Trainwreck: The Evolution of The RomCom

The third wave of feminism is, I would argue, being dominated by shifts within media and the representation of female narratives and experiences. Trainwreck, starring Amy Schumer and Bill Hader, flips conventional notions of gender and the romantic comedy genre on its head. The story follows Amy, a young adult living in New York City, whom grew up thinking that monogamy was unrealistic. She carries that mantra with her as an adult and fills her life with one night stands, but never anything more. She's happy that way, and funny enough it's the men she sleeps with that crave intimacy and a relationship--a total twist on traditional notions of what women are seeking vs what men are seeking in the world of love and romance.

We're seeing a slow evolution of the romantic comedy--and it's much needed. What was once a standard, stereotypical formula ripe with rigid gender roles is being reinvisioned by fresh plots. It's about time.

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Crazy Stupid Love is a romantic comedy from 2011. It stars a whole host of actors including Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, John Carroll Lynch, Marisa Tomei, Analeigh Tipton, and Kevin Bacon. The movie starts out when Cal Weaver’s (Steve Carell) wife and former high school sweetheart, Emily (Julianne Moore), abruptly requests a divorce. Cal, who is not prepared for this in the slightest, ends up finding it difficult to cope with his new single life. He is absolutely clueless about finding love again, on top of the fact that his confidence and appearance are very low, as he wears sneakers, coats a size too big and a wounded heart on his sleeve.

 One night, a young, attractive man named Jacob (Ryan Gosling) pities him for sitting alone in a bar. He introduces himself, and then takes Cal under his wing to teach him all the right moves. Jacob’s own polished pick-up routines work on an array of different women, until one day he finds a girl, who turns out to be Cal’s daughter Hannah (Emma Stone) who actually causes him to want to settle down. Meanwhile, two other romances stumble along at the Weaver household: Son Robbie (Jonah Bobo) pines for his sister’s babysitter, Jessica (Analeigh Tipton), while his mom tries to make sense of her feelings for one of her co-workers (Kevin Bacon). 

The whole movie ultimately comes together at a family gathering in the Weavers’ backyard, when we learn how all the characters become inter-related to each other. This starts an uproar, but eventually all of the characters come together and are able to co-exist peacefully in the end.

I really enjoyed this movie. It had a good amount of humor, and was able to keep my attention and engagement throughout. I especially enjoyed the ending because it was full of twists and turns that the writers crafted in a way that they were able to keep it a secret from the audience. I honestly did not expect such a surprising ending. However, I did think that the film could have been made even better had it been able to explore its characters a little more in-depth. Perhaps this was caused by the fact that the movie contained too many characters and sub-plots to be able to explore them all in a thorough and satisfying manner.