''Romantic Comedy'' is a 2019 British documentary film about

romantic comedies 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 ...

, directed, edited and narrated by

Elizabeth Sankey Elizabeth Sankey is a British filmmaker and musician, best known for her film '' Romantic Comedy''. and for playing in the indie-pop band Summer Camp. As part of Summer Camp she has released four albums and the soundtrack to the film ''Beyond C ...

, whose band

Summer Camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer summer vacation, months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part ...

contributes songs. Sankey's bandmate

Jeremy Warmsley Jeremy Warmsley is a London-based musician and composer. Biography From 2005 to 2009, he worked as a solo artist, recording two albums for Transgressive Records and touring with Regina Spektor and The Shins. Since 2009 he has worked with his wi ...

co-produced and composed the film's original score.

Synopsis

The film features extracts from hundreds of films, including ''

The Holiday ''The Holiday'' is a 2006 romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers. Coproduced by Bruce A. Block, it was filmed in both California and England and stars Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz as Iris and Amanda, two lovelorn wo ...

'', ''

When Harry Met Sally ''When Harry Met Sally...'' is a 1989 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. It stars Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally. The story follows the title characters from the time they mee ...

'', '' While You Were Sleeping'', ''

The Big Sick ''The Big Sick'' is a 2017 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Showalter and written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani. It stars Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Adeel Akhtar, and Anupam Kher. Gordon and Nanji ...

'', ''

Kissing Jessica Stein ''Kissing Jessica Stein'' is a 2001 American independent romantic comedy film, written and co-produced by the film's stars, Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen. The film also stars Tovah Feldshuh and is directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfel ...

'' and ''

The Broken Hearts Club ''The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy'' is a 2000 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Greg Berlanti. It follows the lives of a group of gay friends in West Hollywood, centered on a restaurant owned by the fatherly J ...

''. The production made use of

Fair Use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the intere ...

guidelines to legally include these clips. Other contributors to the film include actor

Jessica Barden Jessica Amy Barden (born 21 July 1992) is an English actress. She began her career as a child actress. She is best known for her role as Alyssa in the Channel 4 comedy-drama ''The End of the F***ing World'' (2017–2019). She received a British ...

, director

Charlie Lyne Charlie Shackleton (formerly Charlie Lyne; born 15 August 1991) is a British filmmaker, multimedia artist, and film critic. He has made several films, including '' Beyond Clueless,'' '' Fear Itself'' and the 2016 protest film '' Paint Drying'' a ...

, writers Laura Snapes, Anne T Donahue, Simran Hans, Cameron Cook, Brodie Lancaster and radio producer Eleanor McDowall.

Release

The film premiered at IFFR 2019 and went on to play at festivals such as SXSW 2019, CPH:DOX, and AFI. It was distributed in the UK by

MUBI Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusiv ...

Reception

, ''Romantic Comedy'' holds a rating of 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 Wan ...

, based on reviews. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' reviewed ''Romantic Comedy'', rating it 4/5 stars and writing "engaging documentary reclaims the genre from snooty cinephiles – and proudly pronounces ''When Harry Met Sally'' a masterpiece".

References

External links

* *{{rotten-tomatoes, romantic_comedy, Romantic Comedy 2019 films British documentary films 2019 documentary films Documentary films about films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films Films scored by Jeremy Warmsley