I watched a couple of Meg Ryan romantic comedies from the 90s this week, including two that were new to me: "French Kiss" and "Addicted to Love." Neither are very good and neither made much of a cultural impact, but they form a fascinating time capsule of the way romantic comedies used to be, when they regularly made a nice profit at the box office, and were able to attract top drawer talent. Meg Ryan was second only to Julia Roberts as the go-to leading lady of '90s romances, but I'd only seen three of her films that really fell into that category: "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail" with Tom Hanks, and in "When Harry Met Sally…" with Billy Crystal. And it's honestly been so long that I didn't remember much about her performances.
So it was a nice treat to be reintroduced to Meg Ryan as a movie star in her prime, who plays an uptight American neurotic in "French Kiss" named Kate (she's played a lot of Kates) against Kevin Kline's charming French rogue Anton, who seems to be doing an impression of Gerard Depardieu from "Green Card." Ryan has wonderful comic timing and radiates charm and appeal. In both "French Kiss" and "Addicted to Love" she and her love interest are initially hostile to each other, but warm up over time. And in both films a major turning point is a wardrobe change for Ryan, involving a low-cut sleeveless dress that leaves her romantic partner speechless with admiration. It's a common trope, of course, but few actresses have pulled it off quite so convincingly.
Ryan has more to do in "French Kiss," as Kate is our major POV character throughout. After being dumped by her fiance, she follows him to France, gets mixed up in a scheme of Kline's, and eventually the two end up together. Lawrence Kasdan directed, from a script by Adam Brooks. There are a lot of the usual pratfalls and physical comedy bits that modern romantic comedies rely so heavily on, but also a lot of time with Ryan and Kline simply spending time together and having pleasant conversations. Kline's schemes with an illegally transported grape vine and a stolen necklace provide an excuse for him to have to stick close to the exasperating American, but it never feels like the point of the film. And while Ryan is terrified of flying, is lactose intolerant, and has a lot of biases against the French, she never feels like a caricature. Is she treading awfully close to Sally from "When Harry Met Sally…"? Yes, but Kate is a little more prickly than Sally, which I appreciate.
In "Addicted to Love," the directing debut of Griffin Dunne, Ryan's character is Maggie, a photographer, and I was surprised to discover she's actually a supporting character. In all the posters, she's placed front and center. The main character is Matthew Broderick's jilted Sam, essentially playing the role Ryan did in "French Kiss." His fiancee dumps him for a Frenchman with a restaurant in Greenwich Village, so Sam tracks them down, takes up residence in the abandoned building across from theirs, and sets up surveillance equipment. Maggie is the Frenchman's jilted ex, who becomes Sam's co-stalker, co-conspirator in revenge, and eventual lover. Maggie lets Ryan play a more off-kilter character, a wild child type with thick eyeliner and a more colorful wardrobe. However, it's still the sleeveless little white dress that knocks Sam for a loop.
Both films have their charms, but neither are very strong. I think it's telling that Meg Ryan really isn't at her best in either of them. Kevin Kline acts circles around her in "French Kiss," despite the hammy accent, but then he tends to get the better material. There are multiple scenes of him falling in love with her, but you blink and you miss the moment she falls for him. As for "Addicted to Love," Matthew Broderick has at least as many scenes getting to know his rival, played by Tcheky Karyo, as he does with Ryan's Maggie. She's a fun presence in the film, sort of a grungy precursor of the manic-pixie-dreamgirl, as she encourages Sam's meaner impulses, but pretty limited. The director seems more interested in the revenge story than the budding romance, which is a shame, because Broderick and Ryan pair pretty well together.
Meg Ryan famously became pigeonholed as a romantic comedy actress, and her career declined when her looks did. I understand why the current generation of performers wants to avoid the same fate. However, it's such a nice change of pace to find films like this - romantic comedies that are full of the old tropes and character types, but carried by really talented actors and filmmakers who are taking the endeavor seriously. It takes real skill and commitment to do screen romance at this level, and it's such a shame that the whole genre's been so devalued. We're down to a few bigger titles every year, but mostly combined with other genres. It's almost always romantic-comedy-action films now. And it's kinda sad.
There's no reason Zendaya and Anya Taylor Joy shouldn't be doing movies like these between their superhero and arthouse horror features. And I'm very curious how "Ghosted" would have turned out if the filmmakers were brave enough to leave out the silly spy plot and all the action scenes - and just let Ana de Armas and Chris Evans getting romantic be the main event.
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