“13 Going on 30,” “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” “10 Things I Hate About You” and “A Cinderella Story.” All are amazing romantic comedies. With cheesy plots and predictable happy endings, rom-coms are all I love to watch and obsess over. Far too much of my free time is spent watching typical rom-com movies.
Two strangers meet, have a whimsical history, fall in love, have a misunderstanding that leaves us all waving fists in the air, followed by a happily-ever-after. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, these rom-coms were coming out continuously, and many of them became popular classics. But why don’t they make them the same anymore? Why did filmmakers stop making the really cheesy rom-coms?
Yes, rom-coms might still be around and produced, but they don’t have the same vibes as the ones from the early 2000s and before. A lot of this is probably due to the growing popularity of Netflix and Disney, along with the growth of not-so-good rom-coms like “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” “Anyone but You,” “Palm Springs,” and so on.
While filmmakers produce rom-coms, they end up not as good as they used to be. And yes, the older rom-coms were also like that, silly and romantic, but the choices made by the characters frequently feel shallow and one-dimensional since they are motivated more by the plot than by true character development like in the old rom-coms.
“The Kissing Booth,” “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and others are produced without the charm and traditional romantic clichés of older movies. Many people view them as bad because they lack character and artful motives. In old rom-coms both partners would go to the depths to make the other character fall in love and actually show emotions.
The industry is constantly growing and moving away from the genre. Another factor that shows this is the slowly decreasing popularity of movies since the early 2000s. Since these movies aren’t usually successful anymore, they have been rated lower than the older ones. According to IMDb (Internet Movie Database), the top-rated romantic comedy movies were all published before 2010. The top 20 movies were all before 2010 until 26th place, “The Worst Person in the World,” rated 7.7, published in 2021, and only one other, “Anora” (2024), made it to the top 30.
Some recent social media promotions have brought more attention and hype to the older romantic comedies. Especially on TikTok, where people have made accounts just to edit romantic comedies or play clips of them. It’s always the same old rom-coms being edited and posted about, especially “The Notebook” and “10 Things I Hate About You.”
Well, I am clearly in love with classic rom-coms. Movies like “Clueless,” “The Cinderella Story” and “13 Going on 30” became favorites for a reason. They are humorous, comical, easy to watch, and they just have an energy that makes you want to rewatch them over and over and never get tired of them. Studios need to bring back cheesy rom-coms, just some simple movies that can make rom-com fans like me happy.
Movie Poster Illustration by Guadalupe Abarca: “10 Things I Hate About You” (Buena Vista Pictures Distribution), “The Princess Bride” (20th Century Fox), “13 Going on 30” (Sony Pictures Releasing), “A Cinderella Story” movie poster (Warner Bros. Pictures). “500 Days of Summer” (Fox Searchlight Pictures), “Clueless” (Paramount Pictures). “Serendipity” movie poster (Miramax Films). “How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days” movie poster (Paramount Pictures).
