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crowdvscritic · 8 months

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round up // AUGUST 23

Well, it’s been a month. In August, I…

Quit a job

Started a new job

Went to the emergency room for two unplanned surgeries to remove my gallbladder

Celebrated a birthday

Yeesh, I’m exhausted just thinking about it, though not nearly as exhausted as I was just after surgery. My recovery has been steady, but it’s also been slow, which means little victories have included eating solid food and going a full day without napping. With that energy level, you can bet how I spent my short waking hours: watching a lot of movies! (I also read two books—I had some time!) My viewing in the two weeks at the hospital and recovering at home was a combo of Turner Classic Movies’ annual Summer Under the Stars celebration (with 24 hours of programming dedicated to classic movie stars like Stella Stevens, Jackie Cooper, and Greer Garson) and of comfort food faves (including ‘90s action flicks, ’00s rom-coms, and…Mary Kate and Ashley movies). You can see everything I watched in those two weeks on Letterboxd because between the sleepiness and pain meds, I needed a way to remember what was going on. I’m not sure what it says about me, but the idea of staying overnight in the hospital for the first time became a lot easier once I realized their cable packaged included TCM…

It’s also been four years. Yes, August marks both my birthday and the birthday of these Round Ups. In the last four years, I’ve rounded up…

6 stage shows

10 museums

14 concerts and events

15 series of Saturday Night Live sketches

20 podcasts

21 books

46 musical selections

49 TV shows

52 collections of articles, social media fun, and new movie trailers

421 movies

Yes, I’m excited just thinking about all those Crowd and Critic selections, though my pace going forward will slow some. Going through so many life events in just a few weeks makes you take stock of how you’re spending your time and energy, and my motto is becoming, “If it ain’t easy, it better be worth it.” If I hate cooking, why do I make myself do it every week? And if writing a Round Up with 20 picks is challenging to squeeze in every month, then it’s time to make adjustments. Author Ingrid Fetell Lee summarized this philosophy well (and provided some practical suggestions) in her blog post “12 Ways to Be Gentle With Yourself” this month. In that spirit, Round Ups are becoming more exclusive as two Top Fives. Keep reading to see which movies, concert, book, album, and articles earned coveted this month's coveted spots...

August Crowd-Pleasers

1. Meg 2: The Trench (2023)

I could summarize the plot of this big dumb shark movie, but Bill Hader said it best on SNL:

Since the trailer surprisingly didn’t give most of the best moments away, I’ll remain coy and just say I spent a lot of Jason Statham’s newest charisma-fest laughing out loud. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

2. Jonas Brothers: The Tour

68 songs! 5 albums! 1 night! As I have recommended Jonas content no fewer than four times in the last 4 years of these Round Ups, you should not be surprised to see this here. Like in 2019, I turned into an embarrassing fangirl freak at this show, singing along with every single song (though finding I really need to beef up on few Happiness Begins tracks) and shaking my sister with excitement every 15 minutes. (I think she was vibrating at the same energy? It's also possible she's just learned it's better to smile and nod when I'm like this.) The boys’ showmanship and knack for shelling out bops do not disappoint.

3. Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (2023)

A jaded comedy writer (basically Tina Fey) for a late night sketch show (basically Saturday Night Live) discovers a spark with a singer-songwriter rock star hosting an episode (basically John Mayer). So yes…this is an extreme overlap of my interests. Like SNL, this novel does at times lean into saucier and cruder content than I prefer, but the descriptions of the TV show’s behind-the-scenes process and of the relationship between a celebrity and a normie felt so authentic I had to Google Sittenfeld to see if these were based on her own experiences. The best part? A third of the book is a series of email exchanges in the style of You’ve Got Mail. Again, I told you it’s an extreme Venn diagram of my interests!

4. You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)

I mostly avoided Adam Sandler until 2020—somehow I’d only seen Happy Gilmore and Bedtime Stories before the pandemic. But since May of that year, I’ve watched 17 of them, and it’s time I finally just admit I’m an unironic fan of his, and now of his daughters, too! Bat Mitzvah is the update to Sixteen Candles we didn’t know we needed, and one of its pleasant surprises is Sandler is happy to stand back and watch his daughters shine (as Taylor Swift would say). His supporting role is the perfect choice for a comedy designed to launch his daughters’ Sunny and Sadie’s careers as leads, and Alison Peck’s sincere, funny script describes the pre-teen girl experience honestly. While there’s plenty of overlap with Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., it’s not a rehash, which makes the pair a perfect double feature. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

5. The Rocketeer (1991)

This action-adventure lives in the world we only imagine 1940s Hollywood to be, one where you could date an Errol Flynn-esque movie star (Timothy Dalton) after he notices you on set, one where you could accidentally find a rocket designed by Howard Hughes, and one where Bonnie and Clyde-style drive-by shoot-outs are everyday occurrences. With Billy Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Alan Arkin, and a dash of the spirit of Indiana Jones, my only regret is I didn’t watch this years ago. Crowd: 10/10 // Critic: 8/10

More August Crowd-Pleasers: Elvis goes gaga in Hawaii for Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), a musical comedy both corny and winning; Arnold Schwarzenegger goes ham on militants who kidnap his daughter in Commando (1985), an action flick both corny and thrilling; Michael J. Fox is a former child star who discovers a future child star in the comedy Life With Mikey (1993), the kind of family movie we don’t get enough of today; Sally Hawkins tells the true story of an amateur historian who discovered the remains of The Lost King (2022) Richard III in a drama with a fantastical twist; Paramount+ continues to abuse my nostalgia, but I continue to let them because Carly and Freddie are finally together in the third (and best) season of the iCarly reboot; like every Muny production, Sister Act was a blast on stage

August Critic Picks

1. Carole-thon!

Fun fact: Every Carole Lombard movie I’ve watched since starting this Round Up has become a monthly recommendation—why stop now? Lombard was TCM’s star of the day on August 18th, and it only took one viewing to realize I wanted to marathon everything on my DVR. Most of these titles are short and sweet screwball rom-coms, which means you can knock out quite a few of these in just an afternoon:

No Man of Her Own (1932) - Lombard falls for a con man (real-life future husband Clark Gable)—could she be the one to set him straight?

The Gay Bride (1934) - Lombard marries a gangster for his money, but her true love might be his second-in-command

Lady by Choice (1934) - Burlesque dancer Lombard “adopts” a mother for some positive PR, but she ends up getting more than she bargained for

Hands Across the Table (1935) - Lombard is a manicurist seeking a rich husband, but Manic Pixie Dream Boy Fred MacMurray throws a wrench in that plan

The Princess Comes Across (1936) - Lombard is a con woman pretending to be a princess on an ocean liner, but her plans get tangled with another person's secrets (MacMurray)

True Confession (1937) - Lombard is a compulsive liar married to a compulsive truth-telling lawyer (MacMurray again) defending her for a murder she didn’t commit

Swing High, Swing Low (1937) - Lombard and MacMurry (for the last time) are musicians caught in a romantic, bi-continental melodrama

Fools for Scandal (1938) - The cutest little rom-com about a hotheaded American actress falling in love with an affable European fellow this side of Notting Hill!

In Name Only (1939) - Lombard and Cary Grant fight for their relationship even though his bitter wife won’t allow for a divorce

2. Executive Suite (1954)

1950s Glengarry Glen Ross! William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, June Allyson, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, and Shelley Winters vie for the seat at the head of the executive table when the president suddenly dies, and together they create a summum bonum of character dramas. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

3. No Secrets by Carly Simon (1972)

I know I’m the actual last person on Earth to realize the greatness of this album from a career that, among many accomplishments, paved the way for songwriters like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo. “You’re So Vain” is a banger with no less bite than 50 years ago, and the record is filled with gems start-to-finish.

4. Edge of Darkness (1943)

TCM’s August 5th star Errol Flynn and their August 28th star Ann Sheridan are fighting for their small fishing village, their families, and their love against brutal Nazi occupiers. I couldn't find comprehensive resources to clarify how much of this action-thriller is historically accurate (the novel it’s based on doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page!), but this gritty story of Norwegian resistance captures a similar spirit to some of the best World War II films, equal parts Indiana Jones and Casablanca. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

5. Good Reads

#BillionGirlSummer:

"It's #BillionGirlSummer: Taylor, Beyoncé and Barbie Made for One Epic Trifecta,” NPR.com (2023)

“Talking With ‘Swiftie Dads’ at a Taylor Swift Concert,” GQ.com (2023)

“Nearly 1 Out of 4 of ‘Barbie’ Viewers Hadn’t Gone to the Movies Since COVID,” IndieWire.com (2023)

Hollywood appears to be meeting a long-overdue reckoning:

“The Binge Purge,” vulture.com (2023)

"Anonymous Strike Diary: ‘Our Souls Were Cracking … but Then the AMPTP F***ed Up,’” HollywoodReporter.com (2023)

“Orange Is the New Black Signalled the Rot Inside the Streaming Economy,” NewYorker.com (2023)

“Mandy Moore Says She Once Got a Check for a Penny for This Is Us Streaming Residuals,” HollywoodReporter.com (2023)

“David Zaslav, Hollywood Antihero,” NewYorker.com (2023)

Film history and criticism:

“The 100 Best Movies of the Past 10 Decades,” TIME.com (2023)

“The Fate of the Critic in the Clickbait Age,” NewYorker.com (2017)

“The Instrumentalist,” NYBooks.com (2022)

“The Bradley Cooper “Jewface” Controversy Isn’t Really About That Nose,” slate.com (2023)

And a grab bag of worthwhile thoughts, interviews, and news:

“Reese Witherspoon Is Starting a New Chapter,” HarpersBazaar.com (2023)

“To Help Cool a Hot Planet, the Whitest of White Coats,” NYTimes.com (2023)

“Beyoncé, Tumblr, and ‘Harlem Shake’: Revisiting Pop’s Most Pivotal Year,” TheDailyBeast.com (2023)

“Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule,” NewYorker.com (2023)

“Why You Rarely Believe Celebrity Apologies on Social Media,” BBC.com (2023)

More August Critic Picks: The kid-and-his-dog dramedy about one of the goodest doggos who ever did live, Tough Guy (1936), hits you right in the heart; Errol Flynn thrills again in a search for sunken treasure that might claim his soul in Mara Maru (1952)

Also in August…

The world’s slowest Best Picture Project continues with 1942’s Mrs. Miniver, a genuinely moving piece of war propaganda. Read my Crowd and Critic reviews.

Until September wraps, you can follow what I’m watching creating lists for on Letterboxd. In August, I updated my rankings of 2023 product movie rankings and Christopher Nolan films by Dead Wife Energy, and I also found some weird overlaps between the August releases Blue Beetle and Meg 2 (warning: spoilers!).

Photo credits: Jonas Brothers, Romantic Comedy, Carly Simon, Good Reads. All others IMDb.com.

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cup-and-chaucer · 6 months

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Really the problem with these BookTok books like Romantic Comedy is that...they are commodities. The answer to Fran Leibowitz's brilliant quote, "A book is not a mirror, it should be a door." is that, with advent of a literary social media, we are not reading to engage with a story or an idea but to attain an ideal. Marketing is built on the tension of relatability and aspiration. We see commercials set in clean, pristine suburban homes with happy, well-behaved children because it feels like it something we could attainably be if only we had the right brand of cereal or peanut butter or dish soap or life insurance. We want to see ourselves in those places that feel within our grasp. With the rise of books as a commodity to be marketed, rather than as art or entertainment, we increasingly want to see ourselves in the books we read. We want to see aspirational versions of ourselves either reading the book (aesthetics bloggers like Dakota Warren) or within the pages of the books. This why so many of those romance books feel so...conflict-avoidant. Don't get too close to reality or imperfection.

As the idea of a corporate morality (think: rainbow capitalism) emerges, it comes out in books too. Books have to have queer or PoC characters...not because those characters are essential or interesting or natural parts of the landscape or have their own purpose in the books but because the people reading the books want to feel like they are reading diversely and want to believe they are the type of people who also have queer or PoC friends. It doesn't matter if these portrayals are sanitized or feel tokenish.

A book like Romantic Comedy, where the characters mouth literal Facebook think-piece memes I saw during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 as their political beliefs, without much self-reflection on the fact that these are two culturally powerful white people who are saying those things to signal that they are good people. It feels like a distraction and a benediction so you can support them in their rockstar fantasy romance, white guilt free. They are saying you are a good person for liking this book because the people in it are good the way you want them to be good and in the way you also want to be good. And they don't have to mean a word of it, they don't have to examine themselves any deeper, if the box is checked and disclaimer signed.

It's also why I think there is so much moral puritanism in reading now. We can't read Lolita because most of us don't want to be associated with its content and what we read, because it is now synonymous with what we buy and own and identify with, is a mirror to who we are and what we aspire to be. The problem is that books are not material things, not really, not the way jeans or furniture or cooking utensils are. They aren't forms of self-expression for the reader, the way fashion or make-up or paint is, they are simply a collection of thoughts from the imagination of an individual put into the world to tell of an experience or make an argument for us to read. That's all.

And all of this, all of this, all of this fucking capitalism is going to get conflated with the very real need for representation in literature and media, for more equitable publishing, for uplifting marginalized voices and experiences.

*sighs*

#booktok #anti-intellectualism #books #publishing #curtis sittenfeld #romantic comedy

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acotars · 9 months

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Read in 2023:

Sally, you've confused the romance of comedy with the romance of romance.

ROMANTIC COMEDY by Curtis Sittenfeld ★★★★½

#litedit #romanceedit #romancelitedit #book edit #romantic comedy #curtis sittenfeld #edits*#all #2023*

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petruchio · 9 months

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helloooo anyone have book recs for romances that are like, light and not that deep but also not like, terribly written?

#i just finished romantic comedy by curtis sittenfeld so like something in that vein #like not a difficult read but not like. shitty writing or super dumb plot yk???#like a step up from those evelyn hugo type books but not quite lit fiction level #YA KNOW???#caroline speaks

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appleinducedsleep · 6 months

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“Isn’t the goal to live with our demons, not to expect them to go away?”

💝 Curtis Sittenfeld, Romantic Comedy

#books #quotes #booklr #romantic comedy #words #bookblog #book community #booklovers #curtis sittenfeld #anne reads books

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bangbangwhoa · 1 year

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books I’ve read in 2023 📖 no. 048

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

“Could it be that Noah was one of those rare guys who didn’t essentially dislike or mock women, and who also didn’t ignore our existence, and who also didn’t see us primarily as objects of lust? That he was weirdly, disarmingly fine with us?”

#books #2023 reads #romantic comedy #curtis sittenfeld #booklr #lit edit

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storytime-reviews · 9 months

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Romantic Comedy Book Review

With a series of heartbreaks under her belt, Sally Milz - successful script writer for a legendary late-night TV comedy show - has long abandoned the search for love.

But when her friend and fellow writer begins to date a glamorous actress, he joins the growing club of interesting but average-looking men who get romantically involved with accomplished, beautiful women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch, poking fun at this 'social rule'. The reverse never happens for a woman.

Then Sally meets Noah, a pop idol with a reputation for dating models. But this isn't a romantic comedy - it's real life. Would someone like him ever date someone like her?

Rating: ★★★ 1/2

So my main problem is that there were some aspects of this book that I loved and some that I really didn't like, although I will admit that the narrative gets better along the way. Most of my issues with Romantic Comedy occurred in the first third or so, so it's surprising that I actually continued with it. I guess you could say that I saw some promise in it, and I am glad that I kept going.

Something that stood out to me with the first third or so of the book, much of which occurs at the studio in which Sally works as a comedy writer (clearly inspired by Saturday Night Live) is that for a book about a comedy writer, Romantic Comedy is just not funny. That's not to say it has to be, the problem is that this book is definitely trying to be, and it just isn't. Especially when it focuses so heavily on the comedy sketches at the beginning. I also didn't like how Noah spoke in that first pitch meeting, it sounded so fake, like when you can tell a character is written because it just doesn't feel realistic.

Sally is incredibly preoccupied with the appearance of other women to the point it's incredibly noticeable and felt uncomfortable for me to read. In using her point of view here I understand it's meant to get the point across that she's different, and really emphasise she's not someone that a musical star would typically fall for, but it felt like too much. Something else that just didn't work for me in this book is how some of the 'issues' mentioned feel very performative, especially with the two white main characters discussing racism and BLM protests.

However, once Romantic Comedy switched to the emails format, I found myself enjoying this book immensely. It was fun to be a little bit different, and a great way to showcase the perspectives of both Sally and Noah and get them interacting a little more directly. I loved this approach because it allowed them to develop their banter and chemistry and kept it interesting as they dealt with constant miscommunication, defensiveness and jealousy issues.

Their interactions feel realistic, especially the ways in which they respond negatively and then have to work on their communication to address their feelings. Of course they make plenty of mistakes and assumptions about each other, but I loved watching it play out as they struggled to stop letting their own issues impact on the other person. There is plenty of chemistry between them, especially in those emails. In fact, I think Sittenfeld did her best writing with these emails than in any of the other scenes.

Sally in particular gets combative and aggressive when things get real and become emotional, and I love it so much because it makes her real to me. Because this is exactly what I do. So as much as some aspects of her characterisation drive me nuts, there are other parts like this that make me so glad I read this book until the end. The characterisations of both Sally and Noah are deepened throughout the narrative and pulled apart and put back together. What I also enjoy about their relationship is that they call each other out on their shit.

Warnings: sexism & misogyny, references to racism, references to drug use and addiction, references to eating disorders and suicide, sex scenes

#booklr #romantic comedy #curtis sittenfeld #tbrbusterchallenge2023 #bookbanditchallenge #reading #books #book review

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fashionbooksboozefeminism · 10 months

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Haven’t shared any book recommendations for a while but two of my favourite living writers have new books out this year and they’re both amazing - I gobbled this up in a couple of days and had to force myself to turn off the light in the early hours!

#Alice’s quarantine book club #curtis sittenfeld #romantic comedy #book recommendations

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that-chaoticace · 7 months

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Ok, I’m reading Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld and the Danny Horst character is like the Pete Davidson and Colin Jost bc he’s young, dating an Ariana Grande equivalent and does the Weekend Update equivalent (not to say Colin Jost is old but the character is 20something). Anyway, if this book becomes a movie (especially with the whole Reese’s Book Club thing) it would be funny is either of them could be Danny Horst, BUT because the character is in his 20s I would love it if one of the Please Don’t Destroy guys could play him. And uh, why is it Martin that comes to mind? I know I’m putting this out there on Tumblr but it’s not like the people who follow me irl get me. Tumblr, please see me and let the people who make these penultimate decisions see me 🫠

#romantic comedy #curtis sittenfeld #please don’t destroy #pete davidson #colin jost #snl #saturday night live #booklr #bookblr #bookish #books #movies #reese witherspoon #i’m just thinking #random #i have so many thoughts #and they’re about Martin #and John and Ben of course

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bookishbethanyerin · 1 year

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• ARC Review: Romantic Comedy •

Since finishing “Romantic Comedy,” I’ve thought a lot about the title. The book *is* romantic, it’s set in the world of comedy – but is it a romantic comedy?

We begin in 2018, when Sally, a writer for a well-known comedy sketch show, meets Noah, the singer-songwriter who is hosting the show. There’s chemistry, there’s second-guessing, there’s more chemistry – and then Sally sabotages it by saying something cutting during a moment that could’ve led to more.

From there. we flash-forward to 2020 – because, yes, this is a novel where the pandemic happens. But before you completely check out, you should know this is when Noah reaches out to Sally.

And then they become pen pals. And it is *so good*.

Sittenfeld navigates the nuances of the pandemic with incredible wit and relatable musings. And as Salli and Noah start to pick up from where they left off, it leaves Salli grappling with a fundamental belief of hers that has made her her own worst enemy: famous, handsome men are *never* romantically interested in women less atteactive than they are.

It’s an idea she has embraced and lived by as she’s watched her male comedy peers marry pop stars and models and actresses, but it’s also made her her own worst enemy in many ways. Because despite the attraction she’s always felt between her and Noah, she just doesn’t believe it’s real – or at least, real for *him*.

Though this book started out a bit uneven for me – probably more because I kept trying to figure out who each character we meet is based on, and that is *not* the right approach – but once I got out of my own head, I really, really enjoyed this story.

The dive into the New York sketch comedy world is simultaneously frenetic and exhausting, and the love story here is sweet and sexy in a sort of understated and awkward way that I found so relatable and satisfying.

“Romantic Comedy” is full of zingers and soul-baring honesty that will make you laugh and sigh in equal measure. But is it a romantic comedy? I’m still not sure – but I do know the title is brilliant.

4.5🌟

2.25🌶️

🎶A massive thank you to @randomhouse for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy!💕

#book review #arc review #romantic comedy #curtis sittenfeld #books

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judgingbooksbycovers · 1 year

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Romantic Comedy: A Novel

By Curtis Sittenfeld.

#Romantic Comedy #Curtis Sittenfeld #books #book covers

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airplanes924 · 2 months

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Recommendations

If you are looking for a movie to watch, I recommend Barbie on Max

If you are looking for a book to read, I recommend Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

If you are looking for a show to binge, I recommend Masters of the Air on Apple TV

#recommendations #barbie #max #romantic comedy #curtis sittenfeld #masters of the air #apple tv

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cup-and-chaucer · 6 months

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Romantic Comedy and the Curse of Booktok

I just finished Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfield and my Lord in Heaven do I have feels about it.

And not butterflies at how cute it was.

This was not It for me in so many ways and, in fact, it’s flaws were so great and so significant to me that I do feel compelled to write it all out in a *insert drum roll* numbered list.

Summary: Heroine Sally works at a fictionalized version of SNL and is frustrated by the fact that all these uggo sloppy men hook up with hot beautiful women. She, an uggo sloppy woman, then ends up hooking up with a hot beautiful rock star Noah Brewster during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. The Pacing and Information Dumping

The pacing of this book was…bizarre to say the least. The book was divided into three sections. The first describes the week that Sally and Noah meet. The second is an 80 page exchange of emails between the two as they reconnect online during COVID. The third describes their meeting and romance. All of these were slow in their own way.

The first section was laden with details about the production of a weekly episode of SNL. I found this pretty interesting actually because I am a fan of the show and show biz insider baseball always fascinates me. But as the book went on, this section felt increasingly waterlogged. We never meet many of the characters again and we never return to the SNL set. It does feel like it exists solely to prove that Sittenfield read Tina Fey’s Bossypants. This section, of course, is also…like. Not that funny. It’s just not. Physical comedy is incredibly hard to transcribe to the page effectively and so the descriptions of many of the sketches fell flat for me and also the banter was not anything more sparkling than you would find in any other romance book.

The second section was also incredibly mundane. I have developed deep and emotionally intimate connections online and I think this is not an unusual experience to have nowadays. And I am sure if someone read back the transcripts of email and text conversations with those people…they would also not be that interested (though they’d be more interesting Im sure than this). You would need our context to make those conversations sing and to understand why some mundane things meant everything. This correspondence felt dull but it was partially because, without watching how Sally felt when she got a notification, without hearing how Noah wrote and rewrote and rephrased his messages, it was hard to gauge how impactful the exchanges were.

The third section was fine. And again, I know what it’s like to fall in love with someone quickly but their whole relationship felt really rushed. Even here, conversations were weighted down by unnecessary exchanges about what to have for dinner, etc that didn’t move the scene’s actions or emotional arcs forward.

2. Where’s the Conflict?

So. I get that we all want to communicate openly and honestly with our friends and partners. On the page, it’s deeply boring though. This is why Noah Brewster sucks as a hero—he is literally perfect. He’s rich, handsome, emotionally aware, kind, considerate. He apologizes right away and sets appropriate boundaries.

All the potential juice in a conflict is side-stepped from the real ramifications of fame to beauty standards to COVID to wealth disparity. Even Chekov's wig is revealed to be Noah getting some hair transplants that are explained away in a single cuddle session. All is resolved through a series of petty fights and pat reassurances.

*yawns*

The problems in their relationship originate with Sally. She is drunkenly snarky to him at a party and that leads them to not speak for two years, she gets irrationally upset at Noah for dropping her hand in front of the paparazzi, she moves into a hotel the moment they discuss their future and come into conflict. These aren't bad plot points but fighting Noah is like fighting a piece of wet cardboard because he is always reasonable and always level-headed and almost always right.

I thought about this book when rewatching Joe Wright’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice this weekend. What I love so much about that book and both movies, what makes that one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time, is the fact that both Elizabeth and Darcy grow and change and their relationship is the catalyst of it. This is shown in different ways in each adaption. The 2005 version does a masterful job of showing different perspectives to create a classic misunderstanding and crossing of social wires while the 1995 focuses on Elizabeth and Darcy as truly and deeply flawed. Both work for me in different ways. What I love Colin Firth’s portrayal especially is that he genuinely is an asshole…he’s a good person but not a particularly nice or sensitive one. His attitude is the result of snobbery and classism, not a lack of street smarts (like McFayden’s Darcy who is mostly shy and awkward rather than suave as Colin Firth is when he handles the Wickham situation).

Romantic Comedy hints at wanting to be a social commentary but it ultimately fails because it doesn’t allow its characters to be impacted and warped by the society that they live in the way that Austen and Firth allow Darcy to be unlikable because of his social standing.

3. Beauty and Desirability

Soooooo....like. Sally isn't really unattractive. Sally's narration is focused on other people's appearances...Noah is hot, Henrietta and Viv are attractive, Annabelle is beautiful. She is not. The whole premise of the book is that Sally is not a model. But Sally doesn't actually defy any conventional beauty standards except to be...not the perfect specimen of 21st century beauty. She isn't described as being fat. She isn't described as being visibly disabled. She isn't described as hairy (except when she is shaving everything off). She isn't described as being particularly masc. She is white and so there's no examination of colorism or Western beauty standards. She's just...a normal looking white woman. And like, trust me, as a normal looking white woman who is pretty traditionally femme, of course I have insecurities too, and a lot of Sally's commentary was very relatable to my experiences in dating, in sexuality, in my relationship to other women I perceive to be more attractive than me. But that doesn't make the book particularly interesting or transgressive, especially because the beautiful women in the book don't have much of a personality or depth (looking at you, Ariana Grande caricature.)

I read Olivia Dade's Shipwrecked series last year. And these are pretty silly romances tbh, but what I love about them is that the women in them are fat, yes, but their fatness is part of their attractiveness. Dade manages to do this in a way that doesn't feel fetishizing or patronizing. The women are described as being beautiful because they simply are and the men who desire them simply desire them, not just because they have a great personality which *makes* them beautiful, but because what people find beautiful and attractive is diverse. Those books also deal directly with the challenges of being in a "mixed weight" relationship and it drives some of the conflict, particularly in the first book...eating habits, exercise, media representation, etc. In contrast, it doesn't seem like Sally either grows into her desirability or that Noah ever really expresses clearly that she is beautiful to him. He talks about how great their connection is and how much he wants to fuck her...but if my memory serves there's not a lot of *specific* talk about what she looks like, what *specifically* about her physical appearance she finds so repulsive and he finds so hot, if he likes what she wears. This isn't a beauty and the beast retelling where someone looks beyond someone's appearance to see the inner person. This isn't Cyrano de Bergerac where there is something that Sally feels is fundamentally unlovable about her...except sort of a general global malaise about her desirabilty. Sittenfield can't decide what to do with the premise of her own book except to do a pale version of "not like other girls" where Sally becomes the funniest, smartest person Noah has ever met even if, in his own words, he never would have gone after her if he had just seen her picture.

4. Show and Tell and the Self-Consciousness of Politically Correct Writing

All of my issues listed above could pretty much explained by the fact that Sittenfield chooses to tell, not show, nearly all of the story. We are told by Noah that Sally is desirable and he is in love with her....but we don't see much of their interactions beyond just...fucking. We aren't allowed the space to interpret actions and feelings, especially after the first section of the book ends. Even the emails are a cop-out. As a result, the book becomes very literal.

One of the best things my writing partner has ever said is that "Sex should be about everything but sex, and everything that's not sex should be about sex." But in this book? Everything is exactly as it appears and so the underpinning of their interactions lacks chemistry. As Noah says, he's not looking to seduce her. Which is very nice of him. But very unsexy. When they finally do have sex, I struggled to care. It didn't feel like a crescendo of boiling tensions, it didn't feel like anything except the next logical step when you date someone. It is a romance but without eroticism and sensuality. God, it's even set during a pandemic where touching and masking is essential. My God.

This can be expanded into my biggest criticism of the book which was the handling of the political references and diverse cast. The characters clunkily engage with the political ramifications of COVID and the Black Lives Matter movement. The characters tell us that they go to protests (we don't see it), Noah tells us that he thinks about intersectional feminism (is that likely in a teen heartthrob...see Mr Darcy commentary above), they talk about racism (though there are two Black characters in the book who do...nothing). We are told that they are good people with the correct political opinions so we like them. They reach the quota of having one (1) queer friend and one (1) PoC friend. We don't see them do the hard work of being good, we see them do the gymnastics of being palatable to the other one. It doesn't change the fact that this story presents an extremely traditional view of relationships: the heroine marries a wealthy white man and her two friends are mothers in monogamous relationships by the end. It makes every mention of every political event and opinion feel deeply disingenuous and the book as a whole feel so self-consciously written that it was hard to fully immerse yourself in it. I felt the author everywhere, pressing in from all sides, unable to allow her characters flesh and blood and conflicts deeper than a single conversation.

Argh.

#curtis sittenfeld #romantic comedy #pride and prejudice #jane austen #olivia dade #ship wrecked

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