Romantic Comedies

I’d wanted to watch ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ since, I don’t know, forever! But never got the chance to. I’d asked Ma a countless number of times to borrow the video from the video library she frequents, but her reply always was that she’d already seen it, so she didn’t want to rent it out again. I could have rented it out myself, but somehow, it never occurred to me to do so! I guess that is what happens when you depend on your mother for every little thing, you don’t realize that you can do those things yourself.
After years of wanting to see that movie, I recently saw it 2 ¼ times this month itself. The first time, I saw only the climax, and when I realized that the ‘hero’ and ‘heroine’ hadn’t actually met throughout the movie, I was greatly disappointed. I was like, “What’s this shit? This was supposed to be one of the best romantic comedies ever, and the lead players never actually meet??”
Then later I got a chance to watch the movie again, from the beginning this time, and I loved it! I understood then, why some people swear by this movie. It really was a nice, feel-good kind of movie.
The scene in which little Jonah tells his father that he was beginning to forget his mother broke my heart! And then when Tom Hanks’ character (I forgot his name) tells him that his mother could “peel an apple in one long, curly strip”, that brought a smile to my lips.
Each and every scene was mounted extremely well. There were so many funny scenes, like those between Jonah and the woman his dad starts dating, Victoria. He is so painfully polite to her, it’s hilarious!
Also the scene, in which Rita Wilson’s character talks about the movie, “An Affair to Remember” and gets more and more involved and emotional with her narration, is priceless! I was howling with laughter when I saw it for the first time! And then Hanks and his friend talk about some other movie and mock-cry. That was very funny too.
Then there were the poignant scenes, such as the one in which Jonah calls up the radio station and Hanks ends up talking to the radiotherapist. She asks him what were the things that he loved about his wife, and he says. “How long is your show?” :)
Meg Ryan’s expressions were so bang on in each and every scene; you don’t think of her as Meg Ryan, you only see Annie Reed.

I just love to watch romantic comedies. They are so much fun! My favourite ones are ‘Notting Hill’, ‘Love Actually’, ‘You’ve Got Mail’ and ‘Chupke Chupke’, ‘Rules – Pyar ka Super hit Formula’… the list goes on! According to me, each of these movies is a gem!
I’ve even bought the ‘Love Actually’ VCD. And I’ve watched it quite a few times already, the last time being two days ago. That movie makes me laugh and cry every time I watch it. Some people think that it’s boring, too confusing and very, very saccharine sweet. But I think it is in a class of its own. How well are the individual stories connected to each other. I love ensemble pieces like this one. It is set around Christmas and so each time it gets a little chilly, I feel like watching it!
My favourite individual love story is the one involving Colin Firth’s character (Jamie) and his Portuguese housekeeper, Aurellia. It was funny, and dare I say, cute! Both cannot understand each other’s language, but they are on the same level. After she dives into a cold lake to save his manuscript, they are drying off inside Jamie’s home, and she’s talking in Portuguese, and he in English, and they are both saying absolutely the same thing! He first says that maybe he can name a character after her in his book, and she repeats the same thing in Portuguese. And then she jokingly says that or maybe he can give her 50% of the profits, and he says, “or maybe I could give you 5% of the profits!” Cheapskate! : D
The scene, in which he proposes to her, is both hilarious and so very romantic! It is set in the restaurant in which Aurellia works, and the entire town of Marseilles descends on it to see what this Englishman is up to. He actually learns Portuguese, and proposes to her in his grammatically poor version. He actually says stuff like, “things seems very transparency” and “I’ve come to you with the view for asking your hands in marriage with me” or some such stuff.
And even Aurellia had learnt a bit of English, “just in case”, as she puts it.
Then there is the love story of Liam Neeson’s character’s 10-year-old stepson, Sam. That was just adorable, and not portrayed in the very unbelievable way in which childhood romances are usually portrayed in Hindi movies. Sam’s mom has just passed away after a long illness, and he’s behaving in a moody manner. So Neeson asks him what is wrong, and Sam replies, “I know I should be thinking of mom and all, and I do, but the truth is, I am in love!” When Neeson asks him, “aren’t you too young to be in love?” The kid turns to him in all seriousness, and states matter of factly, “not at all!” And Neeson says that he is so relieved that it’s not something worse, and Sam replies, “What could be worse than the anguish of love?!” This is said in such a serious tone that is not overly dramatic, that you don’t want to laugh at the little boy, but it is amusing all the same.
Sam actually learns to play the drums to impress Joanna, the girl he is in love with. Joanna and some of the other kids are setting up a band for their school Christmas concert, and she is the lead singer. You don’t know what to expect when they actually show the concert taking place. I just thought that it’d just be some little girl singing in an ‘okay’ voice. She starts off the song without any musical backing, in total darkness, and her voice just rises out of the darkness, crystal clear, and it completely stuns you! You wouldn’t expect a 10-year-old to possess such an incredible singing voice. I’ve goose bumps all over my arms and neck, each time I hear her belt out that song, ‘All I want for Christmas is you’. When this girl is old enough she should compete in American Idol, she would win for sure!
All the other stories are also funny, sad, touching, except I didn’t like the one between Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman much. The one between Laura Linney and her co-worker was sad.
I could just go on and on about ‘Love Actually’. But am just going to end here because all this talk has made me want to see ‘Love Actually’, so I’m going to do just that right now!