Components of a Good Rom-Com

Rom-coms are accessible for all ages and all genders (even if some boys/ men won’t admit it). We love rom-coms both for the love story and the comedy that make for timeless classics. Here are some rom-coms that are both iconic and memorable: Freaky Friday (the 2003 version starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan), Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, Confessions of a Shopaholic and the Devil Wears Prada. Let’s take a closer look at what makes them so great.

Components of a Good Rom Com:

• Choosing between what is easy and what is right and owning up to where you were wrong:

In many of these movies, characters are faced with a tough decision: take the easy way out or own up to your mistakes. In Freaky Friday (although I’m pretty sure everyone knows what happens in Freaky Friday especially with the long awaited release of the sequel Freakier Friday), a mother and daughter who are at odds with each other switch bodies through a spell brought on by a fortune cookie. They are able to switch back when they see things from the other person’s perspective. This involves them both admitting they didn’t really know how tough the other person had it. Anna (Lindsay Lohan’s teenage character) even gives her mother her blessing to get remarried after her dad died, after seeing how happy Ryan made her mother.

            In Mean Girls Cady Heron (also played by Lindsay Lohan) makes a series of mistakes in                         her quest to be a popular girl. At the end of the movie, she must make amends with the true friends she alienated in her quest to be Queen Bee and a teacher she sort of accused of drug dealing. Because this is a romantic comedy not only do her friends take her back but she singlehandedly (through her Spring Fling speech) abolishes all cliques, backstabbing and gossiping at her school. Oh and she gets the guy.

             In Confessions of a Shopaholic Rebecca Bloomwood must publicly confront her debt (she is a compulsive shopper) so she auctions off a very extensive wardrobe to pay for it. She also has to make up with her best friend who was endlessly patient with Rebecca, covering her on rent and making her a bridesmaid at her wedding. 

  In The Devil Wears Prada Andie is working for a tyrant Miranda (played by a formidable Meryl Streep). She is so dedicated to this job that she completely neglects her boyfriend and social life, answering Miranda’s calls day and night, attending to her every need, always at her beck and call. She also goes to Paris for fashion week when her coworker Emily Charlton (played by Emily Blunt) gets sick which Emily considers a betrayal. Andie ends up quitting her job and finding a  job in journalism which was where she wanted to work in the first place.

• The romance (obviously. Rom coms wouldn’t be rom-coms without the romance)

            In Freaky Friday Lindsay Lohan’s character Anna has a crush on a boy Jake that her mom almost messes things up with when she is in Anna’s body. However, after watching her rock out onstage Jake decides his heart indeed belongs to Anna (who doesn’t look better when they are holding a guitar?).

           In Mean Girls Cady spends the entire school year chasing after Aaron Samuels, who currently “belongs” to the Queen B herself. This means he is “off-limits” When Cady finally gets some quality Aaron time she gets herself drunk and pukes all over his shoes. He is willing to give her a second chance and dances with her at the Spring Fling. By the end of the movie he is her boyfriend.

        In Legally Blonde sorority president and blonde bombshell Elle Woods is horrified when her boyfriend, Warner dumps her for a more “serious” girl. Determined to show Warner she can be serious too, Elle gets into Harvard Law School where she meets the real romantic interest, Emmett, whom she works with on court case. Emmett is ever the gentlemen, giving Elle pep talks and encouragement. At the end of the movie (which flashes two years into the future) we are told he plans to propose.

         In Confessions of a Shopaholic Rebecca begins a romance with her boss who is impressed by her writing. In an ironic twist he is the editor of a money magazine called “Successful Savings”, something Rebecca clearly has no idea about. When he finds out about her debt, it presents…problems but naturally this is a romantic comedy so it all ends happy ever after.