[Note from Frolic: We’re so excited to welcome author Bethany Turner to the site today. She’s taking a look at how our favorite rom coms might have looked if they were a tad more realistic. Take it away, Bethany!]
As an author of romantic comedy, one thing I never have to think about is whether or not my lead characters are going to end up together. Of course they are. No matter where they start out at Point A, Point B will always involve a super swoony kiss and a happily ever after. But getting them from Point A to Point B is the fun part. (Point B is also the fun part. Super swoony kisses are always the fun part.)
At Point A.1, they may shout horrible things at each other on the set of a cooking show. (Yes, that’s a very specific example, but I am promoting a book about chefs. What’s a girl to do?) At Point A.4, they may look into each other’s eyes just a little too long and see a depth they never noticed before. Somewhere around Point A.7 (ah…A.7 is my favorite) they may almost kiss, but then one of them may discover that the other lied about something and betrayed the fragile trust that was beginning to develop between them.
All sorts of things happen between Point A and Point B, and it’s those things along the way that make us fall in love with certain stories. Nevertheless, sometimes readers state that they wish the characters had gotten from Point A to Point B in a more direct way. Some readers wish the path to love had been straight and direct. Readers sometimes say things like, “I wish they’d just had a conversation in the beginning. It was so unrealistic.”
Unrealistic? Hmm. Yes, I suppose that’s sometimes true. Life does not often play out like our favorite rom-coms. More often than not, we don’t overhear the man we love on the phone, take something he says out of context, and immediately flee to Greece to meet up with our stud of a boss (who is rich and has always had a thing for us) for a short-lived attempt at happiness—until the man we love chases us down, explains everything, and shoves the recently-revealed-to-be-a-jerk boss into an infinity pool. (That was also a very specific example. It was just off the top of my head, but still…the boss should definitely be played by Dermot Mulroney.)
Sure, real life doesn’t work that way, but that is exactly how I want my romantic comedies to work. I want my couple to go through a lot for their happily ever after. I want them to earn that swoony kiss.
But, for the benefit of those who want their rom-coms to be more realistic, I thought it would be fun to look at how four classic romantic comedy films might have played out in real life. This is how they might have looked if the journey from Point A to Point B had been a straight line. (Although, in these four cases…I doubt we ever would have gotten to Point B at all.)