Whereas romantic and screwball comedy both have fun with the courtship process, romantic comedy is serious about love itself, and screwball comedy treats it as a joke. Consequently, at the heart of many romantic comedies are the painful realities that come from opening one's self to love. The men (Tom Hanks and David Duchovny) are devastated by the deaths of their beloved wives at the beginnings of Sleepless in Seattle (1993) and Return to Me (2000), respectively. In Love Affair (1939) and its two remakes, An Affair to Remember (1957) and Love Affair (1994), a nearly fatal automobile accident causes a misunderstanding that almost sabotages a fragile chance for love.
Although romantic comedy is usually traditional in its take on courtship, both romantic partners tend to be hesitant in their maneuvering toward couplehood. Although the man typically plays the catalyst, he often simply has to grow up. This is the scenario in such staples of the genre as 10 (1979), The Sure Thing (1985), When Henry Met Sally … (1989), and High Fidelity (2000). In some stories the man has to work through other issues, such as mental illness in As Good as It Gets (1997), and the discovery that one's lover received a heart transplant from his late wife in Return to Me.
Romantic comedy's predisposition for serious or melodramatic overtones need not go beyond the pain associated with the search for love. The title character of Sabrina (1954) attempts suicide when the hurt over romance becomes more than she can stand. Sometimes the genre's quiet desperation has overtones of Cyrano de Bergerac, where concerns about appearance derail romance, as with the low self-esteem of Abby in The Truth About Cats and Dogs (1996), or in the modern Cyrano story, Roxanne (1987), in which Steve Martin sports a beak that would have impressed Jimmy Durante (1893–1980). Never Been Kissed (2000) provides a quick-witted crash course in romantic pain as the heroine revisits an assortment of failed relationships.
A pivotal component of romantic comedy is the affectionate celebration of love by older couples; an example is the romantic testimonials that pepper When Harry Met Sally…. Not surprisingly, these older players sometimes double as matchmakers, as in I.Q. (1994) and Return to Me. Sometimes these figures become poignant agents in unexpected ways. For instance, in Love Affair and its two remakes, the close relationship between the male lead and his grandmother is central to the love story. In each film the heroine falls for a playboy, but it is not until she sees him through the eyes of this adoring grandmother that he becomes relationship material.
Ultimately, Jack Nicholson's line from As Good as It Gets, "You make me want to be a better person," could be a mantra for the genre. Unlike screwball comedy, which puts up a funny be yourself fight to and avoids comic rigidity, romantic comedy is about changing and embracing a broader humanity. In Woman of the Year (1942) and Adam's Rib (1949), the best of the Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) Spencer Tracy (1900–1967) classic teamings in the genre, the heroine has to rectify behavior that threatens her marriage. In both stories her career drive and her patently regal manner have gotten in the way of being a good spouse. This defrosting of the ice-goddess persona, which became a Tracy-Hepburn theme, had its start in the memorable romantic comedy The Philadelphia Story (1940).
After Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen is the most significant comedy auteur in American film history. For more than thirty years Allen, like Chaplin, has written, directed, and starred in groundbreaking comedies at the rate of nearly a film a year since his first movie, What's New, Pussycat? (1965). Allen also has demonstrated a gift for literary humor, and his writing for The New Yorker magazine resulted in three well-received books: Getting Even (1971), Without Feathers (1975), and Side Effects (1980). He started his career as a gag writer for Sid Caesar and in 1961 began to perform his own material as a stand-up comic in clubs, on records, and on college campuses.
After having been disappointed at the treatment of his script for Pussycat, Allen assumed the role of director for the first time with Take the Money and Run (1969). Similar to Chaplin's tramp in Modern Times (1936), Allen's screen persona is the urban antihero derailed by modern life. But for all his admiration of Chaplin, Allen's screen character borrows more from Bob Hope, who in the 1940s helped to usher in a new breed of personality comedian, one who fluctuated between the most incompetent of comic antiheroes and the cool, egotistical wise guy. In Sleeper (1973) Allen even sounds like Hope, with comic lines such as "We're here to see the nose. We hear it's running."
While Allen's greatest legacy is as a personality comedian who flirts with art-house issues, especially the topics showcased in Love and Death, Allen is also a pivotal auteur of modern romantic comedy. His multiple-Oscar®-winning film Annie Hall (which won awards for Best Picture, Direction, and Writing) is perhaps the most influential romantic comedy in the second half of the twentieth century. The increasingly intellectual angst of Allen's urban misfit initially showcased a great deal of visual comedy, whether trying to play a cello in a marching band (Take the Money and Run, 1969); weathering the delightfully nervous meeting of a blind date (Play It Again, Sam, 1972); or trying to catch runaway lobsters and kill spiders (Annie Hall, 1977).
Although clowning and romantic comedy are his greatest strengths, he is equally capable of such diverse pictures as Interiors (1978), a Bergmaneque chamber drama, the Buster Keaton–like fantasy The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), a darkly comic work on the nature of morality and conscience reminiscent of Chaplin's pioneering black comedy Monsieur Verdoux (1947). Still, Allen's importance to American comedy cannot be emphasized strongly enough. Like another of Allen's heroes, Robert Benchley, Allen could juggle writing for The New Yorker and create inspired film comedy; but not even Benchley wrote and directed his own features. Unfortunately, again like Chaplin, scandals in Allen's personal life have distracted audiences from his art and diminished his fan base.
Take the Money and Run (1969), Bananas (1971), Play It Again, Sam (1972), Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979), Stardust Memories (1980), Broadway Danny Rose (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), Radio Days (1987), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Deconstructing Harry (1997), Match Point (2005)
Allen, Woody. The Complete Prose of Woody Allen. Aveval, NJ: Wings Books, 1994.
Bjorkman, Stig. Woody Allen on Woody Allen: In Conversation with Stig Bjorkman. New York: Grove Press, 1993.
Lax, Eric. Woody Allen: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1991.
Schickel, Richard. Woody Allen: A Life in Film. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2003.
Yacowar, Maurice. Loser Take All: The Comic Art of Woody Allen. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1979.
Wes D. Gehring