We have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory
In Hollywood that couldn't but further from the truth. In Hollywood they've set the bar so low, you could stroll along beside it and by pure luck, accidentally clear it just by stumbling across it. That's not sad, it's depressing.
So along comes David O' Russell with his young rising star, Jennifer Lawrence. High on acclaim from her performance in Winter's Bone, high on popularity from new teen-phenomenon franchise The Hunger Games, and high on likeability from her freshness and persona so far from the usual Hollywood stars we've grown accustomed to. In the baggage he's got a two hour rom-com, spiced up with mental illness, but not really a stand out script by any measure. At least if you don't compare it to the ridiculous low bar they've set in Hollywood when it comes to rom-coms.
We've seen it for quite a while. They keep on recycling ideas, stealing outright from each other whenever someone comes up with a half-decent original idea, and then they recycle the same old beauty pageant of actors and actresses again and again. Of course casting Jennifer Lawrence rather than one of those bimbos they usually pitch, it would seem like manna from heaven. in fact the god damn Academy got so whiplashed they even managed to award her Best Actress for it. I love Jen. I worship the ground she walks, I love her diversity in picking roles, I love her talent, I love her in interviews, I love her for sticking it to the tabloids and Miley Cyrus with her comment, and I love her for a few dozen more reasons. I don't blame her for fooling the Academy. She deserved to get a golden man for her work in Winter's Bone, so there's some karma working in her favor I guess.
But it all speaks volumes on Hollywood. It's only four years since they gave Sandra Bullock the same award for a role so simplistic there's probably three thousands actresses that easily could have stepped in and done the same. Now I like Sandra for Sandra, but honestly... Anyways. I have absolutely no respect for the Academy, so I won't bother barking down that particular leg any more.
Let's have a small look at recycling of ideas instead. Hollywood have always loved vampires, and they return every so often in fashion. We had the early Dracula and Nosferatu stuff back in the 20's, in the late 80's and early 90's it was again in semi-fashion with movies like The Lost Boys, Near Dark and Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. Then came Stephenie Meyer and her Bella Swan, spinning out Twilight as a major novel- and movie-franchise. In its wake came a lot of popular culture looking to cash in; The Vampire Diaries and True Blood to name two of the larger TV-attempts. We already had a show doing one season before they got cancelled with Moonlight just prior, and Kate Beckinsale was already walking around all sexy leather-ness in the Underworld-franchise.
In 2009 largely forgotten indie-director Gorman Bechard made a rom-com movie based on the friends with benefits plot, titled Friends (with Benefits). Few have heard about it, even fewer have probably watched it. I have, and I enjoyed it a lot. Then again I fell in love with Gorman's visions with his You Are Alone made a few years earlier. Someone in Hollywood obviously watched Gorman's movie, because we soon after had a new idea widespread. They made Friends with Benefits starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, Love and Other Drugs starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal, and No Strings Attached starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher, all doing their very best to cash in on the plot-point of romantic comedies with the friends with benefits theme. Now, that's originality for you. Oh, well. It's Hollywood for you anyway.
I wasn't all that impressed by Russell's movie. I gave Silver Lining Playbook 2 out of 5 possible stars in my Letterboxd-review. Then again I'm not limited to the latest Hollywood releases. I watch rom-coms out of both Europe and Asia as well, so I'm exposed to a whole lot more variety and fresher ideas even on such a simple genre. Hollywood obviously isn't. On the other hand I'm also watching old Hollywood-movies from back when they actually had the bar a little higher more of the time. There's plenty of great screwballs to look up from the 30's and 40's, written with more genuine talent and invention, and that's despite their censorship from that damn Hayes Code implemented in 1934. Imagine if Hollywood today had that to struggle with in addition to their greedy studios, the fear of MPAA-ratings stopping teenagers watching their movies, and whatnot they look upon as obstacles these days.
Looking at what's seen as humor in Hollywood these days I'm not surprised they can all suddenly embrace a simple movie like Russell's. We've been so exposed to neanderthal humor from Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Seann William Scott and whatnot, that actual intelligent humor based on a wider memory-span than the last three minutes is essentially banned from scripts by studios underestimating their audience. While Bradley Cooper might not exactly be a new Forrest Gump, taking the rom-com to a serious issue like mental illness, and with the added flavor of Jennifer Lawrence, I can understand why Hollywood and American movie-goers in general got suckered. They are so exposed to garbage, that even mediocrity must seem pretty darn good by now.
Studios complain over streaming, illegal downloading over internet and a changed marked for movies. That's their excuse for sticking to the formulas, for embracing superheros as the grandest of genres, and for still marketing simple garbage starring the latest bimbo. They don't take responsibility for undermining the market themselves by neglecting to demand a certain level of quality, and therein lies their downfall. Therein also lies the reason we won't be seeing too much fresh quality in the rom-com genre for the next few years either. Now they'll be way too busy trying to live off the new market created by Silver Lining Playbook's success.
The funny thing though. There's actually been one lone glimmer of hope shining from Hollywood within the genre the past years. Dan Fogelman stepped away from his usual animated works and penned the screenplay for the 2011-success Crazy, Stupid, Love. directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Jennifer Moore, Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei. It's not as good as the best from former golden eras of Hollywood, but it's a huge step in the right direction for a genre that have been stuck for so long when it comes to bigger studio productions.
In all fairness to romantic comedies, they aren't the only ones struggling with a collective Hollywood stuck in a rot. Ever since they milked the new wind of Die Hard back in the days, we didn't see decent action movies until Taken was the one single lone glimmer of hope when it arrived in 2008. Then again that was a project made with mostly European backing, and Hollywood have since delivered more than one crappy attempt at doing high profiled kidnapped-revenge movies (like Nicholas Cage in Stolen), and we've had a horrible sequel with Liam Neeson reprising his role as Bryan Mills.
I doubt we'll see much change from Hollywood in the years to come either. Sadly there's still too much money and influence from their market, so that's an uphill battle quality is doomed to lose. At least I still got the Asians and French making good efforts, and I have a lot of old screwballs I haven't gotten around to yet.
We still desperately need someone to see the bar higher in Hollywood as well. We need them to reach for the stars, explore the possibilities beyond the cliches and stolen ideas, and hopefully again touch like they once touched their audience. If you'd like to know where that bar should be, I suggest you check out movies like these:
It Happened One Night (1934) dir: Frank Capra
My Man Godfrey (1936) dir: Gregory La Cava
The Awful Truth (1937) dir: Leo McCarey
Groundhog Day (1993) dir: Harold Ramis
Friends (with Benefits) (2009) dir: Gorman Bechard
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) dir: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
And while these won't exactly set the bar, the following are a handful of french rom-com releases that are more charming than at least 90 % of what Hollywood have released this side of the new millennium:
La fille sur le pont (1999) dir: Patrice Leconte
Je vous trouve très beau (2005) dir: Isabelle Mergault
Hors de prix (2006) dir: Pierre Salvadori
Le nom des gens (2010) dir: Michel Leclerc
Un plan parfait (2012) dir: Pascal Chaumeil
I could do a whole lot of Asian ones as well, but their idea of romance does very often come in The Notebook-terrain, so we'll leave that for another day. Needless to say though, their 'The Notebook's are usually a lot better than The Notebook actually was...
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