Speaker 1: Welcome to Go ask Alli, a production of Shonda Land
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Speaker 1: up comedian, of which I am not. I tried it.
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Speaker 1: Go out and seek people who are mad about related things,
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Speaker 1: mad about is you. You actually look for those little
Speaker 1: colonels of hope. Yeah, well that's that's a good stuff.
Speaker 1: I think it is a good stuff, and I think
Speaker 1: we need a good stuff always. Hi, and welcome to
Speaker 1: Go ask Alli. I'm Ali Wentworth and this season I'm
Speaker 1: digging into everything I can get my hands on, just
Speaker 1: peeling back to layers and getting dirty. Okay, So this
Speaker 1: episode is about our struggling relationship with romance in movies.
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed with romantic comedies and for some reason, out
Speaker 1: there in the zeitgeist, romantic comedies seemed to have disappeared.
Speaker 1: Where have they gone? What has happened to them? And
Speaker 1: don't they still have a place in our movie going hearts.
Speaker 1: So the other day I posted on Instagram a call
Speaker 1: out to all my fantastic listeners to tell me their
Speaker 1: favorite romantic comedy films, and you did. My producer Brooke
Speaker 1: was flooded with calls. She had to wear rain boots.
Speaker 1: Hundreds of people calling in with their favorite romantic comedy,
Speaker 1: which means romantic comedies really strike a chord. People love them,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna be playing some of your calls throughout
Speaker 1: the whole episode. I remember when I was first dating
Speaker 1: my husband, George, and we went to go see the
Speaker 1: movie Moulin Rouge, which is not your typical romcom because
Speaker 1: it's got a very sad ending. But I remember at
Speaker 1: the end of the film, we were clutching each other's
Speaker 1: hands and he actually was welling up with tears. And
Speaker 1: maybe for some people that would be a red flag,
Speaker 1: but for me, I knew he was the one. Any
Speaker 1: man that can go to a movie about love and
Speaker 1: unrequited love and love with a sad, sad ending is
Speaker 1: the man for me. Anyway, I want to dig in
Speaker 1: today to what's going on with the rom coms. I
Speaker 1: actually think they're gonna have a comeback, but right now,
Speaker 1: we're a little anemic when it comes to love, which
Speaker 1: brings me to my guest. Janelle Raley is a screenwriter
Speaker 1: and a playwright, producer, journalist, and film historian. She's also
Speaker 1: the Deputy Awards and Features editor Variety Magazine. Janelle is
Speaker 1: a host of Varieties Actors on Actors, for which she
Speaker 1: has won a Daytime Emmy Award and to Los Angeles
Speaker 1: Emmy Awards. She has written her own romantic comedy, the
Speaker 1: word winning play A Kind of Love Story, which she
Speaker 1: also directed. Okay, Jeanelle Riley, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: being here and diving into romantic comedies with me. I mean,
Speaker 1: I wish I could talk, by the way about every
Speaker 1: film in every genre, but I have to stay focused
Speaker 1: and stay with the rom com because, and maybe I'm wrong,
Speaker 1: and you can tell me I'm wrong. I feel like
Speaker 1: rom comms have disappeared. Am I right? I mean it's
Speaker 1: definitely not the golden age of rom comms, but I
Speaker 1: feel like they are coming back. And actually I credit
Speaker 1: Netflix a love. They did a whole like summer of
Speaker 1: the romantic comedy and it did so well, and they're
Speaker 1: making original comedies that you know, starting with like Set
Speaker 1: It Up. I don't know if you've seen that one,
Speaker 1: But movies that like almost shouldn't work, but they do,
Speaker 1: like they are better than they have any right to
Speaker 1: be because they cast them so well, you know, they
Speaker 1: cast them diversely, they make them look great, and so
Speaker 1: I gotta get a lot of credit. Is it that
Speaker 1: they're good or is it because we've just been in
Speaker 1: COVID for so long that we'll just take anything we
Speaker 1: can get. I'm curious. I wonder sometimes there's stuff that
Speaker 1: I watched now on streaming that I wouldn't have watched
Speaker 1: four years ago, but now I'm like, I don't care,
Speaker 1: give it to me whatever. You're absolutely right. And it's
Speaker 1: a little bit of both. I would say movies like
Speaker 1: Set It Up to all the Boys I've loved before,
Speaker 1: and particularly the half of it, which was a Syrano
Speaker 1: de Bergerac but a queer version, are fantastic movies that
Speaker 1: you know, I I cover the Oscars for a living,
Speaker 1: and these are the kind of movies I actually think
Speaker 1: should be nominated for Oscars. And then there are some
Speaker 1: that like there's this movie called The Wrong Missy with
Speaker 1: David Spade. I saw it I'm not going to say
Speaker 1: it's a good movie, but boy did I enjoy it. No,
Speaker 1: it was very funny, which is my next question. So
Speaker 1: I'm I'm sort of looking back at at romantic comedies,
Speaker 1: you know, sort of. I think the first big burst
Speaker 1: was with When Harry met Sally, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it really is the one that's at the standard yep.
Speaker 1: And I think it was obviously romantic, but it was
Speaker 1: very funny. You know. For for many of them that
Speaker 1: I've seen, I go, it's not funny at all, So
Speaker 1: it's just about a boy and a girl and this
Speaker 1: and that. But then like train Wreck, Amy Schumer's movie,
Speaker 1: romantic comedy but really funny. So and and actually I
Speaker 1: think Judd Apatau did that. He started to make knocked
Speaker 1: up in the romantic comedies that are not your typical
Speaker 1: male female high I love you, how do we get
Speaker 1: to each other kind of thing. Like a romantic comedy
Speaker 1: could be a one minute short film in its you
Speaker 1: know the template of what it is. It's everything you
Speaker 1: add and to me, it's like it's got to be
Speaker 1: really really funny and then you know we know where
Speaker 1: it's going. But take me on the journey and take
Speaker 1: me on a journey I probably haven't been on before.
Speaker 1: That's sort of how I feel. It's really interesting what
Speaker 1: some people consider a romantic comedy. I saw the movie
Speaker 1: The Notebook on a lot of romantic comedy lists, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, there is nothing funny about that movie. It's
Speaker 1: actually incredibly emotional and tragic. It's a movie. But I
Speaker 1: feel like romance sometimes just gets lumped together with comedy
Speaker 1: as sort of like a lesser people don't think that
Speaker 1: they're as prestigious, whereas like, the romantic comedy genre is
Speaker 1: one of the hardest things to do right, even though
Speaker 1: there's a formula. I remember the year Matthew McConaughey won
Speaker 1: his oscar for Dallas Buyers Club. I did a lot
Speaker 1: of interviews with him where he repeatedly said, the hardest
Speaker 1: role I've ever played is the rom coms, because you
Speaker 1: are playing a role where everyone knows the outcome and
Speaker 1: you have to pretend you don't know the outcome, but
Speaker 1: also not make your character an idiot, right, And also
Speaker 1: I would think you're playing somebody close to yourself. You
Speaker 1: can't really hide in a character when you're just the
Speaker 1: good looking guy it's so true. But a lot of
Speaker 1: those a lot of those stars like Matthew McConaughey, are raced.
Speaker 1: A lot of them sort of dove into the romantic
Speaker 1: comedy genre and then left it, like abandoned it and
Speaker 1: started to do more character stuff. So I feel, is
Speaker 1: the rom com like the launching pad, and then from
Speaker 1: there you go sort of look for the more Oscar
Speaker 1: ish roles. That definitely seems to be the pattern. And
Speaker 1: again it's so frustrating for me because I love romantic comedies.
Speaker 1: I also love horror movies. These are two genres that
Speaker 1: really don't get that respect they deserve, even though like
Speaker 1: things like sci fi are starting to get more respect.
Speaker 1: You know, when it comes to awards and things like that,
Speaker 1: you look back on something like when Harry Met Sally
Speaker 1: and like, obviously that it was nominated for one Oscar
Speaker 1: for the screenplay didn't win. I mean, I doubt anyone
Speaker 1: else remembers any of the movies that came out that year.
Speaker 1: You'll remember the wagon Wheel coffee table, right, and of
Speaker 1: course the orgasm in the Delhi. I'll have what she's having. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, they're out there sometimes, you know, they're a
Speaker 1: little harder to find because they're not in theaters and
Speaker 1: they aren't talked about in the way that they should be.
Speaker 1: But you know, some of my favorite films of all
Speaker 1: time were romantic comedies and should have gotten more recognition.
Speaker 1: I think back to, you know, sixteen Candles the eighties,
Speaker 1: like that's a classic. In the seventies it was sort
Speaker 1: of you know, defined by Annie Hall, which did get
Speaker 1: some respect, and I don't know what happened after that.
Speaker 1: Um it's interesting because I I look back at the
Speaker 1: past few years, certainly the nineties and two thousand, there
Speaker 1: was lots of romantic comedies. Jennifer Lopez I think shot
Speaker 1: into the stratosphere through that. And now I feel this
Speaker 1: is personal that there's not enough of romantic comedies and
Speaker 1: I think people will always want them. And even this
Speaker 1: past Christmas, my friend Brooke Shields did a Christmas romantic
Speaker 1: Netflix movie and I remember when she was shooting it
Speaker 1: in Scotland and I was like, what are you making?
Speaker 1: And then it was a big hit, it was trending
Speaker 1: and I and I said to her, besides, you know
Speaker 1: what you say to your friends, you're so beautiful and funny, great,
Speaker 1: But also I think everybody needed it really badly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, everybody loves your romantic comedy. I don't care
Speaker 1: if they say they don't like a romantic comedy, they
Speaker 1: will go see one with you. It hits us on
Speaker 1: such a visceral level. And what do you think, what
Speaker 1: do you think that is that we all just want love?
Speaker 1: I think that's a big part of it, or we've
Speaker 1: we've been told that that is the end goal. It's
Speaker 1: also wonderful escapism. Um. I mean there are so many
Speaker 1: stories about the kitchens in Nancy Myers movies. You know
Speaker 1: how people have written a whole essays about like, yeah,
Speaker 1: the love scenes are great, but what about these kitchens.
Speaker 1: You know, it's aspirational, it's funny if it's done right. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I've had a struggle because I both love
Speaker 1: and sort of resent romantic comedies because I do feel
Speaker 1: that they set certain expectations for my life that we're
Speaker 1: probably silly for me to believe and follow. But you know,
Speaker 1: when you've been fed Disney movies and princesses, and you
Speaker 1: know stories where the two leads hate each other at first,
Speaker 1: but that just means they're meant to be together, you
Speaker 1: start to believe those things. So but having said all
Speaker 1: that and worked it out with my therapist, I am
Speaker 1: still so happy to sit down and watch any romantic
Speaker 1: comedy and swoon and cry at the end. I think
Speaker 1: you're right. So why why do I think that they've
Speaker 1: gone down? Under my guests? If I may, Janelle, and
Speaker 1: then you're the expert. But I think it's all marvel now, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't think the big studios are gonna gamble with that.
Speaker 1: They want big action superhero stuff. Or if squid Game
Speaker 1: comes along and it's an unexpected hit, now they'll do
Speaker 1: eight hundred squid games. But what do you think? I mean?
Speaker 1: I have nothing against dreaming. I'm a big fan of
Speaker 1: Netflix and Hulu and everything, but it does seem like
Speaker 1: rom coms have sort of been shuttled off into streaming,
Speaker 1: you know, and they're not opening I mean not much
Speaker 1: as opening in theaters these days anyway. But you know,
Speaker 1: Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson have a movie coming out
Speaker 1: I think on Valentine's Day called Marry Me. That is
Speaker 1: like that's I cannot remember the last time I saw
Speaker 1: ads for like an old fashioned kind of dopey set
Speaker 1: up meet cute romantic comedy. I do feel like all
Speaker 1: the good ones I've seen lately have, you know, And
Speaker 1: I don't want to say that they've been relegated to
Speaker 1: streaming because I'm so grateful for it and I get
Speaker 1: to watch it there. But you know, Netflix had single
Speaker 1: All the Way, which was, you know, a gay romantic
Speaker 1: comedy and kind of groundbreaking, and that's the lead character
Speaker 1: played by Michael Yury. His gayness is never an issue
Speaker 1: with his family. You know, he goes home for the
Speaker 1: holidays and it's about them trying to set him up
Speaker 1: with the perfect man, and it's it's really revolutionary in
Speaker 1: that way. I feel like that would have done really
Speaker 1: really well in theaters. But I think you're right, he
Speaker 1: it's it's a risk to take. But we're also seeing
Speaker 1: such a great increase in diversity in romantic comedy. Um,
Speaker 1: Billy Eichner is the first openly gay man to write
Speaker 1: and star in a gay romcom from a major studio.
Speaker 1: H Universal is doing Bros. I'm so excited for that,
Speaker 1: I have to say, there is. I am so ready
Speaker 1: and have been for a while to have that shift
Speaker 1: because for a long time, the romantic comedies, you know,
Speaker 1: the only diversity they had was like the gay best friend. Yep,
Speaker 1: you know, in My Best Friend's Wedding. I mean, in
Speaker 1: so many romantic comedies, that was as diverse as they got.
Speaker 1: And so at least now they're getting to be the leads.
Speaker 1: There's more people of color involved, and it's not just
Speaker 1: you're very homogenized love story, which thank god, didn't. Everyone
Speaker 1: kind of want My Best Friend's Wedding to really be
Speaker 1: about the Rupert every character. I mean, he was, Yes,
Speaker 1: he's sort of the most interesting one. I'm kind of
Speaker 1: surprised we never got to spin off of that. I'm
Speaker 1: surprised too. You know, people just loved him, Like people
Speaker 1: wanted Julia Roberts to run off with him. They changed
Speaker 1: the ending for him. She was supposed to end up
Speaker 1: with John Corbett at the wedding, and they re shot
Speaker 1: the whole thing, so she you know, quote unquote ended
Speaker 1: up with him. Really. Yeah, Yeah, there's a whole scene
Speaker 1: where you know, she ended up with a guy, which
Speaker 1: you know isn't the most revolutionary thing, but at the time,
Speaker 1: that was very much the standard way to end it,
Speaker 1: and and they reshot it so that Rupert Everett shows
Speaker 1: up at the wedding and dances with her well, which
Speaker 1: is much better, oh so much better, so much so
Speaker 1: much better. Yeah, and a good ending can make or
Speaker 1: break totally. Yeah. Hey, Ali, Yes, rom coms are still
Speaker 1: a sping and my wife and I absolutely love moon Struck.
Speaker 1: You know that kind of movie will never die out
Speaker 1: as far as I'm concerned. And Squid Game the rom
Speaker 1: com that I keep watching too, for the Road with
Speaker 1: Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn. I've watched it over and
Speaker 1: over when I was young and watched it on TV
Speaker 1: because everything about it just was otherworldly and beautiful and touching.
Speaker 1: And as I got older and was in a marriage
Speaker 1: of my own, I see so many different things and
Speaker 1: now and it touches me in a whole different way.
Speaker 1: Favorite rom coms. I love Moonstruck. It's complicated and as
Speaker 1: good as a guest. Those are the movies that I
Speaker 1: watched on repeat. Hi, Ali, I just wanted to say.
Speaker 1: My favorite rom com is When Harry Met Sally. I
Speaker 1: watch it several times a year. It never gets old
Speaker 1: and we need more rom coms. My absolute favorite rom
Speaker 1: com is It's complicated. I love Nancy Meyer's films. I
Speaker 1: think they're awesome. But that's one where I every time
Speaker 1: I bump into it, if I'm channel surfing, i's got
Speaker 1: to watch it. I'm gonna say, you defend your life
Speaker 1: because there's a great romantic story between Albert Brooks and
Speaker 1: Meryl Street. Totally love this movie. You can watch it
Speaker 1: again and again and laugh and completely enjoy it. The
Speaker 1: movies I watch over and over again are complicated, and
Speaker 1: because I said so, because they're really really funny. They're
Speaker 1: very well done, and they touch on tough subjects that
Speaker 1: are hard to discuss our express I think openly or
Speaker 1: within a family system. So and I'm single, and I
Speaker 1: it's complicated. I could relate to that. Let's just talk
Speaker 1: for a second about the financial world of movie making
Speaker 1: right now, which is kind of like our country, Like
Speaker 1: suddenly the middle class is gone. So either people are
Speaker 1: making really low budget stuff or it's Spielberg J. J.
Speaker 1: Abram's kind of big blockbuster stuff, and romantic comedies are
Speaker 1: usually in that mid budget regions. So do you think
Speaker 1: a lot of it is financing right now? I do.
Speaker 1: I think that's the rom coms we are seen are
Speaker 1: fairly little budget, and you know, have a guaranteed audience.
Speaker 1: Like I said on Netflix, I will say that Marry Me.
Speaker 1: The upcoming Jennifer Lopez one looks pretty big budget, so
Speaker 1: I'm really hoping it does well. Yeah, but then again,
Speaker 1: you have a star attached, right, two stars? Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know that's why I'm thinking, where are the big fact
Speaker 1: Greek weddings, Like That's what I'm looking for, or maybe
Speaker 1: I'm going to have to make it with you, j
Speaker 1: You know, we're gonna have to make our own. That's
Speaker 1: what you have to do. Yes, but you've seen a
Speaker 1: huge shift anyway in movie business, but just purely because
Speaker 1: of COVID, we can't make as much stuff. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of backlog of things that they've already thought that
Speaker 1: they haven't made, and sets are shutting down all the time.
Speaker 1: So my question to you is do you find that
Speaker 1: studios are now just relying on green screen and the
Speaker 1: big action stuff because they don't actually have to be
Speaker 1: on a tropical island with a cast. I mean, I
Speaker 1: get it, it's it's logistical a lot. Because I had
Speaker 1: a friend who recently shot a musical rom com and
Speaker 1: he's like, I couldn't have people singing live, and I
Speaker 1: kind of had to write around the kissing scenes. But
Speaker 1: then I look at something like again, I'm gonna invoke
Speaker 1: when Harry met Sally. I don't think that movie costs
Speaker 1: very much to make. It was shot in and around
Speaker 1: New York. It's two people talking for most of the movie. Um,
Speaker 1: let me ask you this promising young woman. And I
Speaker 1: say this because you dressed up as her for Halloween
Speaker 1: and I saw a picture of it, and my listeners
Speaker 1: should go google that. Janelle Riley Halloween. Do you consider
Speaker 1: a promising young woman a romantic comedy? That's a really
Speaker 1: good question. Offhand, I do not, but I think it
Speaker 1: is skewering romantic comedy tropes, which might have been what
Speaker 1: largely intrigued me from the start because I I wrote
Speaker 1: a play that was supposed to be a parody of
Speaker 1: romantic comedies, but I'm such a sucker. It kind of
Speaker 1: became the thing that was parodying. Because of course, I
Speaker 1: was like, they have to get together in the end,
Speaker 1: and there's there's rules you have to follow, and Emerald
Speaker 1: to know what she did with promising young woman, completely
Speaker 1: subverting our expectations. I feel like it's okay to talk
Speaker 1: spoiler ish. Yes, if you haven't watched it by now,
Speaker 1: then yeah, there are people who are still so angry.
Speaker 1: That's the Carrie Mulligan character dies like. They take it
Speaker 1: deeply personally and they feel betrayed and offended. And I'm
Speaker 1: always like, you expected this movie to have a happy
Speaker 1: ending because it is using these rom calm tropes. Even
Speaker 1: my mom, who loves the movie, was like, well, I
Speaker 1: really wanted her and that guy to work it out,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, the guy is toxic and terrible, exactly,
Speaker 1: But that's what we've been conditioned to exactly. But that's
Speaker 1: exactly right, which is why the ending was so spot on.
Speaker 1: I think it was a romance. I mean, when you
Speaker 1: think of her in the let's say predominantly male role,
Speaker 1: she was the person that avenged the love of her
Speaker 1: life's death, and that to me was incredibly romantic. So yes,
Speaker 1: it's not your typical romantic comedy, but I thought it
Speaker 1: was funny and dark, and I consider it a romantic comedy.
Speaker 1: I totally do not disagree with that. I think what
Speaker 1: it does is so brilliant on so many levels. And
Speaker 1: it's interesting because there's a lot of famous romantic comedies
Speaker 1: that I really don't like I'll just use like as
Speaker 1: I really can't stand how to lose a guy in
Speaker 1: ten days. I think they're just terrible people and we
Speaker 1: never get to know the real then they're terrible people.
Speaker 1: And also the misogyny and sexism in some of those
Speaker 1: cookie cutter romantic comedies are maddening. They just are there.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh god, you know anything that's like, you
Speaker 1: can't live unless you catch a man, get a man,
Speaker 1: have a I mean, having two teenage daughters. It's always
Speaker 1: difficult because I'm like, that's not no, that's not the endpoint,
Speaker 1: that's not the end game, you know. But a lot
Speaker 1: of those movies, particularly you know, twenty years ago, if
Speaker 1: they relied on that. Yeah, And I always think, like,
Speaker 1: this movie would be five minutes long if the lead
Speaker 1: female didn't look like Kate Hudson, Like he is not
Speaker 1: going to put up with that. And that's why I think,
Speaker 1: like our best romantic comedies are are people who are relatable.
Speaker 1: That's why I love Bridesmaids, you know, just right, Queen
Speaker 1: Latife is one of the most beautiful women in the world,
Speaker 1: but there is a subset of people who would say, well,
Speaker 1: she's not the traditional leading lady, and I'm like, great,
Speaker 1: that just means I can relate to her all the more,
Speaker 1: exactly exactly. And for me, it was when all the bridesmaids,
Speaker 1: you know, got diarrhea and they shot in the street.
Speaker 1: That's what I related to. I was like, Okay, good,
Speaker 1: these are my people. I related to Willis McCarthy taking
Speaker 1: home six dogs totally. That's what I would do. The
Speaker 1: whole thing though, the whole thing. Um. I made my
Speaker 1: piece long ago with the idea that you can it's
Speaker 1: okay to criticize things you love and that's called marriage.
Speaker 1: For a long time, it became hard for me to
Speaker 1: enjoy rom coms because I was like, you know, Beauty
Speaker 1: and the Beast is probably my favorite Disney movie, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, this is Stockholm syndrome. You know, he's
Speaker 1: he's imprisoning her and she falls in love with him,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot that I'm willing to look past. Um.
Speaker 1: But more and more, I feel like romantic comedies are
Speaker 1: getting it right, you know, and they're recognizing those problems
Speaker 1: and they're correcting them. And that's been such a joy
Speaker 1: to see. So Janelle, I'm curious, how how does it
Speaker 1: me to movement affect the writing and producing of rom coms.
Speaker 1: Now Oh Boy had such a good question because you know,
Speaker 1: I said, it's okay to criticize the things you love,
Speaker 1: and Bridget jones Diary is a great movie that acts
Speaker 1: like workplace sexual harassment is just a form of flirting, right,
Speaker 1: And we were all okay with it because you know,
Speaker 1: they were beautiful people that we wanted to see. I
Speaker 1: was gonna say, we're all okay with it because it
Speaker 1: was Hugh Grant. Yeah, you know, if it were Henry
Speaker 1: kiss some jer I'm sure we would have had a
Speaker 1: different reaction. Well, I have a type, so so maybe.
Speaker 1: But I mean, that's that's something that is really fascinating
Speaker 1: to navigate. And you know, just in in all forms
Speaker 1: of entertainment now where people are like, is it okay
Speaker 1: to make jokes? Is it okay, you know, to say
Speaker 1: these things or do these things. I think it's just
Speaker 1: going to be a case by case basis. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: generally say that I'm not offended by something if it's
Speaker 1: so funny that it earns the laugh. Not always true,
Speaker 1: and not everyone feels that same way. But I actually
Speaker 1: think it's a good thing that people are having these conversations,
Speaker 1: and you know, I've spoken to some female writers who
Speaker 1: were the only writer in a room on you know,
Speaker 1: they do those roundtables for for movies sometimes and they
Speaker 1: would be like, wait, nobody else sees that this is
Speaker 1: like kind of gross or problematic, and now people are
Speaker 1: at least listening. So I think it's actually going to
Speaker 1: make for better movies. Well, the workplace romantic comedy, there's
Speaker 1: going to be a huge shift just in general. I
Speaker 1: don't know what the last one was. So what was
Speaker 1: the movie that It was Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant
Speaker 1: and she started working for him. That's right, two weeks notice, right,
Speaker 1: I do like that one, But now I should go
Speaker 1: back and see how it holds up. Yeah, well she
Speaker 1: works for him. Yeah that's right. Yeah, yeah, I remember
Speaker 1: loving it at the time, but I might see it.
Speaker 1: It's it's hard to be a wrong com fan. You
Speaker 1: go back in some of these movies you're like, oh, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean the big one is obviously Love actually, which
Speaker 1: you know, I knew how issues when I saw it,
Speaker 1: but I watch it now and I'm like, yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 1: You say that. We watch it every Christmas and we
Speaker 1: watched it this year, and it was harder to watch
Speaker 1: than before because it's so glaringly awful, you know, crazy,
Speaker 1: it's yeah. I I made a short film parody many
Speaker 1: years ago called Grand Gestures, and this was I feel
Speaker 1: that this has been overdone now, not to say that
Speaker 1: I was the first by any means, but it's a
Speaker 1: parody of the guy who shows up at the house
Speaker 1: with the cards and as you know, to me, you're perfect.
Speaker 1: And in my version, the woman comes back with cards
Speaker 1: of her own and it's like, you're a stalker. Go away.
Speaker 1: That's really funny. But some people will tell you it's
Speaker 1: so romantic, so I don't want to take away from them.
Speaker 1: So when he does the cards and then he walks away,
Speaker 1: and she runs after him and kisses him on the lips,
Speaker 1: and then he says, right, we're done or something. That's
Speaker 1: enough for something, Yeah, that's enough. Me and my daughters
Speaker 1: were having a big discussion about it because what was
Speaker 1: she doing. My daughters were like, why would she go
Speaker 1: kiss him on the lips? That's leading him on, that's
Speaker 1: making him think that there's something there. And I was saying,
Speaker 1: she was being kind and that was he knew it
Speaker 1: had gone too far, and he was what's your opinion?
Speaker 1: What was that scene about? Boy? That's that's why I
Speaker 1: think that she was just being cute. You know, it
Speaker 1: was a thank you. But yeah, it is weird that
Speaker 1: it is a kiss on the lips and it feels romantic. Um.
Speaker 1: I also think, after this guy has just said, I
Speaker 1: get it, it's not going to happen that. You know,
Speaker 1: it's maybe a mistake right right to do that. But
Speaker 1: I would actually I really like that writer director. I
Speaker 1: would actually love to ask him good, ask him for
Speaker 1: me because I I wonder if he had it to
Speaker 1: do over Yeah, hey, al I love romantic comedies primarily
Speaker 1: because I grew up in the nineties and I was
Speaker 1: raised by them. Thanks Keaton is essentially my TV mother
Speaker 1: for all I can say, so I would say something's
Speaker 1: gonna gain with my go to go to um, Harold
Speaker 1: and Maude. I can go back to Roman Holiday if
Speaker 1: that counts. Overboard would be my movie I've left over
Speaker 1: and over again. I love that movie so much. Okay,
Speaker 1: best Welcome the Holiday by Fire. My favorite romantic comedy
Speaker 1: is Bringing Up Baby with Katherine Hepburn and Carrie Grant.
Speaker 1: I don't care how many times I've seen it before.
Speaker 1: I can always watch it again. I always laugh, it
Speaker 1: always makes me feel good. So there you go. I
Speaker 1: love you, Hi, I totally adore love actually watched it
Speaker 1: at kazillion times. It still makes me laugh, it's still
Speaker 1: makes me cry, it still makes me feel good. Let's see,
Speaker 1: which may be surprising to some if they haven't watched
Speaker 1: it in a long time, but I've probably watched it
Speaker 1: at least three hundred times. It is hysterical. I can't
Speaker 1: get enough of Moonstruck. I just watch it every time
Speaker 1: it's on. I love it. It's like one of my
Speaker 1: old times favorite movies. Bridesmaid is my go to rom
Speaker 1: com that I've seen a zillion times. It's my favorite,
Speaker 1: and rom coms are not dead. My favorite is The
Speaker 1: Holiday because it combounds Christmas with a romantic comedy and
Speaker 1: it's just perfect. There's something I don't know, magical about it.
Speaker 1: It's funny and it's cute and it's beautiful. Just makes
Speaker 1: you feel good. I could watch it probably every day
Speaker 1: of the year and never get picked of it. So
Speaker 1: what's your favorite romantic comedy? Um? I have you can
Speaker 1: give me three if you want. Okay, Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: when Harry met Sally is the obvious one, even though
Speaker 1: like there are these tropes and romantic comedies that sometimes
Speaker 1: like you know, well they start as friends, but it
Speaker 1: takes twenty years for them to see each other in
Speaker 1: that way. And although when Harry met Sally was probably
Speaker 1: the first one to really do it, so I'll give
Speaker 1: it that credit. But um, I love Bridesmaids um the best.
Speaker 1: And because again and the emphasis is on the comedy.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a very wonderful romance at it, but
Speaker 1: that is not the center. I was shocked by how
Speaker 1: much I loved Will Smith and Hitch Oh wow that
Speaker 1: I was not expecting that Hitch Okay, yeah, it's it's funny.
Speaker 1: We talked about it recently on an acting podcast that
Speaker 1: I really feel he should have won the Oscar that
Speaker 1: year for that performance. It was a Cary Grants, you know,
Speaker 1: like Matthew McConaughey was saying, you know, he had to
Speaker 1: be lighthearted, he had to you know, play dumb in
Speaker 1: some scenes. He had wonderful chemistry. They have a Mendez
Speaker 1: and you know, too smart people that they have to
Speaker 1: believably keep apart, even though we all know they Belong Together.
Speaker 1: That's interesting. And then another one I Love is Just
Speaker 1: Right with Queen Lativa and Common, and it began my
Speaker 1: long obsession with my future ex husband Common. He is, oh, yes,
Speaker 1: so fantastic in that movie. He really is. But he
Speaker 1: is fantastic just all at all. Isn't he great? Yes?
Speaker 1: I feel like you guys would would be your own
Speaker 1: romantic comedy if we ever could shoot that. Um And
Speaker 1: so you don't think we've lost their appetite for it,
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think that I actually think
Speaker 1: we've gotten more discerning. I think that, you know, I
Speaker 1: hate to keep picking on something like How to Lose
Speaker 1: a Guy in Ten Days, but another Kate Hudson movie
Speaker 1: fools Gold, Things like failure to launch these romantic comedies
Speaker 1: that frankly we're fairly mediocre but did really well at
Speaker 1: the time because they had a star. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't think those would hold up now. I think that
Speaker 1: that we've gotten spoiled by the quality. And again I
Speaker 1: pointed Netflix and all that, and I should actually throw
Speaker 1: in Hulu too, because they did Happiest Season with Kristen
Speaker 1: Stewart's which I also think probably would have lit up
Speaker 1: the box office if it had been released in theaters. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So with streaming now, it's very hard to determine what
Speaker 1: would have been successful and what wouldn't. And I would
Speaker 1: love to see these movies with an audience, yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: I would love to see anything with an audience. I'd
Speaker 1: love to not be alone on my couch watching this stuff.
Speaker 1: All right, So I'm going to ask you a fun
Speaker 1: last question, which is, of all the romantic comedy leads,
Speaker 1: who was the most exciting to interview. You've interviewed everybody
Speaker 1: review Um, you know it. It might be Ray Fines
Speaker 1: because you don't think of him as a rom calm lead. No,
Speaker 1: I died. That's not who I was expecting you to say.
Speaker 1: That's so interesting. Well, I just remember it was some
Speaker 1: very serious period piece movie I was talking to him
Speaker 1: for and like one of the first things I said,
Speaker 1: I was like, I just have to tell you I
Speaker 1: love Maid in Manhattan. You know, Oh my god. I
Speaker 1: bet he wasn't expecting that he was not, And I
Speaker 1: was like, this will be such an interesting litmus test. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like if he's offended or if he is complimented. And
Speaker 1: he left and he said something to the extent of
Speaker 1: like I don't hear that too often, and he's like,
Speaker 1: but man, that was that was pretty much a perfect
Speaker 1: movie for its genre. And I was like, Okay, I
Speaker 1: like you. Yes, despite the attentions name pronunciation, I really
Speaker 1: like you. Yes, Yes, Wow, that's great. I love that.
Speaker 1: I love that story. So, Janelle, we've been opening it
Speaker 1: up now on my podcast to have the guests asked
Speaker 1: me a question. You can ask me a question about anything,
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be about romantic comedy, So go ahead. Actually,
Speaker 1: since I always make this joke that, like, you know,
Speaker 1: the greatest rom com writers like Jane Austen died alone,
Speaker 1: you know, the the o G. In my opinion, absolutely,
Speaker 1: you know, people always talk about how like I write
Speaker 1: rom comms, but my real life I have virtually no
Speaker 1: interest in living a rom calm. For someone who's been
Speaker 1: married for so long, are there days where you wish
Speaker 1: you were single and alone and had a whole house
Speaker 1: to yourself. Yes, Janelle, Yes I do. First of all,
Speaker 1: I've been married for a long time because I got
Speaker 1: lucky and because a lot of the kind of big
Speaker 1: fundamental things we agree on. But you are living with
Speaker 1: somebody like nod Stop, so there are a few tricks
Speaker 1: to this. Um. Every year on my birthday, I go
Speaker 1: away for a weekend by myself, and I come back
Speaker 1: a better wife and a better mother. And I also
Speaker 1: know when I'm getting two inundated that I need to
Speaker 1: go take a walk or like I can feel it
Speaker 1: in my body, and I know when like okay, I
Speaker 1: need a loane time, which I think is really important.
Speaker 1: So I mean, I think there are ways to you know,
Speaker 1: there's ways to deal with it and and find a
Speaker 1: good balance. There were times when my kids were younger
Speaker 1: where I was in bed with my husband, two little
Speaker 1: kids and two dogs and I would wake up in
Speaker 1: a pool of urine and have no idea whose it was.
Speaker 1: And that's when I went, you know what I gotta
Speaker 1: There's gotta be a better way. So it's not a
Speaker 1: romantic comedy, but you know, sometimes I have a romantic
Speaker 1: comedy when I'm alone. Sometimes when I you know, go
Speaker 1: away and I'm hiking in the mountains. There's nothing more
Speaker 1: romantic than that. I'm a big fan of solo vacation,
Speaker 1: so I love that advice. UM. Can I ask a
Speaker 1: follow up question, Yes, is there one particular fight that
Speaker 1: you have over and over again? Yes, that never gets resolved. Yes,
Speaker 1: the fight is the appreciation fight. I don't feel like
Speaker 1: you're appreciating me. I don't feel like you're appreciating me.
Speaker 1: I did this for you, and then but I did
Speaker 1: this for you. It's that it's like a cyclical, like
Speaker 1: when we start sniping at each other, it's because nobody
Speaker 1: feels appreciated. But now we've got it down to a shorthand.
Speaker 1: When we were first married, this fight would take two days.
Speaker 1: Now it's like ten minutes. It's like, I love you,
Speaker 1: I love you so much, I'm really sorry, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Get naked, okay, and it's over. It's funny you say
Speaker 1: that because my friend of mine wanted to know if
Speaker 1: you ever had sex in the White House, and I said,
Speaker 1: I feel like that's a given. No really, no, I
Speaker 1: wasn't with George. I was sure no, of course, so
Speaker 1: I would on the Oval office desk, but I didn't
Speaker 1: know him. Then I started dating George when he was
Speaker 1: already at ABC, so there was no white House. Uh,
Speaker 1: hanky panky. I figured, once you're in, you have a
Speaker 1: pass and you get the Lincoln bedroom. No, sorry, I
Speaker 1: did steal a white house astrife. That helps, but yeah, no, no,
Speaker 1: it would be great, but no, see you. I guess
Speaker 1: I should have asked that, well you did, I did?
Speaker 1: I did. Technically, this was so fun. I can't wait to,
Speaker 1: like go to the movie theater with you with a
Speaker 1: big box, I know, and popcorn. And but the thing
Speaker 1: that just keeps me going every day during this COVID
Speaker 1: world is that right now, right this second, Chanel, George
Speaker 1: Clooney and Julia Roberts are shooting a traditional romantic comedy
Speaker 1: in Australia. Yeah. I cannot wait for that. And I
Speaker 1: think if any two people can bring the romantic comedy back,
Speaker 1: and I feel like if that does well, which is
Speaker 1: guaranteed to, that'll jump start I think the romantic comedy
Speaker 1: game again. Um. Anyway, so great to talk to you, Chanelle.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you so much for having me. I'm
Speaker 1: such a fan. Yeah, I mean, come on, who doesn't
Speaker 1: love a romantic comedy. They make you feel warm and good.
Speaker 1: And I think as human beings we always like our
Speaker 1: spirit lifted, especially during a pandemic. I mean I could
Speaker 1: just watch him on a loop. So we did an
Speaker 1: unofficial poll, and it seems to suggest that the top
Speaker 1: three favorite rom coms are When Harry Met Sally, It's Complicated,
Speaker 1: and Moonstruck. Well, if you can guess which one I'm in,
Speaker 1: you might get an edible bouquet not from me, but
Speaker 1: just in your lifetime. And the other thing is, I've
Speaker 1: noticed in all three movies the women have good sex,
Speaker 1: so maybe that's why we love them so much. I
Speaker 1: am a child of the eighties, so mom comes live deep, deep,
Speaker 1: deep in my heart. I will never not watch Say
Speaker 1: Anything if I pass it by Um or any of
Speaker 1: the Breakfast Club movies. But that time is special because
Speaker 1: that time you didn't have Instagram. You had to wait
Speaker 1: by the phone for someone to call. Everything took longer,
Speaker 1: so things mattered more like standing outside and holding up
Speaker 1: a boom box and playing that amazing Peter Gabriel songs
Speaker 1: The Proposal. Could watch it a million times over. Betty White,
Speaker 1: She's so good in that. Don't we all wish we
Speaker 1: had a Betty White in our lives. Four Weddings at
Speaker 1: a Funeral because it's the only vir trape I ever owned,
Speaker 1: and I have easy seen it fifty times. I have
Speaker 1: to watch When Harry Met Sally every single year, if
Speaker 1: not two or three times a year. There are such
Speaker 1: classic lines like she thinks she's low maintenance, but she's
Speaker 1: really high maintenance, or I'll have what she's having, and
Speaker 1: my daughter and I why she's thirty five years old.
Speaker 1: My daughter and I have watched it over and over.
Speaker 1: We know all the lines, we use them randomly in
Speaker 1: an inappropriate and appropriate situations. My favorite rom coms are
Speaker 1: Bridget Jones movie, and this is because even at sixty
Speaker 1: years old, I see myself as Bridget Jones and always
Speaker 1: probably will. I mean, I can watch it over and
Speaker 1: over and over again. Any of the three movie best
Speaker 1: rom com ever is The American President by far, and
Speaker 1: that Betting is just so beautiful and smart and I
Speaker 1: wanted to beat her. Who does a little Michael Douglas
Speaker 1: rom com bring us a lot of hope, not only
Speaker 1: for romantic relationships but friendships. And one of my favorites
Speaker 1: of all time that I could watch once a month
Speaker 1: at least is When Harry Met Sally. I do not
Speaker 1: watch movies over and over again, but the one that
Speaker 1: I do, and I laugh and I cry each time
Speaker 1: I do watch it is It's complicated. My favorite rom
Speaker 1: com is just go with it with Jennifer Aniston and
Speaker 1: Adam Sandler. But once you in Mareshka finally film a comedy,
Speaker 1: that one will be my favorite. You've Got Mail is
Speaker 1: my number one. It's just a love win over everything,
Speaker 1: even after sarcasm and business loss and all that. That
Speaker 1: just gets me any. Adam Sandler Andrew Verry Moore movie
Speaker 1: is amazing. The first one that popped into my head
Speaker 1: that I had to watch at least once a year
Speaker 1: is The Wedding Date. And the reasons why are Debor
Speaker 1: Messing and Halls and Taylor for God's sakes, and Debora
Speaker 1: Messing's wardrobe in it. That alone, the wardrobe. Okay, I
Speaker 1: gotta say I'm in my sixties, but my favorite rom
Speaker 1: com has to be the first one I ever saw
Speaker 1: bringing up Baby Catherine Hepburn Carry Grant. That was the original.
Speaker 1: They've all come out of that. It was the best.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Go Ask Alli. Be sure
Speaker 1: to subscribe, rate and review the podcast, and follow me
Speaker 1: on social media on Twitter at Ali You Wentworth and
Speaker 1: on Instagram at The Real Ali Wentworth. Now. If you
Speaker 1: want to ask me a question or suggested guests or
Speaker 1: a topic to dig into, I'd love to hear from you,
Speaker 1: and there's a bunch of ways to do it. You
Speaker 1: can call me or text me at three to three
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