Love is in the air ... again
WITH the success of Crazy Rich Asians, it looks like the romantic comedy genre is making a comeback. It could be due to people’s desire to indulge in a good old love story again, amid news of violence and unstable politics
Here are five rom-coms to watch and watch out for.
Set It Up
Overworked and exhausted, office personal assistants Harper (Zoey Deutch) and Charlie (Glen Powell) come up with the perfect plan to finally get some free time for themselves – by setting up their respective bosses Kirsten (Lucy Liu) and Rick (Taye Diggs) on a date with each other.
Netflix, which produced the film, famously does not release ratings, but analysts say the film has been a sleeper hit since its release two months ago.
The Kissing Booth
1980s rom-com queen Molly Ringwald in a romantic comedy again – that should be enough to get some older film fans to tune in, even if her role here is as the mother of the school heartthrob.
The story is focused on teenage girl Shelley (Joey King), who confronts her crush (Jacob Elordi) at a kissing booth at a carnival.
Netflix did not provide statistics, but its chief content officer Ted Sarandos said the film was a “hugely popular original movie” for the streaming service.
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
Based on the best-selling novel by Jenny Han, the film follows teenage girl Lara (Lana Condor), whose life is turned upside-down when her secret love letters to her crushes are exposed.
The film, which has a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, has received acclaim for its charming story, staying true to the book and featuring an Asian-American in the lead role.
In an interview with Variety, Condor said she rarely felt represented in films while growing up. “My whole reason for doing this is so girls who look like me feel seen.”
Destination Wedding
Frank (Keanu Reeves) and Lindsay (Winona Ryder) are strangers invited to a mutual friend’s wedding in California. They cannot stand each other at first, but as they spend more time together, we all know how this story ends.
Reeves and Ryder were both idols in the 1990s and have starred in their fair share of romantic comedies – they also played a romantic couple in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) – so this should be a fun, nostalgic trip for many older film fans. Opens at cinemas on Sept 20.
Second Act
Remember the time when Jennifer Lopez used to star in romcoms such as Maid In Manhattan (2002)? She returns to the genre with Second Act, playing a lowly paid woman who gets mistakenly hired by a private finance firm to handle a huge investment deal.
Opens at cinemas in November. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network