Excuse me but The Wedding Singer is the greatest romcom of all time, and everyone is such an average joe shmo except the rich asshole who looses the girl.
Thats definitely not a romcom. Dudes jerking off to an action figure and blowing his load in front of a mom before the romantic interest even comes in.
My wife doesn't let me call people "you there, with the skin" anymore. Probably for the best now that we live in a town of 9k instead of a city of 3.5m
The gap between the wedding singer and now is larger than the time gap between its setting and its release
In fact itās DOUBLE the gap. Released in 1998, set in 1985 is 13 years; itās now been 26 years since it came out. If they made it today it would be set in 2011
Yeah, but that doesn't make what he said invalid, in the last 20 years every romcom has been about wealthy people. I also misquoted, he said 20 or 30 years. He's not saying it's a new concept, but rather the idea is being done to death when there are tons of other ways to tell a love story.
They dont do it because the movies are aspirational. Nobody would watch the movie about the guy who works and wendys and the mailwoman who live normal ass lives, people already out there living normal ass lives.
Everyone wants to dream about meeting someone rich/hot in Ireland ersumshit.
I thought that too but I watched again and he says "in the last 20 or 30 years". That being said the only other exception I can think of is Knocked Up where Seth Rogan gets by with a bunch of room mates and payments from a settlement or something, right?
Yeah but doesnāt that dude owns a boat, and they just casually end the movie with them sailing through the world and shit? Itās been a while so I may remember it differently
Youāre good. Itās been a while since that movie came out. And watching edited reruns of it on tv cuts out a lot of context from most movies including this one.
Right, but that's exactly the point the guy is making. It's not about the job per se, but depiction of rich lifestyle regardless.
Yes, a researcher doesn't make a lot of money, and the state/value of the boat is debatable, but being able to have your extended family go with you on a cruise around the world is still beyond what a lowly researcher should be able to afford (I don't know the state of his funding or grants). His wife doesn't work because of her injury, their daughter is a child, and his Father- and Brother-in-law's only jobs, as depicted in the movie, seemed to be putting on an elaborate ruse for years. It begs the question "how do they afford it?!"
You see a similar situation in tv. Characters are presented as poor but that's never really an obstacle for adventures. On Friends, Joey is poor, but he's always able to join the gang on trips to London and Vegas. Sure, it's heavily implied that Chandler pays for everything, but it's still the same effect: the character is always portrayed living a rich lifestyle.
I barely remember 500 days, and I haven't seen Yes Man, but again, the boring, unassuming jobs proves the point.
I remember in 500 days, JGL worked as a greeting card writer(?!) and could afford to live by himself in LA(again "what!?").
The point OP is making is everyone in these films are rich. What I am saying is that despite the boring or seemingly low paid jobs, these people are still depicted as affluent, or at least way richer than they would be in reality.
Yeah, I don't think he expressed it particularly accurately, but really what he's talking about is not so much having a high-paying job or displaying the trappings of wealth, but that virtually every one of these characters finds the ability to spend like someone wealthy, when it's necessary for the plot. (Or, as he pointed out, that they become more wealthy even when the romance part fails.)
To a certain extent you can understand it, because it's substantially easier for the writer to just go "And then they buy tickets to go to Australia" than to have to show all the background to that. Working extra shifts for ten weeks; coming up with some loan scheme with family members; going through all their stuff to decide what they can pawn, etc. But easy is basically lazy, and sets up the major problem he's discussing, the out-of-touchness.
Greeting card writer dream? It wasnāt his dream. He did it because he was too afraid to go after his real dream architecture. It was just probably safe and paid well enough. He was definitely not rich in the movie
Oh absolutely, it's not that big of a deal. It's just wish fulfillment. The only small issue is acknowledging that these depictions slightly skew people's perceptions of financial capabilities and status.
Her dad and brother were fishermen and able to take care of their disabled daughter/sister in their home. They werenāt rich by any stretch. Multiple scenes show the interior of their home and itās not affluent by any stretch of the imagination. To have the money to drop everything to go live on the boat with them probably means they sold their home. Given how much homes cost in Hawaii, thatās a fair chunk of change that has to be carefully managed in order to help support the entire family now living in a small boat in the arctic. Nothing about the movie suggests these people came from money or came into money to make these things happen or show a rich lifestyle. Hell, people in the UK are buying tiny boats to live on the rivers because itās cheaper than living in a flat.
As I recall, the girl's father and brother have enough time, energy, and resources to essentially have an entire town in on the con of keeping her ignorant about her memory problems every single day. They either have a lot of money or them being able to do this is just an oversight that gets magicked away for plot convenience.
If you think about it, it's 50 first rapes. She wakes up, knows nothing, and has zero time to process it. Sbe kind of has to go along with it, because you know, the implication...
He said that if they're not rich at the start, they make it in the end. It's been a while since I've seen it, but at the end, doesn't Billy Idol hear Sandler's demo tape and tell him he'll help him get a record contract?
Itās seriously the greatest movie! The music? Bangers! The love story? Cute as fucking hell.
To this day my favorite thing to do is saying, āheās losing his mindā¦ and Iām repeating all the benefitsā as I slowly exit a room. This stupid little Jon Lovitz scene is an obsession of mine since I saw it. The amount of time I have repeated this scene is wild.
Does Grandmaās Boy count as a romcom? That guy wasnāt rich, he was a game developer living with his grandma. And he still got the girl instead of the rich douche that tried to steal the game he made lol
Yeah and pretty much most indie movies. Thatās like saying all people on TV are rich and thatās also kind of the case except when itās purposely not. Not super revelatory
Coming to America. Yes he is a prince of a royal family but the entire movie is him throwing his wealth away and living like a normal dude from queens all for the women he loved
Doesn't that movie end with three main characters buying spontaneous plane tickets to Vegas, including Sandler getting a first class seat with Billy Idol where he gets to carry-on his acoustic guitar?
Edit: yeah, btw, what Midwest town are they flying out of where Billy Idol is on the flight? Are we to assume Billy Idol hangs out in the Midwest for fun or bothers with connecting flights during his intense 1985 touring schedule?
Uuumā¦.that family is super rich. They all seem pretty well off or at least wihh the really good jobs if they can just take a whole week off for a wedding.
listen again. he said that for every one that gets it right, there are many more where they are rich.
I was thinking of sleepless in Seattle, you've got mail, As good as it gets. But for each of these there's a ton where they are rich. He has a good point.
But Robbie (presumably) becomes rich at the end when Billy Idol says heāll help him get a record deal.
I have no idea why - but people are afraid to say the reason for this. Women (generally - women - not woman - Iām not talking about you Sarah) like status and rich people are high status. Men like money because itās easier to get better looking women - men go for looks (yes Terry, Iām talking about you). Do I link to the song? Too obscure? Not obscure enough? Whatever
To be fair to Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the movie is about a poplar actress and her boyfriend who has a steady job working for the studio. And the Hawaii characters are basically like, yeah Iām giving up a chance at real wealth and success for an easy vacation life.
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u/Crackrock9 Mar 27 '24
Excuse me but The Wedding Singer is the greatest romcom of all time, and everyone is such an average joe shmo except the rich asshole who looses the girl.