I had never been a big movie watcher. There are films on my to-watch list dating back from before the pandemic. Yet whenever I do want to watch something, I am always at a loss as to what to choose. So, this year, I made another list. I listed down, and asked around for, rom coms. Here is a list of the rom coms I have watched so far, and what I think of them, in chronological order.
Notting Hill
On the very first day of the year, I crossed off Notting Hill. This was on the top of the list, because it’s Mr. Hugh Grant. Is there a better rom-com lead? My conclusion so far is no. He is charming, unsure of himself, and so very silly. He is a “bumbling buffoon” when he opens his mouth in front of Julie Roberts, but let’s be honest, that would be all of us. The movie is the perfect balance of humour, love, and devastation. I burst into tears when Ronan Keating’s “When You Say Nothing at All” started playing. It’s the perfect rom com. 5/5
5 / 5 Rating
Four Weddings and A Funeral
This is another Hugh Grant classic I watched during my winter break. It follows Hugh Grant as he goes to four weddings and a funeral. At each one, he meets Carrie who he is in love with, but they are never both single. I did not like this one as much, because of the repressed feelings, missed chances, and the people they hurt because of said repressed feelings and missed chances. It is still very funny however, so I would give it 3/5.
3 / 5 Rating
When Harry Met Sally
Meg Ryan! 5/5. That’s the whole review. Just kidding. This movie is more rom than com, but I cannot fault it. It is a slow burn, enemies to friends to lovers movie with all the requisite misunderstandings, miscommunications, and a lot of growth of the characters. It’s a 4.5/5 movie, but don’t watch it if you (falsely or not) believe that you are one-half of a slow burn.
4.5 / 5 Rating
You’ve Got Mail
I didn’t realize that this would be another Meg Ryan movie when I started it, but she turned out to be the only highlight in this one. I hated the male lead from the start, and frankly, I think it is hard not to. Meg Ryan owns an independent bookstore that she took over from her mother. Tom Hanks is going to build Fox Bookstore, taking away Meg Ryan’s livelihood. The love in the movie feels like a distraction from the heartless capitalism on blatant display. The new bookstore has no soul, no knowledgeable employees, no community, and its owner does not care about anything but profit. At the same time, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks have a conversation in a chatroom. There is no happy ending for Meg Ryan’s book store, and although Meg Ryan says that the free time she has from her business’s bankruptcy can be used to write a children’s book, it feels like a consolation prize. It has the enemies to lovers trope, except that Tom Hanks and capitalism has clearly won, and we have to accept that this is okay and be happy. It’s a 1/5 for me. And by the way, Frank, the guy Meg Ryan leaves Tom for? Way hotter.
1 / 5 Rating
Sleepless in Seattle
1/5. I didn’t finish this movie. Couldn’t even do it for Meg Ryan.
1 / 5 Rating
Crazy Stupid Love
At this point of the year, I have watched “Project Hail Mary” and entered my Ryan Gosling era. There are between three to eight relationships that the movie follows, and not all of them are the same level of interesting to me. In fact, the yearning of a fourteen-year-old for his seventeen-year-old babysitter who is obsessed with his father takes away from the movie hugely, in my opinion. Still, the large cast of characters allows for some very funny scenes. Two best lines in the movie are “I don’t know if I should help you or euthanize you” and “I got a gun”, and for them, I give the movie 3/5.
3 / 5 Rating
Two Weeks Notice
This is what You’ve Got Mail could have been if the ghosts of Christmas had visited its directors. Hugh Grant is, once again, the perfect lead. The movie is so funny and shows the love between Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock perfectly, even before they realize it themselves. Hugh Grant is a (kind of useless) millionaire who wants to tear down a community center under his brother’s directions and Sandra Bullock is ready to defend it with her life. So Hugh Grant promises to keep the community center if Sandra Bullock will be his assistant. The viewer has a feeling that he will go back on his promise about the community center some time near the climax of the movie, but also the deeper conviction that he will do the right thing eventually. The ending is satisfying. He is a millionaire, and we all know that his money comes from exploitation of workers and tax breaks, but we mind it less because he does the right thing and donates to charities at her insistence. He saves the community center and resigns, and she goes back to a job that suits her beliefs better in Legal Aid. 4/5