My friends and I like to spend our Friday nights watching movies in our dorm. Before we settle in with a big bowl of popcorn, there is always the inevitable debate of which movie (or movies), we’ll be watching that night. My suggestion of a romantic comedy is typically met with groans of disagreement from my friends; but, while I’m not saying that everyone has to like rom-coms, I do feel they are judged rather unfairly.
One issue that people typically have with rom-coms is that they are not realistic. While it is true that a girl momentarily locking eyes with the love of her life on the subway only to magically run into him later is not realistic, neither are magic wizarding schools or superheroes that can shoot webs from their hands. The whole point of movies is that they are not realistic, and for approximately two hours, you can believe they are.
Another argument against rom-coms is that they are predictable. It is true that most rom-coms follow a very specific formula that goes something like: boy and girl meet and hate each other, they are forced to interact with each other, something happens to make them realize they have more in common than they originally thought and then they fall in love in the end. Most rom-coms are set up pretty similar to this, so you can typically see the ending from a mile away, but what’s wrong with some predictability? Nothing, nothing is wrong with predictability.
When all is said and done, romantic comedies are actually a pretty good genre of film. They are fun, light-hearted and have the ability to give you a glimpse of hope in this sometimes bleak world. So pop some popcorn, kick your feet up and re-watch “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” because rom-coms are great.