The Brit Romcom Evolves, Makes a Theatrical Comeback With ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It?’
variety.comNaman Ramachandran For a solid decade, the U.K. contributed some of the most iconic floppy-haired lotharios, airport dashes and front-door confessions in romcom history.
Films such as “Four Weddings and a Funeral” (1994), “Notting Hill” (1999) and “Love Actually” (2003) basically invented such hallmarks of the genre.
But in the last decade, the global-facing British romcom has all but disappeared from cinemas. Richard Curtis, the brains behind the aforementioned hits as well as the “Bridget Jones” adaptations, says the heavy lifting keeping romcoms alive has largely been carried out in the television ranks.
The writer cites examples such as the BBC’s “Gavin & Stacey” and “Fleabag” and Channel 4’s “Catastrophe” as “blazing examples.” “Unexpectedly to me, I would say that trying to write vaguely autobiographical films with jokes in them about how complicated love is, has probably happened more on telly than in cinema,” Curtis tells Variety.
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