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From Hollywood with Love
From Hollywood with Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy | Scott Meslow
3 posts | 3 read | 4 to read
An in-depth celebration of the romantic comedy’s modern golden era and its role in our culture, tracking the genre from its heyday in the ’80s and the ’90s, its unfortunate decline in the 2000s, and its explosive reemergence in the age of streaming, featuring exclusive interviews with the directors, writers, and stars of the iconic films that defined the genre. No Hollywood genre has been more misunderstood—or more unfairly under-appreciated—than the romantic comedy. Funny, charming, and reliably crowd-pleasing, rom-coms were the essential backbone of the Hollywood landscape, launching the careers of many of Hollywood’s most talented actors and filmmakers, such as Julia Roberts and Matthew McConaughey, and providing many of the yet limited creative opportunities women had in Hollywood. But despite—or perhaps because of—all that, the rom-com has routinely been overlooked by the Academy Awards or snobbishly dismissed by critics. In From Hollywood with Love, culture writer and GQ contributor Scott Meslow seeks to right this wrong, celebrating and analyzing rom-coms with the appreciative, insightful critical lens they’ve always deserved. Beginning with the golden era of the romantic comedy—spanning from the late ’80s to the mid-’00s with the breakthrough of films such as When Harry Met Sally—to the rise of streaming and the long-overdue push for diversity setting the course for films such as the groundbreaking, franchise-spawning Crazy Rich Asians, Meslow examines the evolution of the genre through its many iterations, from its establishment of new tropes, the Austen and Shakespeare rewrites, the many love triangles, and even the occasional brave decision to do away with the happily ever after. Featuring original black-and-white sketches of iconic movie scenes and exclusive interviews with the actors and filmmakers behind our most beloved rom-coms, From Hollywood with Love constructs oral histories of our most celebrated romantic comedies, for an informed and entertaining look at Hollywood’s beloved yet most under-appreciated genre.
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KarenUK
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As a NON non-fic reader, I always dread those prompts in challenges. But this ended up being the perfect ‘meet-cute‘ of prompt vs book vs this reluctant NF reader! As an unashamed romantic, a huge fan of film journalism, who inhaled film magazines in my 20s cover-to-cover, and now religiously listens to movie podcasts ‘film spotting‘ and ‘the next picture show‘ , I heard about this book on one of those, and knew it was for me. (Cont. in comments.)

KarenUK It‘s charming, gossipy behind-the-scenes stuff, about iconic rom-coms from When Harry met Sally to present day. Definitely my wheelhouse! #booked2022 #writtenbyajournalist @Cinfhen @barbarathebibliophile @alisiakae 2y
Cinfhen Sounds GREAT!!! Glad you found the perfect book 😘😘 2y
CarolynM Stacking for sure! 2y
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JoyBlue
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This was an often-fun and occasionally thought-provoking trip down rom-com memory lane. Read my full review here: https://debbybrauer.org/#from-hollywood-with-love-the-rise-an...

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oddandbookish
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This book explores the history of romantic comedies. Each chapter is dedicated to a different movie, with an essay in between exploring different rom-com actors.

The selection of movies and actors were a good mix. I liked that it discussed non-white rom-coms (Waiting To Exhale) and rom-coms about older women (Something‘s Gotta Give).

Full review: https://oddandbookish.wordpress.com/2022/03/13/review-from-hollywood-with-love/

JoyBlue I went straight to Overdrive and checked out the audio edition. Thanks for the recommendation! 3y
JoyBlue I started reading early this morning and am really enjoying it. Thanks again for bringing it to my attention!! 💙 3y
oddandbookish @JoyBlue Glad to hear you are enjoying it! 3y
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