresses just waiting to be the next Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts and Kate Hudson (I vote Zoey Deutch, Lucy Hale and Zendaya for sure. Side note – I don’t know if Zendaya does comedy, but she is absolutely gorgeous and her and Tom Holland should star in one together. Perhaps one based on his Lip Sync performance… sorry I digress).

So what’s the problem? Where have all the rom coms gone? And I’m not talking Hallmark. Look, I’m not shaming anyone for loving Hallmark, it’s just not my cup of tea. I’m talking You’ve Got Mail, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days kind of rom com.

Are the studios just spending all of their money putting out yet another Marvel movie? Are we, as women (I assume most rom com movie watchers are women however my husband watches them to make me happy), once again being told that our needs don’t matter? Is this part of taking down the patriarchy? To get our rom coms back? If we have a woman (D) president, will they finally return?

(why did I make this a pull quote? because I can)

What do I have to do to get my rom coms? Make them myself? (Movie peeps, I am a writer and welcome anyone who wants to adapt my non-agented, non-published books. Email me).

The good news is that there are some rom coms / romances that have come out and are coming out. Netflix has put out some in the last few years (I haven’t seen them all but Always Be My Maybe was a delight as was Set It Up and Love Hard). Palm Springs was excellent and I adore Andy Samberg (Real glow up from SNL to Brooklyn 99). The Hating Game just came out (I’ll be dedicating an entire post to that, don’t you worry). JLo has a new one called Marry Me with Owen Wilson coming out this year, as does Sandra Bullock with Channing Tatum (I am a little unclear if it is actually a rom com, but it’s got extreme Romancing the Stone vibes and she is a romance author and I am here for it!). Also Reese Witherspoon is making a new one (look I am a Reese Witherspoon super fan, and I would watch her watch paint dry. She’s actually part of the reason I went for the whole writing thing, but that’s another story).

So I’m hoping that the revival of the rom com movie is just on the horizon.