the hollywood romantic comedy the hollywood the hollywood romantic comedy romantic hollywood the though rarely explored in analytical detail, the romantic comedy remains a stalwart romantic comedy contributor to hollywood entertainment. this book offers a comprehensive history of Leger grindon the hollywood romantic comedy film, from the coming of sound to the twenty-first century, examining the conventions of the genre and surveying the controversies arising from the critical responses to these films. hollywood’s romantic comedies can be seen as a series of productions whose form and meaning change in response to conditions in the film industry, courtship culture, and society at large. this book provides an essential overview of the continuities within the genre as well as its historical evolution. a full analysis is provided of the range of romantic comedy conventions, including dramatic conflicts, characters, plots, settings, and the function of humor. in doing so, leger grindon develops a survey of historical cycles and clusters and builds a canon of key films fromh ollywood’s classical era right up to the present day, which are analyzed in detail in the second part of the book. Films analyzed include Trouble in Paradise, His Girl Friday, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, Adam’s Rib, Some Like It Hot, The Graduate, Annie Hall, When Harry Met Sally, There’s Something About Mary, and Waitress. Leger Grindon is Professor of Film and Media Culture at Middlebury College, Usa. he has written widely on film and is ates i C so the author of Shadows on the Past: Studies in the Historical s a Fiction Film (1994) and Knockout: The Boxer and Boxing in sign e American Cinema (2011). d g xall xall rindon o b ard ard h C i Cover design by designby Cover r ISBN 978-1-4051-8265-2 ISBN THE HOLLYWOOD ROMANTIC COMEDY NEW APPROACHES TO FILM GENRE Series Editor: Barry Keith Grant New Approaches to Film Genre provides students and teachers with original, insightful, and entertaining overviews of major film genres. Each book in the series gives an historical appreciation of its topic, from its origins to the present day, and identifies and discusses the important films, directors, trends, and cycles. Authors articulate their own critical perspective, placing the genre’s development in relevant social, historical, and cultural contexts. For students, scholars, and film buffs alike, these represent the most concise and illuminating texts on the study of film genre. From Shane to Kill Bill: Rethinking the Western, Patrick McGee The Horror Film, Rick Worland Hollywood and History, Robert Burgoyne The Religious Film, Pamela Grace The Hollywood War Film, Robert Eberwein The Fantasy Film, Katherine A. Fowkes The Multi-Protagonist Film, Marı´a del Mar Azcona The Hollywood Romantic Comedy, Leger Grindon Forthcoming: Film Noir, William Luhr THE HOLLYWOOD ROMANTIC COMEDY CONVENTIONS, HISTORY, CONTROVERSIES Leger Grindon This edition first published 2011 Ó 2011 Leger Grindon Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell. Registered Office John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom Editorial Offices 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell. The right of Leger Grindon to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Grindon, Leger, 1949– The Hollywood romantic comedy : conventions, history, controversies / Leger Grindon. p. cm. – (New approaches to film genre) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4051-8266-9 (hardcover :alk. paper) – ISBN 978-1-4051-8265-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Romantic comedy films–United States–History and criticism. 2. Love in motion pictures. I. Title. PN1995.9.C55G75 2011 791.43’617–dc22 2010043498 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This book is published in the following electronic formats: ePDFs ISBN 9781444395945; Wiley Online Library ISBN 9781444395969; ePub ISBN 9781444395952 Set in 11/13pt Bembo by Thomson Digital, Noida, India 1 2011 For my daughter Blake, may her life be filled with heartfelt laughter and happy endings CONTENTS List of Plates ix Acknowledgements xi 1 Introduction 1 2 History, Cycles, and Society 25 3 Thinking Seriously About Laughter and Romance 67 4 Trouble in Paradise (1932): What is the Trouble in Paradise? 84 5 His Girl Friday (1940): Jailbreak! 96 6 The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944): The Home Front Romantic Comedy 106 7 Adam’s Rib (1949): Anatomy Lesson 117 8 Some Like It Hot (1959): Riding Sidesaddle 129 9 The Graduate (1967): Counter-Conventions and Cultural Change 139 10 Annie Hall (1977): The Trials of Partnership 150 11 When Harry Met Sally (1989): Friendship, Sex, and Courtship 160 12 There’s Something About Mary (1998): Parody and the Grotesque 171 13 Waitress (2007): Women’s Ambivalence 181 A Chronology of Prominent Hollywood Romantic Comedies 191 References 195 Index 201 viii CONTENTS LIST OF PLATES All images are the author’s own screen shots: 1 Greg Focker is interrogated by his prospective father-in-law Jack Byrnes in Meet the Parents (2000) 4 2 Viola is disguised as Thomas Kent listening to Will Shakespeare declare his passion for her in Shakespeare in Love (1999) 17 3 George and Tom convince Gilda to leave her rich husband and run off with them in Design for Living (1933) 29 4 Susan Vance tears the tuxedo off Professor Huxley in Bringing Up Baby (1938) 36 5 Marilyn Monroe was simply known as “the girl” in The Seven Year Itch (1955) 49 6 The transition through the counter-culture cluster produced wild plot variations including New Age encounter groups, “open” marriage, and group sex in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) 53 7 Loretta and Ronny in Moonstruck (1987) 60 8 The unlikely matching of the ambitious, professional Alison with the slovenly, directionless Ben in Knocked Up (2007) 66 9InThe Philadelphia Story (1940) Mike carries Tracy back from the pool on her wedding day 72 10 In It Happened One Night (1934) Ellie skeptically watches Pete teach her hitchhiking 80 11 Gaston Monescu and Mariette Colet begin their mutual seduction in Trouble in Paradise (1932) 88 12 Lily confronts Mariette and Gaston in Trouble in Paradise (1932) 93 13 Hildy disarms Earl Williams in His Girl Friday (1940) 101 14 Bruce Baldwin tries unsuccessfully to break up the alliance between Walter and Hildy in His Girl Friday (1940) 104 15 In The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944) Trudy confesses to her sister Emmy that she forgot what happened 110 16 Papa Kockenlocker attacks Norval for bringing his daughter Trudy home from a date at 8 a.m. in The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944) 112 17 In Adam’s Rib (1949) Amanda and Adam cuddle over cocktails in the evening after their contest earlier that day in court 122 18 In Adam’s Rib (1949) the post-trial confrontation between Adam and Amanda replays the opening scene in which Doris shoots her husband 126 19 Wearing only part of his disguise, Joe raises the bowed head of Sugar and kisses her after the performance of “I’m Through With Love” in Some Like It Hot (1959) 136 20 “Nobody’s perfect” makes fun of a romantic cliche, the acceptance of imperfections in the beloved, and the commitment to self-sacrifice in marriage in Some Like It Hot (1959) 138 21 “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me ...Aren’t you?” accuses Ben in The Graduate (1967) 142 22 On the bus at the conclusion of The Graduate (1967) Elaine and Ben gradually replace their smiles with uncertainty and discomfort 148 23 Alvy Singer begins Annie Hall (1977) facing the camera like a stand-up comedian 151 24 In Annie Hall (1977), though Annie is wacky and self-effacing, her behavior and dress identify her with the women’s movement 154 25 Rob Reiner needed over sixty takes to successfully shoot the second split-screen episode in When Harry Met Sally (1989) 165 26 Six unidentified elderly couples appear at regular intervals in When Harry Met Sally (1989) to tell the story of how they met 169 27 The closing shot in When Harry Met Sally (1989) finds a witty means of affirmation 169 28 Pat Healy frantically tries to revive Puffy while Mary fixes drinks in There’s Something About Mary (1998) 176 29 Mary is surrounded by the various men competing for her love in There’s Something About Mary (1998) 179 30 Becky and Dawn, the work friends at the diner in Waitress (2007), call Jenna to the pregnancy test 183 31 Teaching Dr.