Not Feeling the Romance

October is for horror movies. December is for family and holiday movies. Summer is for action blockbusters. And February... well February has become the default month for romantic movies, for no better reason than because the biggest commercial February holiday is Valentine's Day. And I guess that this is as good a time as any to check up on the state of what has become the least loved movie genre in recent years. At this point romances and romantic comedies are viewed with about as much enthusiasm as religious epics, social justice documentaries, and the lower forms of indie coming-of-age biopic.

We know there is an audience for romantic films, because most of them do make money, no matter how terrible they are. And they have been pretty terrible The studios keep churning them out month after month, using them to fill in the holes in their schedules and as occasional counter programming to big action blockbusters, but there's rarely much enthusiasm for them. Unlike superhero films and franchise spectaculars, nobody devotes columns or websites to romances. Nobody tracks their release dates or speculates about the possible pairings of directors and stars. No, romances have quietly slipped under the radar, existing for casual consumption mostly by young women. The only time they attract much of the spotlight is when the romance is combined with a more exciting genre, like the "Twilight" movies, or if it's the product of a recognized auteur, like "Silver Linings Playbook" or "Moonrise Kingdom."

Still, 2012 was pretty good for romance. We had more gender-balanced ensemble pieces like "The Five-Year Engagement" and "Think Like a Man," and fewer one-woman trainwrecks like "One for the Money." Romantic comedies built solely around a female star like Jennifer Lopez or Katherine Heigl seem to be on their way out, not because there aren't actresses who are capable of carrying these films, but because Hollywood had pretty much conceded that they don't know how to make or sell them anymore, and the next Julia Roberts has failed to appear. The more gender balanced or male-led romances have generally been better, including smaller projects like "Friends With Kids," "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World," "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," "Celeste and Jesse Forever," and "Hope Springs." On the other hand, the year's biggest romantic moneymaker was the deeply stupid melodrama "The Vow," which made $125 million at the box office a year ago, though "Silver Linings Playbook" might get close to that over the next few weeks.

Looking ahead to 2013, the trends are pretty clear. We're getting more "Twilight"-esque supernatural romances like "Warm Bodies" and "Beautiful Creatures" aimed at the teenagers. Ensemble romances like "The To-Do List" and "The Delivery Man" are all about sex and relationships, but downplay anything that looks more typically romantic while emphasizing the comedy. The inescapable Katherine Heigl will return in April's "The Big Wedding," but as a member of a large cast of far more talented actors. The Nicolas Sparks brand of tearjerker melodrama continues to be popular, so an adaptation of his "Safe Haven" will try to replicate the success of "The Vow" when it opens next Friday. Meanwhile, the reign of Tyler Perry continues unabated for African-American romantic comedies and dramas. The only thing that looks like a typical star-driven romantic vehicle is the Tina Fey and Paul Rudd romantic comedy "Admission," which has the added benefit of being written and directed by the well-regarded Paul Weitz.

Even though I grumble about female-led films being in short supply, I can't say I'm too upset about seeing fewer promising actresses like Amy Adams and Kristin Bell and Greta Gerwig being shoehorned into formulaic dreck like "Leap Year" and "When in Rome" and "Arthur." And the truth is that all of our movie stars across the board have been losing ground to CGI-heavy franchises over the last couple of years, and ensembles are more popular all around. And most romances fit that range of middle budgeted, character-driven films for older audiences that have been shrinking for years. It's no wonder that the better ones all seems to be smaller indie pictures these days. And yet, even though there are fewer and fewer films being billed as romances or romantic comedies, there are still plenty coming out next year that fit the category, like "The Great Gatsby." As much disdain as there is these days for love stories, you can't really get away from them.

In short, the romances aren't going anywhere, even though they're in a pretty sorry state right now. It's going to take some time and some serious reinvention and rebranding to get away from the awful rom-com chick flick reputation the genre has now, but I'm optimistic that it can be done, eventually. But right now, there just aren't enough people in high places who will take romances seriously, or are willing to commit the right talent to the right projects, or who appreciate the decades and decades of wonderful films that came out of this genre. And that's why we're still getting Nicholas Sparks movies and why Katherine Heigl still gets work.

And that's why for Valentine's Day, I'll be seeing the next "Die Hard" movie.
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