When in Rome, Dear John, Couples Retreat, Did You Hear About the Morgans, Leap Year, Valentine's Day, New Moon--these are some of the date movies that have been foisted off on us recently. Mostly movies with lackluster plots and crummy production values.
Look at what we had in the past on the video above. So many of these older movies had sizzling dialogue. Now the words sit there like week-old bread. There is no creative investment in them.
Is the date movie now the equivalent of the reality show? Cheap and generic. What was the last good date movie you saw? I can't remember any recently so help me out.
37 comments:
Patti, whenever I see an ad where a lazy critic (no one else would say it) call something "a perfect date movie" I immediately cut it off my list of movies to be seen.
Jeff M.
In thinking about this, I think THE PROPOSITION with Sandra Bullock was about the best romance I've seen in the last year. And that certainly was far from perfect.
The last halfway good date movie I've seen was a while back: YOU'VE GOT MAIL. It really was only halfway good. Let's face it, it wasn't a patch on the original version, THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER.
So, what was the last "good"(?) date movie that I saw? How about "Love Story." That tells you something about my age and my movie going habits.
Depending on how recent is recent...CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN...not first-rate, but decently second-rate (and certainly pitched younger than me), NICK AND NORA'S INFINITE PLAYLIST...likewise, with an unfortunate tendency to judge its female characters harder than its male, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (among a number of the other Apatow productions, perhaps most obviously WALK HARD and VIRGIN).
Also, it's not fair to judge the past only by its top examples without taking into account the slew of fizzles and damp blankets that came with them (see some of the TCM underacheivers that Ed Gorman notes from time to time, and those are the ones TCM feels at least worthy of giving a shot)...albeit there aren't Too many THE END OF THE AFFAIRs at any time...
Jeff...I suspect "Peter Travers" is among the most frequent offenders there...
I've missed a number of the potential films in this category, such as ONCE...
Shop Around the Corner has more charm than almost any other movie in history. I loved Margaret Sullivan.
LOVE STORY-remember crying my eyes out even though neither of them could act worth a darn.
I did like Nick and Norah-but it was too young for me. Same with Sarah Marshall. If you notice most of the ones on this video are with actors over 25. I think convincing passion tracks older. ONCE was good indeed, but more about music than love.
The best date movie for me is one not classified as a date movie.
Maybe When Harry Met Sally? That's about as close as I get to romance.
That was a great one--but how many years ago now. Hollywood still knew how to do it in the eighties. And although they flashed back to their college years, romance hit them in their thirties--which made it better--at least for someone in their thirties then.
A good date movie - huh. I've always loved SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, but it's more like a guilty pleasure. I think HANNAH AND HER SISTERS is close to perfect.
Three Woodies are perfect romances for me: HANNAH-especially the part where Michael Caine says something about his heart in regard to Barbara Hershey. Anyone remember it? Also Annie Hall and Manhattan. Then things went sour.
Well, even MANHATTAN is pretty damned creepish in retrospect. One of those films I kept hoping to see when still stranded in pub-trans-free New Hampshire when it was out.
And the best that tend to come to mind are often About other things, as well...HIS GIRL FRIDAY sets a high bar, for example. As does ORPHEUS, the Cocteau film.
Since I'm coming up on my 21st wedding anniversary (we can drink now), my date movie will reflect that. I know it's no longer a favorite of yours, but it remains one of mine: MOONSTRUCK. Every time I see it, I fondly remember that date with my future wife.
Hmm..."convincing passion tracks older"...I certainly remember my adolscent and young-adult passions. I think that middle-aged passion is more surprising, but not (even in film) more convicing.
Much like having a song, there is often a movie. For us, it was THE GRADUATE.
I don't think of the early-mid thirties as middle aged! Just old enough. If you think of the great screen romances, very few of them dealt with people under 25.
I'm just skewed, I'm sure, but my favorite date movie of the last decade going back before CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN, and which I saw on a date, would be ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND...
Jim Carrey's best movie for sure. I loved it.
ROMEO AND JULIET (Ziff's version, perhaps)...A MAN AND A WOMAN...hmm.
A couple of recent goodish second-raters: THE ILLUSIONIST and THE SPIRIT...(both brought to mind, I suspect, by the teen romance which resolves itself in adulthood angles...)
As you know, Patti, I see plenty of romantic comedies. Two of the better ones in the 21st Century are DEFINITELY, MAYBE (2008) and LOVE ACTUALLY (2003).
My idea of just about the perfect date movie is AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN. Classic love story, with great basic training scenes between Richard Gere and Louis Gossett just about the time the man would get bored. Then back to romance before the woman got turned off by the training sequences.
The only recent movie I've thought would make a good date movie is, somewhat surprisingly, The Last Lullaby, which was softened somewhat (and the romantic relationship strengthened) on its way from book to screen. I think it would appeal equally to either gender.
George-you are a trooper. I have become a big Ryan Reynolds fan since THE PROPOSAL and WONDERLAND. So I need to see DM again. The other one was so much fun.
THE LAST LULLABY I completely missed. I'll check it out.
I liked OFFICER and a GENTLEMAN when I saw it. Too bad that Winger didn't last. She was a very good actress. Scary in the recent RACHEL GETTING MARRIED.
Ah. STRANGER THAN FICTION, that echo in some ways of ETERNAL SUNSHINE... (SECRETARY, for certain sorts of couples, perhaps!).
And, for the kids, WEST SIDE STORY...cheating, I know. But I still like the music, and still think Rita Moreno was great (and should've been allowed to sing her part).
You know, I thought DEFINITELY MAYBE was indeed pretty charming except for him. But he's the not-quite-rotten core of the film.
I don't suppose FLYING FISTS OF DEATH COUNTS? No? Thought so.
My wife has said she would be absolutely embarrassed by most of the so-called "date movies" out there today. As for me, my idea of perfect date movies would be CASABLANCA, BRING UP BABY and THE FRONT PAGE. And, yes, I am an old fart.
I never knew Rita didn't sing the part.
BRINGING UP BABY might be my all-time favorite movie. I certainly never laughed more.
Moreno was particularly upset that the operatically-trained singer who dubbed her used stereotypically Mexican pronounciation for her (obviously) Puerto Rican part...
Patti, the part in HANNAH you're talking about is when Michael Caine is talking to his therapist and he says something to effect that "with all my education and experience and maturity, I can't fathom my own heart."
My favorite part is (other when Dianne Wiest and him go on their date from hell), at the end when Woody says the heart is a "resilient little muscle." Indeed.
As you can tell, I know this movie by heart.
No, he's standing on a corner in the Village and says something to the tune that he's dancing on air. He's more the way he says it than what he says.
I always knew they replaced NW's voice, but not Rita's. Did they dance for anyone?
Well Moreno was a dancer before she was an actress...dunno if anyone including Wood (who was dubbed by dubbing veteran, and ace singer, Marni Nixon) needed a dance double.
I am lame...we haven't even been to a movie theater in almost a decade. and now after reading through the comments I am pretty sure it will be like airplanes, placed on the list of things I should do but don't.
When it comes to date movies, I want something that can sustain a discussion afterwards. Probably the last one - that I can think of anyway, was NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
But in the way you mean it, maybe WHEN HARRY MET SALLY.
I liked both of them-although not in the same way.
My wife would like to add LADYHAWK to the mix.
I go to the movies quite often, and come to think of it, there hasn't been any really fantastic date movies. Maybe (500) Days of Summer (love the fantasy Hall & Oates dance sequence). Others that come to mind: P.S. I Love You; Waitress, and Shakespeare in Love.
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