Yet another responsibility I decided to put upon myself, I decided to watch a “Rom-com Marathon” over this year’s winter break. Now, according to the world wide web, a “movie marathon” comprises 26.2 hours of non-stop film. Unfortunately, I do not have the energy or the stamina for an undertaking of that caliber. Instead, I opted to watch these movies spread out along my week. And by “spread-out” I mean that I forgot about this assignment and then watched all of the following four movies in a span of 48 hours. Four movies averages out to about 8 hours of movie-watching; a pitiful thirty percent of my original goal. For that, I apologize without any real sincerity– I don’t think I could survive 12 movies back-to-back and still have a functioning intelligence. At least I still have some brain matter left in my skull.
I only ended up watching three of the eight movies I had in mind. I watched “The Princess Bride,” “50 First Dates,” “Juno,” and “Ladybird,”which I realized was not, in fact, a romantic comedy until after the fact. The four unlucky losers were “Notting Hill,” “500 Days of Summer,” “Red, White, and Royal Blue,” and “She’s The Man.” Maybe someday I’ll find the time to watch the latter– they’re undoubtedly still on my list.
Below, you’ll find my completely unbiased reviews from my first watches of these hilarious romantic classics.
MOVIE #1
50 FIRST DATES
★★★★★★★★☆☆
Source: My parents’ DVD collection.
The first movie to kick off my 8 hours of pain is 50 First Dates: an Adam Sandler classic. From the very first frames of the movie, I could tell I was in for a wild ride. The initial sequence was not only hilarious but informative of Sandler’s character, with jokes that I don’t think I can share in a scholastic newspaper. Without spoiling the movie, some of my favorite aspects were the stereotypical Hawaiian music (that would not fly today), Willie the penguin, and Jocko the walrus. A perfect mix of heartwarming and hilarious, all that I have left to say about the movie is that I’m slightly dissatisfied with the ending.
Overall, this was a perfect example of a romantic comedy– equal parts romance and comedy. I had an extremely enjoyable time watching this film on a crackly DVD and a stretched TV, and I highly recommend it.
MOVIE #2
THE PRINCESS BRIDE
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Source: do you live under a rock
Published in 1987, this cult classic was a joy to watch. Though I believe it was arguably less romantic than the other movies on the list (certainly affected by my 21st century viewpoint), it was very funny. Fezzik the Giant and Inigo Montoya the Swordsman carried the show on their backs with their comedic chops.
A classic example of a televised fairytale, this was a joy to watch from beginning to end. Perhaps because it is a bit dated, it is not my favorite movie on this list, but it is definitely worth a watch
MOVIE #3
JUNO
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Source: michael cera
This movie was a different kind of rom-com. The main romantic relationship takes a backseat to Juno’s struggles as an (initially) unwilling surrogate mother and her struggles as a highschool student. With Elliot Page as Juno and Micheal Cera as Paulie, AKA “Bleeker,” this movie tackles an accidental teenage pregnancy and the consequences that come along with it– both within social life and family. Following Juno’s panic attack at the abortion center, she decides to have the baby, but lets someone adopt it afterwards. However, during the pregnancy, Bleeker seems to fall back in love with Juno, despite the taboo that they’ve gone through together.
A quintessential indie film, “Juno” is still on my mind even now.
Though I can’t call this undertaking a “movie marathon” as much as a “movie 5k” I feel that I’ve learned quite a bit about the culture surrounding rom-coms; and what separates a good one from a bad. More like this may be coming up soon, for the benefit of anyone who might be reading this (doubtful) under the name of “Dad’s Daily DVDs.” My film undertaking has just begun!