Death of the romantic comedy

A brainless waste of 90 minutes
And they fail to entrance
Watchers look for true love in it
And fail to find romance

So, I'm like the next person, I love good dramas (e.g. Blood Diamond), I love good art movies (e.g. Elephant), I LOVE good comedies (e.g. Zoolander), I love good dumb action (e.g. Die Hard with a Vengeance). But there's one other thing that I love: I love romantic comedies. This sub-genre of films has been on the rise in recent years, and has definitely been getting better as time goes on.

They've evolved from the original archetype: predictable guy meets girl, girl dislikes guy, girl and guy become friends, guy does something wrong, girl finds out, girl and guy quarrel, girl realizes she's made a mistake, girl and guy pledge undying love for each other. Kiss, swoon, the end. Think When Harry Met Sally.

In recent years, we've seen the genre get much better, start to become less predictable, and you know the stories have just damn well gotten better.

We've seen role reversals a la My Best Friend's Wedding.

We've seen the rise of the "ugly" and the ethnic girl via My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and Bridget Jones' Diary.

We've seen the couples that fail to get together in the end, like in The Break Up.

We've seen GOOD stories with good screenplays, good character development in movies that actually have a moral or something important to say, like in About a Boy, and Love Actually.

And we've seen the rise of the actual romantic COMEDY that's actually funny and makes you laugh and forget that it's actually a romantic comedy (which, let's face it, often seen as a second-tier comedy in itself) and not just a full out comedy. Think Knocked Up, or 40 Year Old Virgin.

So my opinion and love for this genre has grown as the years have passed, but in the last year or so, I feel like Hollywood just can't throw me a bone. I saw 27 Dresses on Saturday and it sucked. Sucked so bad. Sucked badder than...whatever the last Matthew McConaughey movie.

Too bad, because Catherine Heigl is actually a decent actress who didn't pull of Izzie during the entire movie.

But the fact was that the dialogue stank, the plot was predictable and weak, and the clothes weren't even good. The wedding dresses were ugly!

And so...while I'm usually out to support the romantic comedy, I think I have to take the males' side this time. Don't bother with date movies. Go see a shoot em up brainless loud busting action movie instead. Unless it's Shoot Em Up, because that was a horrible movie too. But at least you don't go in expecting to find love. Just bullets. I only wish that 27 Dresses had had a bullet for me too.