Love is in the air– for other people. Being chronically single, but not exactly happy about it, can make Valentine’s Day a drag. Still, I cannot possibly resist the pull of romantic movies, shows, and books.
One of my favorite romance movies of all time is the 2008 rom-com 27 Dresses. There are a few reasons I always come back to it and love it, despite its cheesiness and the sheer unrealisticness of it.
I love a happy ending and plot that is serious enough to keep you interested but not too much to get you stressed out. This movie may seem incredibly basic in the 2000’s rom-com sphere, it has all the tropes– twenty-something writer in New York City, the cynical, brooding man who thinks love isn’t real, the red-herring love interest who she leaves once she realizes it was the other man all along, and of course, a big misunderstanding.
Jane (Katherine Heigl) is a hopeless romantic, also hopelessly in love with her boss. When running from wedding to wedding, she has the classic meet-cute with the cynical Kevin (James Marsden), and the two disagree about the concept of weddings. But of course— it was all a big misunderstanding and he likes weddings and he loves her! There’s her huge declaration of love, a wedding, and a happily ever after.
It leaves me thinking about just why I love this entire genre of movies. Because it’s not like this genre is necessary to the world, it’s not nuanced and complicated, its only goal is to make the watcher happy and I cannot appreciate that more.
I love idealism and I love love! There is no reason for me to wallow in my loneliness, I like knowing that there’s love in the world and people who believe in it. I like how all of these movies are so sincere about how possible it is to fall in love, that it’s the cynical one who ends up changing their ways.
In the Valentine’s Day spirit, I’ll be thinking about love and the movies that don’t think I’m stupid for thinking it is possible.