William Shakespeare had a gift.  Not only could he write some of the best tragedies of all time, he was one heck of a comedic writer.  Not necessarily the original film version, this is the best.

First, the definition of a shrew: It’s either a small rodent with pointed nose or a scold, defined as one who berates and chastises others. The shrew (Elizabeth Taylor) is the eldest daughter who is sour on love and basically major high maintenance.  Her younger sister wishes to marry, but can’t until her older sister does.  She and her fiancé cook up a plan and convince someone (Richard Burton) to marry her sister so she may marry.  Staying true to Shakespeare’s original script and lavish costuming from the period, this film introduces you to the satirical, yet amusing aspirations of love. A more modern version can be seen in Ten Things I Hate About You. TOP

We choose LA Story because it is so unusual.  Steve Martin wrote this lighthearted look at love, middle age and freeways that endures as one of the best comedies, romantic or not written in the past 50 years.  And the good news is you don't have to be from LA to get it!  It's the story of a local weatherman searching for love.  He tries the younger 20 something woman (Sara Jessica Parker) only to discover he really wants a woman of more substance.  Unlike the typical LA person, rather than going to a psychotherapist, his romantic advice comes from a freeway sign, one that speaks only to him.  Ultimately, he realizes the true love of his life is a woman closer to his age (Victoria Tennant), a journalist with a passion for tuba playing.
This is one of Martin's best works both on screen and written.   He has an uncanny ability to meld human emotion, trial, tribulation and comedy as in Roxanne (1987).  He proves this again in 1994 with A Simple Twist of Fate. TOP

That Touch of Mink

1962: G
Starring: Doris Day, Cary Grant, Gig Young
Director: Delbert Mann
99 Minutes
 

Finally a romantic comedy about what it is really like to be a thirty-something single female in a modern world.  So Bridget is a little more obsessed (NOT!) than most women with her weight, lack of sex during the peak years of her sexuality, the poor choices in men available and her gorgeous boss (Hugh Grant).  The boss is Mr. Mega Wrong in may ways.  Unfortunately, Mr. Right (Colin Firth) lets his mother dress him and has no idea how to be assertive in love.  Bridget Jones' Diary is the romantic comedy in reverse: girl gets boy, girl loses boy, girl realizes its true love running through the snow barefoot in her underwear. 
Some guys get this movie (if he gets Ally McBeal he'll get Bridget Jones) and some can't believe that when women are alone we can really eat a half gallon of ice cream and be that neurotic about the absence of love.  Or that stupid in our choices! TOP

A wartime romantic comedy of errors this movie reminds us of how much this country’s moral expectations have changed in just 60 years.  What happens when a young woman just wants to send the troops off happy and gets too drunk only to find herself married…and pregnant the next morning?  Only she doesn’t remember getting married, who she married or most of the evening!  In 1944, single motherhood is still taboo and how Trudy (Betty Hutton) solves this dilemma and ultimately gives birth to a Miracle in Morgan’s Creek will have you chuckling all night long. TOP

Adam Sandler has become the Pied Piper of Gen-Y comedy and bathroom humor, but this movie is a little more sophisticated and appeals to an older audience.  Part of the fun of this movie is looking at the fashions of the mid-1980’s.   Okay, the hair was a bit big but they weren’t as bad as the stuff from the 70’s that today’s teens think are hip.  Look for eighties fashions to retread about circa 2005.

Robbie (Adam Sandler) is a less than talented singer at weddings who falls for the betrothed Julia (Drew Barrymore).  Both are currently in bad relationships, but trying to keep them together.  Of course, love conquers all, with the help of Billy Idol of course.  Gen Xer’s will love the flashback to High School/college soundtrack and Boomers will empathize with the situation and lament their free wheeling yuppie days. Overall, you’ll laugh at the movie and the fact you once dressed like that!  TOP

Fast-talking, rapid-fire remarks, quick plot twists and the stealing back of an ex before she marries another, His Girl Friday is romantic comedy on speed!  And if you like your romance lazy, this film will drive you nuts.  But, if you like the underdog winning and smart dialogue, this classic will leave you in stitches…but your English better be up to par!  Even if it had subtitles, we don’t think you could read them fast enough to keep up! TOP

 What if you are about to turn sixteen years old and everyone in your family has forgotten about your birthday because they are consumed with your sister’s wedding to a total loser?  And what if while all of this is going on you’ve got the biggest crush on the BMOC, but you’re being chased by the school’s biggest dweeb, who happens to sell tickets to the underclassmen for a buck to see your underwear?  During the 1980’s, Director John Hughes was the king of teen angst. Sixteen Candles is one of his best.  Others include The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  For anyone who has ever had a crush, lived through humiliation in high school or just plain survived their teens, regardless of age, you’ll love and relate to this smartly written and wonderfully acted comedy about first crushes and first loves.  TOP

One of the problems about being an adult is sometimes really good movies come out, but we pass on them because we think it’s a teen thing.  Clueless is one of those movies.  Cher (Alicia Silverstone) plays a modern day Emma, meddling in the love lives of all of her friends, and finding a project Tai (Brittany Murphy) to create into a new femme fatal.  Of course, like Jane Austin’s heroine, the harder she tries, the more she screws up.  What we liked best about this romantic comedy is it’s insight into some of the ridiculous things teens due to look cool and how, even the teens think it’s crazy. As Sixteen Candles epitomizes 1980's teens, Clueless gives the next generation a movie of their own.  The script is fresh, hilarious and an adaptation even Jane Austin would approve of. TOP
 

Action, adventure, bad guys, romance, hidden treasure, drug lords and the undeniable chemistry of Douglas and Turner make Romancing the Stone one heck of a wild, comedic ride through the jungles of Columbia.  This film broke Michael Douglas into super stardom and entrenched Kathleen Turner as not just a sexy actress but a darn good one with a flare for comedy.  This is the perfect movie if you're looking for some light hearted, heated action mixed with a little romance and don't want to think too much.  Danny De Vito also turns in a winning supporting performance as the bumbling bad guy and the trio of actors went on together to create two other films: The War of the Roses and the sequel to this film, The Jewel of the Nile.  TOP

1998: PG
Starring: Tom Hanks, Parker Posey
and Meg Ryan
Director: Nora Ephron
120 Minutes

Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks join together again with the incredible chemistry that worked so well in Sleepless in Seattle.  This movie is good, but not quite the caliber of the first.  Still, it's worth watching and it is definitely the best thing that has ever come along for the online dating industry.  The story centers around a small boutique bookseller (Meg Ryan) and the mega superstore bookseller (Tom Hanks) who moves one of his Barnes and Noble style stores into her neighborhood and ultimately puts her out of business.   Unbeknownst to both, the online flirtation they have been engaging in is with each other.

Hanks discovers this before Ryan and now must figure out how to keep her interested in him without losing her when she finds out who he really is.  This is where the comedy becomes interesting and overall, it's light hearted enough you'll enjoy the movie and finish with a bucketful of warm fuzzies. TOP

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