''Romantic Comedy'' is a 1983 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring

Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...

and Mary Steenburgen. The screenplay by

Bernard Slade Bernard Slade Newbound (May 2, 1930 – October 30, 2019) was a Canadian playwright and screenwriter. As a screenwriter, he created the sitcoms ''The Flying Nun'' and ''The Partridge Family''. As a playwright, he wrote '' Same Time, Next Year'', ...

is based on his 1979 play of the same title.

Plot

Jason Kramer is a popular

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

playwright in desperate need of a new writing partner who can provide him with inspiration. Phoebe Craddock is a small-town teacher who aspires to be a writer. On the day Jason is marrying wealthy socialite Allison St. James, he meets Phoebe, stripping naked in front of her when he mistakes her for a masseuse. The two embark on a professional partnership. Over the course of the next nine years, they produce a string of plays, some flops but mostly hits. They find themselves attracted to each other but manage to avoid becoming involved romantically except for a one-nighter out of town, which the aloof Jason fails to even acknowledge the next morning. As time passes, Jason's marriage suffers as Allison runs for political office. His agent Blanche remains a constant, mothering presence as years go by. Jason is still a husband and a father while Phoebe remains a close family friend. But he permanently loses the respect of both his wife and writing partner by having a fling with a pushy Hollywood actress, Kate Mallory, as well as changing a new play at her request. Jason goes to pieces after his wife divorces him while Phoebe marries newspaper reporter Leo Jessup. Phoebe moves away, ends their professional partnership and becomes a successful author. When they are reunited for the first time in years, Jason picks an argument with Phoebe in a restaurant and has a heart attack. Upon coming home, Jason does everything in his power to sabotage Phoebe's marriage while she moves in to take care of him. Leo can plainly see that his wife is in love with Jason and possibly always has been, so he leaves her. Phoebe ultimately invites Jason to try a new kind of collaboration.

Cast

as Jason Kramer * Mary Steenburgen as Phoebe Craddock *

Frances Sternhagen Frances Hussey Sternhagen (born January 13, 1930) is an American actress; she has appeared on- and off-Broadway, in movies, and on TV since the 1950s.Joy, Car"Frances Sternhagen in Talks to Join Company of Broadway Magnolias" Broadway.com, Nov ...

as Blanche Dailey *Janet Eilber as Allison St. James * Robyn Douglass as Kate Mallory *

Ron Leibman Ron Leibman (; October 11, 1937 – December 6, 2019) was an American actor. He won both the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play in 1993 for his performance as Roy Cohn in ''Angels in Amer ...

as Leo Jessup

Production

The film was shot on location in New York City. Sutton Square, the cul-de-sac at the end of East 58th Street just east of Sutton Place, is used as the exterior location for the home of the lead character. The song "Maybe" was written by Burt Bacharach,

Carole Bayer Sager Carole Bayer Sager (born Carol Bayer on March 8, 1947) is an American lyricist, singer, and songwriter. Early life and career Bayer Sager was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Anita Nathan Bayer and Eli Bayer. Her family was Jewish. She grad ...

, and Marvin Hamlisch and performed by

Peabo Bryson Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson (born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul ballads (often as a duet with female singers) including the 1983 hit "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" with Roberta Flack. Bryson ...

and

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer. She topped the ''Billboard'' charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", " Feel Like Makin' Love", "Wher ...

Critical reception

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' said the film had "remarkably little wit, humor, charm or interest." He added, "Miss Steenburgen is very appealing, suggesting a woman rather like Elaine May, though Miss May wouldn't be caught dead mouthing this dialogue. But Mr. Moore, ordinarily a most winning performer, isn't this time. It's difficult to tell whether the fault is in the material, the production or him." Roger Ebert of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'' rated the film three stars and observed, "Not a whole heck of a lot happens in ''Romantic Comedy'', but it happens so charmingly, and with such quick spirit and wit, that it's enough. This is the kind of movie Hollywood used to make to exploit the sheer charm of its great stars - performers like

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

or Katharine Hepburn, who were so wonderful to watch that all you had to do was find something for them to say. The stars this time are Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen. Together, they have the sort of chemistry that might make any dialog work . . . This is a nice movie . . . about smart, witty people who suffer, but not too much, while they work, but not too hard, and break their hearts, but not irreparably. I think you could call it an escapist fantasy." The movie was reviewed in ''

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

's 2014 Movie Guide'', was given 1 1/2 stars, stating ''"Faithful adaptation of Bernard Slade's paper-thin play looks even worse on screen, despite a perfect cast"''. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds a rating of 29% from 14 reviews.

DVD release

The Region 1

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

was released on December 26, 2001. The film is in anamorphic widescreen format, with audio tracks and subtitles in English, French, and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

References

External links

* * * {{Arthur Hiller 1983 films 1983 romantic comedy films American films based on plays American romantic comedy films Films about writers Films directed by Arthur Hiller Films produced by Walter Mirisch Films scored by Marvin Hamlisch Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films United Artists films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films