Return to genre of "Good" Date movies

Rating: 10/10 (10 February 2012)

Good date movies, or RomComs as they are called, are getting rarer these days. Sure we've regular barrage of typical Jennifer Aniston and Katherine Heigl movies, but a good RomCom, we haven't seen in years. The kind that peaked in 90s with Meg Ryan movies( You've got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle), Love Actually, and Notting Hill. This is why Crazy, Stupid, Love comes as a breathe of fresh air. It covers all the basics. I know it is not realistic, but RomComs are not supposed to be so. They are supposed to fill you with a bittersweet feeling, they've to be in words of Notting Hill: "Surreal, but nice". CSL is story of Steve Carrell and Julianne Moore, as they try to fight their mid-life crisis, story of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, as they find love in one night stands, and story of teenagers as they experience their first love. And it goes beyond depicting love at different life stages; it shows how they are inter-connected and love, despite of what is your age, is just love. And finally music. Any good RomCom has a great score and CSL is as previously mentioned, has a great score for a RomCom after many, many years. Songs are beautifully woven in the fabric of the movie. You begin to sense bitterness of a divorce in "Alamanc" and ecstasy of a great closure in "Blood". Shakespeare invented RomCom genre with his plays. It has romantic element and is a comedy because it ends with a positive closure for characters we've begun to love. CSL is RomCom of true proportions, where comedy is not used as a cheap selling point, but a smile on viewer's face comes from the subtlety. Here is where CSL scores. 10/10