As any rom com lover knows, there is, yes, a certain predictability to our favorite genre: There will be a meet cute, and most likely a happy ending, and at some point, everyone will probably be very upset with each other and spend a lot of time looking out windows. These kinds of tropes and the predictability of it all is what guided me as I wrote my book Build Your Own Romantic Comedy, an homage to and send up of our favorite rom coms, where you, dear reader, get to choose what happens.
But of course, it’s not just about how the journey ends or begins, but how we get there. From my extensive studies, there are seven different types of rom coms; many rom coms can and do mix and match devices so you might find a film with all three of the below, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a rom com that doesn’t encapsulate at least one of the following.
1) Opposites Attract
Probably the trope most associated with rom coms, through which we find two people with nothing in common — like in 27 Dresses or Clueless — who seemingly hate each other, yet end up falling in love by the end of the movie. If our rom com protagonists are verbal sparring partners, the opposites attract couples have the best jab and hook. At their best, they push each other to see things from a different perspective, to grow into a better person than they were before. And isn’t that what we all should be looking for from a partner?
2) “The Bet”/“The Lie”
If it’s true that the rom com is about the journey and not the destination, there’s no better example of that than rom coms that center around a bet or an intricate lie. When you think about How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days or While You Were Sleeping, you think about all of the lengths the characters go to to achieve their goal, or keep their lie undiscovered for just a little while longer — all to great comedic effect. It’s not a question as to if the bet or the lie will be discovered, but when: And in the meantime we get to laugh along as the characters find themselves in sticky situations (sometimes literally).
3) The Friend Who Was There All Along
Let’s just get this out of the way right now: Dating sucks. It sucked in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and it sucks today. I’m sure if this were the early 1800s, Jane Austen would say, “Courtship is quite the bother,” or something. So how nice is it to think that the person who is right for you has been there, under your nose, all along? These movies not only posit that you, yourself, already have the Harry to your Sally in your life (or vice versa), but that you may never have to go on another Tinder date ever again. And what’s more romantic than that?
4) Ensemble
I will be honest and admit my bias here: The ensemble rom com is my personal favorite type of romantic comedy. Instead of seeing one love story over the course of 90 minutes or so, we get to see a bunch of them. Movies like these (He’s Just Not That Into You, Crazy, Stupid, Love) feel rewarding because there’s a little something for everyone. There’s not quite a main character, just like in real life, and somehow everybody knows each other — especially when it’s inconvenient (also just like real life).
5) Fantasy/Vacation
I’ve grouped these two type of rom coms together because they represent the ultimate wish fulfillment rom com: You’re on a beautiful island and you meet someone incredible, like in How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Or somehow, thanks to some magic pop rocks, you’ve aged yourself up 17 years and you’ve got the career you’ve always wanted, a la 13 Going on 30. But what these movies often show us is that you could have everything you’ve dreamed of, but that won’t matter if you don’t love yourself. In the movies, and unfortunately, as in real life, you have to know yourself before you can know someone else.
6) Bittersweet Ending
Once again, if rom coms seek to reflect the truths of our relationships, that means that there are bound to be some where the once-happy couple doesn’t end up together. Movies like 500 Days of Summer are of course bittersweet, but ultimately help us learn what the characters learn: Relationships end, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t cherish what they brought us.
7) Christmas
Let’s be real: Christmas rom coms are not love stories between our characters; they’re love stories about the magic of Christmas.
