Why are romcoms so popular?

Bodhidharma

I have sat through my fair share of romantic comedies, and i just have to question why are they so popular?

A few weeks ago i was dragged to "Made of Honour". Not only was it one of the most badly acted, scripted and directed movies ever made, it was so predictable. I knew exactly what was going to happen before it happened. It feels like i've seen it before.

My question is this, why is a film like this, which by most objective measures is a giant turd of a movie, is liked by so many FEMALES? My girlfriend nearly cried over it and it was such a pile of s**t.

Surely a bad movie is a bad movie no matter the intended audience. These god damn films are so annoying. Men get dragged to them every week and to be perfectly honest they are neither romantic nor comedic. In case people want to suggest i'm not romantic or something, thats not the case. I've seen good romcoms, "when harry met sally" springs to mind, so i know its possible to make one, but 99 times out of a 100 they are just predictable garbage.

Am i wrong?

kaimera

as payback for being dragged to stuff like Rambo4 women worldwide united to make romcoms popular

super_furry

Because we foolishly let women control their own finances.

The over familiarity of the formula ensures that there are rarely any surprises and allow the average female viewer to easily follow the plot without having to ask questions such as "Is that the guy from earliir" or "Did he not get killed all ready"

Roar

Deleted User wrote: »

The over familiarity of the formula ensures that there are rarely any surprises and allow the average female viewer to easily follow the plot without having to ask questions such as "Is that the guy from earliir" or "Did he not get killed all ready"

questions, questions, always with the questions. my girlfriend is a nightmare for that. What's he doing, who's she, what's that, and the one that really annoys me, What's going to happen next?

johnny_ultimate

Its the same with every genre. There are more bad horrors, action films and comedies than there are good ones. And there are plenty of good rom-coms out there: Garden State, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Clueless, Knocked Up, Annie Hall, Manhattan etc... No point dismissing a whole genre as 'women only'. There is a helluva lot of **** out there - the scary popularity of PS I Love You in the shop where I work for example - but its the same with everything. All genre films are predictable, and the familiarity means they will always be popular with people.

Tar.Aldarion

I brought her to Indiana Jones last night, romantic comedies are their form of revenge.
'What Happens in Vegas'

Sherifu

romcoms give them hope. :pac:

Nolanger

For the same reason Celine Dion is so popular - women.

mike65

Bodhidharma - you hit upon the answer in your first few words - she dragged you, two tickets sold not one! Thats why they are "popular". The fact 50% of the audience thought it was sh1te doesn't register when they count the loot.

Mike.

Tusky

I really dont want to appear sexist but this is something that I have always wondered about. I have watched films with women far more intelligent than me, whom have spent the whole 90 minutes asking questions. Why is this ?

I think the reason shows like Desperate Housewives & Sex & The City are so popular with women is because it has a narrator which explains everything after each scene.

There's a market out there for a narration feature for DVDs. Imagine it, "The man in the yellow blazer is the same man whom wore the blazer in the previous scene" or "Right here our hero is actually pretending to be in trouble in order to convince the evil hanchmen that they have the upper hand"

Tar.Aldarion

Meh, seems to get them in the mood. Not so bad after all.

MooseJam

because girls are stoopid

Galvasean

Roar wrote: »

questions, questions, always with the questions. my girlfriend is a nightmare for that. What's he doing, who's she, what's that, and the one that really annoys me, What's going to happen next?

Eternal Sunshine
Opening scene:
Her: "Why is he tapping on the window"
Me: "shh! wait and you'll find out!"

Lord of the Rings
Her: "Is the ring bad!?!?"
Her: "Why are they so small?"
Her: "Why is his name Mary?"
Her: "Which one is Hodo?"

Return of the Jedi

Her: "why did Darth Vader suddenly become good at the end?"

The Machinist
Her: "what the hell is going on?"

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Galvasean wrote: »

The Machinist
Her: "what the hell is going on?"

rofl

Pigman II

Galvasean wrote: »

Return of the Jedi

Her: "why did Darth Vader suddenly become good at the end?"

Meh, at least she watched it all the way to the end with you. She sounds like a keeper.

Tar.Aldarion

Indiana Jones - New One With Stupid Name.
Her: "Stop touching me."

Otis Driftwood

The way Ive dealt with issues like this is a trade off.If whichever girl I was seeing wanted to go to see the latest piece of garbage that is released I agree,IF she will watch a movie of my choosing.I pick the vilest,most depraved movie I have at hand (murder set pieces,men behind the sun have been used in the past)and we sit through it.They didnt pressure me to go to rom-coms anymore.
Giggidy!

As for why they are so popular?
It gives them hope that some rich,successful and incredibly handsome guy that is completly out of their league will appear and sweep them off their feet.They do know its unlikely,but maybe,just maybe it will happen to them.

And the whole talking/questioning thing--this only seems to happen when you start sleeping with them.It has happened on 2 occasions with 2 different girls that I have moved on from the friend zone with.We used to be able to sit and watch a movie from start to finish without saying a word but as soon as they let me touch their fun parts they turned into bloody jabber-boxes.
I still have just friends that if they open their trap I can tell to shut it cos I have no interest in them but obviously if you fancy a bit of bedtime squeak you aint going to tell them shut their trap instead you will sit and answer the questions without trying to sound annoyed.

stereoroid

Bodhidharma wrote: »

A few weeks ago i was dragged to "Made of Honour".

Well, there's your problem... reviews are horrible, the stars are not stars, and even the poster turns me off.

I'm not exactly a huge romcom fan either, especially the Nora Ephron / Meg Ryan films (When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail), but I have seen a few good ones. Two OK ones I can name are Miss Congeniality and Two Weeks Notice but I can recommend One Fine Day as one to watch. (Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney are single parents forced to help each other out, and it doesn't get soppy, even at the end.)

JangoFett

Women like romcoms for a few simple reasons

1.) They love drama

2.) This is the big one. In 99% of romcom the guy does something that screws up the relationship or potential relationship and he always makes a HUGE gesture to get her back
- interrupting her wedding to the guy she really doesn't want to marry
- proposing in front of a large crowd, an airport, a stadium
- the big romantic monlogue
- chasing her to another country just to say "I love you"

And women LOVE that

3.) They get the chance to cry, women embrace crying more than men and love doing it

But number 2 is the reason, they WANT so bad for their men to make big gestures to express their love. I've had a few women drunkenly admit "Is it *hiccup* so much to ask for a big gesture from time to time?!" so thats it right there!

Just being happy with their man and their man loving them and being devoted sometimes isn't enough, they want picnics in the grand canyon, proposals on top of the eiffel tower, sex to be all emotional and soft, walks in the snow in the park that lead to a gazeebo full of flowers that spell out "Will you Marry Me?"

...too much effort

BopNiblets

Sherifu wrote: »

romcoms give them hope. :pac:

MooseJam wrote: »

because girls are stoopid

I second both these points with the addendum that their tastes in movies is clearly infrerior.