Was the phrase "they just don't make 'em like they used to" invented to describe Hollywood Romantic Comedies?
The Romantic Comedy has long been a staple of any studios production slate. Compared to Oscar-bait epics, war films and action pictures, they are usually cheaper to produce (unless your paying Julia Roberts 20 mil) and seem to have a good chance of hitting the mark with their intended audience. Let's face it, there's more risk involved in tricking-out a Clash of the Titans remake in 3D and opening it in April, then there is in releasing a movie calledValentine's Day on the 12 of February. I'm not suggesting male viewers are more sophisticated than female viewers and therefore more difficult to market an action picture to, not at all. Like, at all! But action pictures for instance are subject to rapid shifts in styles, technology and can be driven by mercurial youth culture. Maybe a studio invests 100 million in a Bruce Willis shoot 'em up, but then 300 beats it to theatres by a month, rendering its car chases and fist fights old-fashioned. But in Romantic Comedies, the more old-fashioned the better. You might hip it up with some gross-out gags or try to modernize it by replacing love letters with emails or a dropped purse with an iPhone, but at the end of the day the formula is the draw. Audiences still want their opposites attracting. That's it.
This allegiance to the formula may explain why audiences for Romantic Comedies (i.e women and their well-behaved dates) are getting served up lazier and lazier offerings. Why bother taking the high road when the cynical alternative is so much easier? Why strive for timeless magic or try to touch people when you can just drop flavourless ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil? The answer to these "why's" is between a screenwriter and their god, but for audiences, the reason to demand the high road is the difference between The Ugly Truth andAn Affair to Remember. It's right there in the titles. The Ugly Truth is just plain ugly and destined to be forgotten, while An Affair to Remember is well, memorable.
I rented golden-age director Leo McCarey's An Affair to Remember based on the strength of his other film Make Way for Tomorrow (reviewed here), and I plan on seeing as many more of his films as my local video store will allow. So far he's 2-for-2.
The set-up of An Affair to Remember is famous, having been filmed once before in McCarey's own Love Affair (1939) and inspiring countless other films, including a direct homage in the Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks estrogen juggernaut Sleepless in Seattle. Carey Grant plays legendary playboy Nicky Ferrante, but really he's just playing legendary grey-suited charming-man Carey Grant. In fact, anytime Grant dons a grey flannel suit in a movie he's practically transformed into a super hero--Charming Man. Grant is settling down with a high-profile heiress, and he's taking a sea cruise to New York to meet up with her and the media circus surrounding their union. Also on the cruise ship is Deborah Kerr playing Terry McKay, a luminous nightclub singer who is about to become the wife of a wealthy business man. As soon as they lay eyes on each other in passing, the sparks begin to fly and Grant reverts to his natural state: relentless flirting. Kerr is a fiery redhead and while she doesn't allow herself to be easily swept away, Grant's charm eventually wears down her witty, sarcastic defenses.
The fun of the first hour is in watching the cracking repartee between the two leads play out against a backdrop of comedic chicanery. As soon as Grant and Kerr are seen together in the common areas of the ship, all the boat's passengers becomes atwitter over the assumed romance. After all, Grant's Ferrante is a famous playboy, so what possible interest could he have in the attractive fiancee of another man? The gossip-page-reading passengers watch the couples hopeless subterfuge as if attending live theatre, laughing out loud at the funny parts. Their clandestine meetings, usually on the ships deck under cover of night, leads to one of the best first-kisses in the movies. The couple walk up an exposed staircase until just their legs are visible and then they come together, denying the viewer the voyeurism that the boat passengers are amusing themselves with. They mystery and privacy of the kiss takes it out of the realm of soapy melodrama and makes it something special.
And that is something that distinguishes An Affair to Remember from it's Rom-Com offspring: the love-falling is not horrendous, it doesn't insult your intelligence or make your stomach churn. Frankly, I consider this a huge achievement since I usually wanna see the romantic leads mauled by bears by about the half-way point in most romance films. The other interesting thing it does is play against your expectations, setting up Grant's notorious playboy as the stumbling block on the path to endless love, but then subverting that assumption in a way that makes your heart soar unexpectedly.
As New York Harbour comes into sight, reality sets in for the two lovers. They can't simply step off the boat hand-in-hand and start a life together, there are too many things to consider, not least of which is if the love their both feeling can survive the transition to dry land. They make a pledge to each other: if they still feel the same way in 6 months, they will meet at the top of the Empire State building. The scenes following the couples departure from the ship provide the giddy high of new love and also show how "high-concept" doesn't have to leave you feeling dirty. With their respective fiancees waving from the docks the couple must adopt their expected roles and silently part, leaving the audience to wonder if the force of reality will crush the romance, revealing it to be the flight of fancy of two duty-bound dreamers. The way that McCarey confirms the romance and reaffirms the pledge is a classic heart-soaring scene where Grant is suddenly thrust into a TV interview with his fiancee and manages to use the reporters questions to send a message to Kerr.
Until this point, An Affair to Remember mixes comedy and romance in a shaker and pours out a bubbly concoction that pleases a taste for escape and old-school Hollywood glamour. But then the movie takes a very serious left turn into tragedy, setting up a last half that barely resembles what has come before it. It's a risky move that pays off due to the talents of all involved, but it's something that few other Rom-Com's would dare to attempt. Picture Hugh Grant getting hit by a bus as he rushes to the chapel to marry Sandra Bullock. You can't, can you? While tragic third acts are not par for the course in Rom-Com's, they have been adopted in manipulative ways in the Nicolas Sparks romance formula. And some have certainly argued that An Affair to Remember is itself sentimental and manipulative. After all, just because it was made 50 years ago doesn't change the fact that it was the Hollywood fluff of its time. Or does it? They didn't call it the Golden Age for nothing and I think there's a big difference between Carey Grant romancing Deborah Kerr and this:
Grant waits atop the Empire State Building on the agreed upon day, but Kerr never shows, leading him to believe that she has changed her mind. Despite the fact that this is a classic movie that's had its plot dissected in other movies like Sleepless in Seattle, I won't ruin the tragic twist. But like I said, it represents a complete tonal 180 that manages to not suck. Maybe its because it deepens both the characters and provides a grounding for the romance that has been built upon an airy foundation. Or maybe it's simply because it allows the audience to spend more time with characters we've grown close to. When the final tear-jerking moment comes along, a moment where all misunderstandings are understood and all pain of the heart looks to be healed, I was marveling at the craftsmanship and crying right on cue, right where McCarey wanted me to. Part of this is due to the fantastic coreography and shooting of this last scene (Grants reflection in the mirror as he opens the door to Kerr's bedroom) and part of it is the subtle abilities of Grant himself (I had always thought of him as more movie star than actor), carrying the weight of realization in his face and delivering the films final emotional blow.
Classic shit.
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