Romantic Comedy

CHICAGO – I’ll admit that based on the ubiquitous trailers, The latest attempt for Jennifer Lopez to reclaim the throne as Queen of the Rom-Com seemed like the sort of enterprise meant to make you bury your face in your hands. So I was pleasantly surprised to find “Marry Me” is just innocuously bad, not egregiously bad.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on January 7th, 2021, reviewing the new film “Stars Fell on Alabama,” which is available now through Video-On-Demand.

CHICAGO – “Isn’t It Romantic” knows exactly what it is, and what it wants to be. It is simultaneously for people who love Romantic Comedy, and those who profess to hate them … but may secretly love them. It’s an amusing trifle that’s about as surprising as a heart shaped box of chocolates, but sometimes that’s what you want.

CHICAGO – Raza Siddiqui is a “can do” director, who not only continues his own proficiency in filmmaking, but supports all Chicago films by presenting and participating in local film showcases. He has completed his first feature film – “We Could Happen” – and it will have its premiere on May 17th, 2016, at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema in Chicago. For details, click here.

CHICAGO – “What If” is a really bad title, but that is the least of the film’s concerns, apparently, as the old can-man-and-women-be-friends canard rears its indecisive but predictable head (snicker). This time it’s interpreted through Harry Potter and Elia Kazan’s granddaughter, if this is to be believed.

CHICAGO – Real life is not a romantic comedy, unless you’re willing to understand the levels of clownish tragedy that sometimes accompanies it. The new film “Obvious Child” comprehends all that, and has an unforgettable performance from Jenny Slate in delivering the goods.

CHICAGO – An authentic voice in the film category of “romantic comedy” has emerged, and it is represented by lead actress Jenny Slate (“Saturday Night Live”) and writer/director Gillian Robespierre. One night stands, its consequences and yes, love is explored in the excellent new rom-com “Obvious Child.”

CHICAGO – “That Awkward Moment” posits its cheeky hashtag of a title concept as one relating to when Friday night flings yield from becoming Saturday daytime couplings (to paraphrase Woody Harrelson’s wisdom in “Friends with Benefits”).

CHICAGO – Taking the game of Scrabble and making it a thread for a romantic comedy and competitive intrigue is a wholly original idea. Director Bill Sebastian and screenwriter Juliet McDaniels guides a Chicago cast through the maze of those words in the new film “Qwerty.”

CHICAGO – Romantic comedies have been so sanitized, obviously for the protection of the movie consumer, that it is refreshing to meet a reality-based couple as they interact, co-mingle, love and clash in “(500) Days of Summer.”