RomComOrgy – Part II

Cover via Amazon

In continuation of the last RomComOrgy post, here’s the next set of my favourite romcoms:

1. Everafter: A Cinderella Story: I love fairy tales – the magic, the romance and the happy ever-afters. While Cinderella is not my absolute favourite, this retelling of a children’s bed-time story, starring Drew Barrymore is spunky, funny and of course, romantic. Barrymore is Danielle, our poor, mistreated step-daughter of a wicked step-mother – Anjelica Houston. But, our heroine refuses to mope in despair. She can fend off lascivious villains and save the prince (Dougray Scott) from bandits with equal élan. There is the expected ball, with the midnight deadline. And there’s a fairy god-mother too in the form of an inimitable Leonardo Da Vinci. Delightful.
2.  My Best Friend’s Wedding: What do you do if your best friend is getting married? And you just realized that you are in love with him? You can either choose to be a martyr or set out to wreck his wedding plans. Julia Roberts chooses the latter. Roberts plays Julianne, who has a fling with her best friend – Dermot Mulroney as Michael. They break up soon after and continue to be best friends, their lives uncomplicated by any deeper feelings. Until the time Michael decides to get married to the lovely, classy Kimberley Wallace (Cameron Diaz). What ensues is a hilarious series of attempts by Roberts to drive a wedge between the to-be-married lovers. The first-time watchers of the movie are kept wondering till the end who wins this war of love. For me the highlight of the film is the wonderful cast rendition of I Say a Little Prayer for You at the rehearsal dinner.
3. When Harry Met Sally: I am extremely finicky about my perception of whether an actor fits a character. And in my mind Billy Crystal and a romantic hero do not quite align themselves. Yet, When Harry Met Sally features on my list because I feel there must be something very special about characters who keep meeting and parting for a long, long time before realizing that they are soul-mates. That is what happens to Harry and Sally. They meet first as college students and instantly dislike each other. They keep bumping into each other over the years – on a flight, in a bookstore before finally striking a tentative friendship, which deepens with time. They even decide to help each other find the right partners and set the other up with respective best friends. But the law of romcoms prevails and the inevitable happens – Harry and Sally fall in love. Meg Ryan as Sally is adorable and very cute. I also love the Hindi adaptation of the movie – Rani Mukherjee and Saif Ali Khan starrer Hum Tum.
4. Bend It Like Beckham: Gurinder Chaddha’s second directorial venture revolves around Indian diaspora in London. Jasminder Bhamra a.k.a. Jess – born to Sikh parents in the London – loves football and dreams of being a footballer as famous as Beckham. But her mother, Mrs. Bhamra (almost an Indian rendition of the infamous Mrs. Bennet of English Literature) is adamant that decent Indian girls do not run around in knickers, playing football with boys. They should learn how to cook alu-gobhi and be a proper wife. Jess with the help of her friend Jules (Keira Knightley in one of her earliest big-screen roles) joins a girls’ football team coached by a dishy coach. Needless to say, she succeeds in taking meaningful steps towards realizing her dream and winning the heart of the handsome coach too.
5.  Runaway Bride: This movie proves that the chemistry between Gere and Roberts seen in Pretty Woman was no fluke. Roberts plays Maggie, who falls frequently in love, gets engaged, buys the perfect white dress and even starts to walk down the aisle before bolting from the wedding. Gere plays a reporter who wants to do a story on this runaway bride, in a last ditch attempt to save his job, just as she is about to get married, yet again. They meet – he offends her and she manages to intrigue him. Eventually they fall in love but she jilts him at the altar too. Yet, all’s well that ends well and the lovers finally get hitched under the open skies in a beautiful meadow.
6. What Happens in Vegas: This Ashton Kutcher-Cameron Diaz starrer is all set to be remade into Hindi, with Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor as the lead pair. I am not too sure how good the remake would be but the original was fun. Diaz is a workaholic, hot-shot career woman who goes to Vegas to unwind with a friend. The friends run into Kutcher and his friend, when all four of the end up in the same suite, due to a clerical mistake. One thing leads to another and our hero and heroine get married in drunken stupor and end up in bed together – all of it on the very first night. To top it all, they also manage to hit the jackpot as they quarrel with each other in the casino about whose fault the entire fiasco is. The rest of the movie is about their attempts to outdo each other, as each tries to claim the prize money all alone, even as they are ordered by a court judge to make their marriage work and stay together for at least six months. Diaz and Kutcher try all sorts of shenanigans to discredit the other before falling totally and irrevocably in love. Watch it for the antics of Kutcher and the fun equation between the lead cast.

I am still missing some that I watch at every given chance but if I were to list them all, the post would never end :-)

I would love to hear from you about your favourites – do let me know. Ciao.

RomComOrgy

Cover of One Fine Day

Just the other day, I was telling my friend how I would love to watch a good rom-com (short for romantic comedy) and how they are so hard to come by these days. The concept practically does not exist in Bollywood and Hollywood keeps churning out these really indistinguishable movies in the name of the genre that inevitably star the same uninteresting and deadpan faces like Katherine Heigl and Amy Adams.

So, while I wait for a really interesting rom-com to release in my city, here’s a list of my all time favourites:      

1. One Fine Day: This one’s got George Clooney. Need I say more? But seriously, this movie is funny and sweet. The story of two single parents – Michelle Pfeiffer and Clooney – who are unexpectedly thrown together with their kids on – you got it – one fine day. They are opposites, like in most romances – she is ultra-organized and efficient and he is a reporter who just might lose his job and reputation soon. They end up taking care of each other’s kids along with their own for different parts of the same day. She manages to lose his daughter and he lets her son push a marble up his nose. But all’s well that ends well, right? So, it does. Oh, I must mention the last sequence, where Michelle changes what seem like a dozen outfits so that she can look good for Clooney who has shown up at her door with his daughter and the intention to romance her. She finally gets the desired effect and walks out to her living room only to find the tired father fast asleep on the couch. She sits on the couch, rests her head on his shoulder and goes to sleep herself. Ain’t that sweet? Perfect with so many beautiful possibilities left unsaid.
2. While You Were Sleeping: Sandra Bullock is the lonely, single girl in the big city, who works the ticket counter at the subway station and spends her free time with her cat. And oh, she day-dreams about the tall, dark and handsome stranger in business suits, until the day she saves him from being crushed by a train. Start of a beautiful love story, right? Not quite. What follows is a quirky tale of the fairytales we think we want and the fairytales we actually meet. Lucy finds love alright but not quite where she expected it to. One of my most watched movies. Plus, it has Bill Pullman looking quite cute.
3.  Never Been Kissed: This Drew Barrymore starrer is fun, frothy and fresh. It’s the story of a journalist who at the ripe age of 25 has never been kissed. A number of reasons for that – the most glaring been that her erstwhile frumpy, geeky high-school self was rebuffed and ridiculed on the prom night by the hottest guy in school. Enough to leave anyone scarred, some would say. But in romcoms, poetic justice is never hard to come by. She goes undercover as a student in a hep high-school, and this time around is a star. She dates the hottest guy in school, is considered an insider in the cool circles, becomes the prom queen and manages to fall in love with the handsome English teacher, who ultimately gives her, her first kiss in on a baseball pitch, cheered on by thousands of spectators. When I watch this movie, I do not think how improbable all of this is. I only fall for the really high cuteness factor of the movie, Barrymore and the English teacher. By the way, did I mention that there is a most romantic Ferris wheel ride sequence? Sigh.
4.  Pretty Woman: He is a heartless tycoon. She is a hooker. And when the twain meet, there are fireworks. Julia Roberts’ first movie has her playing the role of a prostitute, who wants to better herself and never kisses a client on the mouth. Only she did not factor in the charm of suave and dashing Gere, who picks her up for a night and then offers her a deal to stay with him for a week. So that she can play his hostess (among other things, no saint the man is) in the city, where he has come to execute a hostile takeover. What follow are a magical seven days, where she transforms from an uncouth, loud and decidedly vulgarly dressed call girl to a “pretty woman”. She brings out the humane part in him, teaches him that sometimes emotions make perfect business sense. Of course, there is a happy ever after, once they both realize that they have more than a business deal between them. Plus, the movie has some good music, including the title track and Roxette’s It must have been love.
5.   Aladdin: Yes, I know that it is an animation movie. But it’s funny and it’s romantic. A Whole New World is one of the most incredible love songs ever. Who would not want to be serenaded with this song while on a magic carpet ride? Aladdin is the street rat and Jasmine, the beautiful princess. He lies to her in order to win her love. She is hurt by his deception. How can they ever find happiness together? But that is the beauty of fairy tales. You find love in most unimaginable places and with the most unexpected person.  My favourite Disney movie.
6. Notting Hill: All the cinegoers in the world have a favourite star - the one they dream about meeting and enjoying a happy ever after with. So does a small travel book store owner in London, played by the charmingly goofy, bumbling and reticent Hugh Grant. One day the most famous movie star in the world steps inside his book store to escape unwanted attention. What follows is an unlikely and lovely love story between a famous movie actress and a common man. The movie is made unforgettable by not just the lead characters but the extended cast of friends and family, their camaraderie, witty banter and obvious love for each other. This gang includes a disabled best friend of our hero, her husband, the hero's quirky sister and her even weirder lover, who also happens to be Grant's roommate. The climax sequence is delightful, involving a mad car ride and a press conference unlike any other. Add Ronan Keating crooning When You Say Nothing at All. The result: a movie that successfully withstands endless repeats on movie channels without losing its appeal. 

Aren’t these lovely? I feel so good whenever I watch them. They are a perfect escape. At least for people like myself. 

Apart from these, there are others  that I will keep for another time. Until then, ciao.