I had this idea ages ago about a man who’s cursed to fall in love in a certain time frame, or the world ends. The problem is all the women he encounters are all fully-formed individuals who are comfortable with their lives and careers, so he has to romance them for real because if they fall in love, it’s because they…

Ebert’s review of The Bounty Hunter is great. He busted out a questionnaire about movie cliches he shared with his film students instead of describing the plot. He hated it so much he’s like, “Screw this, I’m literally gonna teach my readers a lesson.”

Heigl’s box office is $1 billion +, which surprised the fuck outta me

What’s interesting is that Rogen and his crew clearly learned from that criticism. Rose Byrne was my favorite character in Neighbors because she was just as petty, gross, and stupid as Rogen and Efron were.

This also plays into Roger Ebert’s contention that almost no movie prominently featuring a hot air balloon has ever been any good. 

Also - the character can just be Scottish! Like, it doesn’t drastically change the movie if Mike is a Scottish dude instead of an American. It’s two lines of dialogue.

Reign of Fire is a pretty boss movie in general but it was also the first time I’d heard Butler with his own accent — he’s so much better when he can speak normally! It’s bonkers movies don’t do this more.

When she started trashing former roles? That can make getting the next one more challenging.

I always felt like the industry didn’t think she was a great actress, but marketable enough to cast in things like this.

“Like all professional women who own cats, Abby is desperate for love but too clinical and controlling to find it.”

Is there a genre that gives you a better range between enthusiasm and scorn?  A drama can be boring or not make sense.  Action movies can be disappointing.  But attempting both comedy AND depicting relationships in a realistic way leaves a LOT of opportunity to fuck things up royally.

not to mention the implication

I agree — Siede does a great job alternating between enthusiasm and scorn, and really digging into the ways the rules of the genre work, or don’t.

This movie makes me angry for a very different reason: For my money, the greatest romantic comedy ever made was “The Awful Truth,” from 1937 with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. And whenever I tell that to someone, I have to quickly, clearly explain that I am NOT talking about that thing with Katherine Heigl.

Making a man tamp down his Scottish accent is a crime against humanity.

A tip o’ the bowler to this column. As I’m not much of a rom-com fan I didn’t pay it much attention at first but I clicked on a couple of them and it’s given me new appreciation for the genre. As with A History of Violence and Popcorn Champs, I like this long-form journalism approach to these flicks. 

Ahem. The worst rom com ever made would be that Harrison Ford/Anne Heche debacle... 

She stopped challenging herself? When did she start?

“That’s my secret, I’m always angry”
-Katherie Heigl

I haven’t seen The Ugly Truth, but it sounds awful. I have a hard time imagining that it’s better than Shallow Hal, even with the two(!) broken chairs. Shallow Hal makes its point and builds unexpected pathos along the way - even if it’s for a little girl named Cadence and not either of the leads.