Genre Spotting: Deconstructionist Romantic Comedy
I watched I Love You, Man for the second time tonight. All summer I’ve been telling people this was the funniest movie of the year. The Hangover was funny (I wasn’t as impressed with it as a lot of other people seemed to be) and will no doubt be remembered as the big comedy hit of the year, but I Love You, Man just worked for me. But this second time around, in addition to its funniness, I realized that this was one really clever, and occasionally brilliant movie. It’s a sendup of romantic comedies so perfectly executed that I could only think to dub it a “deconstructionist romantic comedy” (lol, pretentious). The screenwriters really must’ve just taken the outline of your typical romantic comedy (something like a catalyst, failed dates, the first meeting, falling in love, conflict/breakup, period of loneliness, makeup/resolution) and decided they wanted to put a twist on it. The concept of a guy with no close friends needing to go on “man dates” to find a best man for his wedding is certainly one way to put a twist on that formula.
This is what gives the movie that extra kick. Not only are the jokes and situations hilarious, but the parodying of the genre makes us laugh even when the movie isn’t explicity making a joke. The reactions of Pete’s (the always awesome Paul Rudd) friends and family when they find out he’s been getting close with another guy make you laugh not because the actors are trying to be funny, but because they’re the exact kind of reactions we’d imagine the characters having in the traditional boy-meets-girl romantic comedy. The way the movie takes something the audience knows and replaces the normal elements is just as funny as the jokes themselves. The final wedding scene (spoilers obviously) replaces a normal rom-com situation, such as a last minute declaration of love or a late arrival by the bride, with the best man arriving to the wedding to basically declare his love for his friend. This all may seem obvious but since it plays so close to the rom-com outline, can we actually call this movie a romantic comedy? For all intents and purposes, it is a comedy about love of sorts, except about the love not between a man and a woman but the love between two friends. It takes those elements of the romantic comedy and rebuilds them into something different, in a way that’s funny and interesting.
I mean, it’s not the first movie like this. Annie Hall would be the perfect example of a deconstructionist romance. More recently an example would be (500) Days of Summer. It contains all the classic elements but mixes them up. We start with the breakup and we’re given a unique perspective by seeing all of the little moments that make up a relationship, largely out of order, rather than just a simple linear story. Other than just being well written, these movies put a nice spin on a tired genre.
So, hell, I’d not only call I Love You, Man the best comedy of the year, I’d call it the best romantic comedy of the year.
