ON THE WESTERN FRONT

Hollywood is not short on melodrama and romances hijacked by class differences. Here are some that released in the Noughties:

Serendipity (2001)

A New Yorker (John Cusack) and a British woman (Kate Beckinsale) meet, fall in love and hope destiny will unite them after years because they are “meant to be”. Director Peter Chelsom keep the romantic confetti unbelievably and amusingly light.

Maid in Manhattan (2002)

Wayne Wang’s film has moments as schmaltzy as any bad Bollywood romance. A wealthy politician (Ralph Fiennes) falls in love with a Mexican hotel maid (Jennifer Lopez) living in the Bronx.

The Notebook (2004)

Nick Cassavetes’s romance set in the 1940s is the meeting and separation of rich girl Allie (Rachel McAdams) and poor boy Noah (Ryan Gosling). The screenplay plays heavily on fate, memory and a heightened sense of tragedy; the soundtrack plays heavy on piano and blues.

PS I Love You (2007)

Adapted from Cecilia Ahern’s bestseller, Richard LaGravenese directs Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler in this love story in which the tears never end as the heroine spends all the screen time being woefully in love with her dead husband.

Made of Honor (2008)

If Bollywood made Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998 about best friends falling in love, Hollywood made the charming My Best Friend’s Wedding a year before. A decade later came Made of Honor, directed by Rupert Greyson-Williams. With Michelle Monaghan and Patrick Dempsey in the lead roles, this is a happilyever-after with a hijacked “foreign location” wedding and fevered Bollywood pitch.