I'm not sure whether to release a shrill panicked scream or shrug out a "meh." See, the great thing about Rom-Coms (that I haven't seen lately), are that they can be more than a sub-genre of comedy. If done properly, they can be a sub-genre of SciFi, Drama, Action, Adventure, Westerns and yes, ("Warm Bodies") Horror. IMHO, the failures of 2012's RomComs can be attributed to the lack of creative scope listed above, and this... KNOW (and write for) YOUR AUDIENCE. RomComs are tricky, the funny, the sigh and the meaningful impact have to be juggled just right to allow the audience to feel engaged/fulfilled. Hollywood seems to thrive on it's genre cycles. Hopefully, a slew of creative, clever, high-concept RomComs will come out that make this article's question moot. In short, I have hope. Instead of the scream or shrug, I'll trust the old mantra, "Write a great script and Hollywood will find you."

I want to take time to read the full articles and think about them, but my quick response is to agree with Traci (who I know knows a lot about Rom-Coms). If The Apartment were a brand new film today, it would be a hit. Now could you sell it as a spec today, get it funded, and successfully make the movie? That's another question. I find it hard to imagine that there won't always be room for good rom-coms. And we can certainly aim to write them.

Still comes down to a great script I suppose. I thought "Crazy Stupid Love" was great.

[...] “Can the Romantic Comedy be saved?” [...]

Isn't this one of those year-end fill-in-the-blank analysis articles that the trades always do? One year it's action movies that are dead or dying. The next year it's animated films. This year, it's romantic comedies. Maybe the real problem isn't the genre per se, but the specific movies that come out in that genre for a particular year. Make good movies and people will go see them. Make mediocre movies and people will stay home.

The Rom Com problem is pretty simple, and can be summed up in one word: laziness. As the genre became more reliable as a moneymaker, the effort going into the scripts and production became negligible. Characters, settings, and conflicts are boilerplate (how many ladies' magazine writers have we seen?), plots forced and convoluted (HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN TEN DAYS takes the cake). More than a few of these films focus on how romance and domesticity should trump work-related goals and that ambition and high-powered jobs are unattractive, which is outdated thinking that's a huge turn off to most women these days. You continue to see bidding wars on expletive-titled scripts that are two-dimensional, derivative, and barely coherent. Why are producers buying this shit? At the end of the day, if we already know Gerard Butler has made three terrible Rom Coms, why on earth would anyone sit through another, no matter who else is in the cast? Both of J.Lo's big Rom Coms, MAID IN MANHATTAN (storied by the master of this kind of film, John Hughes) and THE WEDDING PLANNER, are simple, sweet, character-driven fluff pieces that feature active, single women protagonists striving to better their own lives who happen to fall into relationships along the way. This is the fantasy women like, this is what sells at the box office, and what the genre needs to return to to keep making the big bucks...

While the Vulture article makes some good points and acknowledges some industry realities, there's a fundamental misperception involved. By "romantic comedy," Brodesser-Akner is referring to a specific kind of formulaic rom-com (e.g. Career Girl Lands Alpha Guy) that peaked by the turn of the century. While it's true that this trite, studio-manufactured "stick two stars in it and see what happens" brain-dead programmer has lost a chunk of the mainstream audience, Romantic Comedies, when they're done right - i.e. with some originality - are still having an impact and performing well. Brodesser-Akner doesn't even mention "Silver Linings Playbook," for example, which peppered critical 10 Best Lists this past year and is on track for multiple Oscar nominations (its box office remains to be seen, since Weinstein isn't opening it wide until after the Oscar noms are announced). I did a post in response to the Vulture piece in my rom-com 2012 round-up: http://livingromcom.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/12/the-8th-annual-asta-awards.html