It’s a question as old as time, and yet as mystifying as time itself: Why are there so many terrible rom-coms? Or, more precisely, why can’t every rom-com be When Harry Met Sally, or at least—at least!—The Holiday? Surely it should be easy to write, direct, and release a hit romantic comedy? (It’s certainly easy to enjoy them, after all.) Still, every time I get on an airplane, I’m faced with the same soulless, spiritually beige options that hardly even deserve a recap.
Luckily, as of today, it appears there’s hope for the rom-com-hungry among us. Our high priestess Cameron Diaz recently announced that she would be “un-retiring”—and, what’s more, making her triumphant return to the big screen in a Netflix movie titled Back in Action that also stars Jamie Foxx. Now, I don’t know if these two crazy kids will end up getting together, but I do know it’s been too long since I watched Diaz in a comedic role, and that’s enough for me.
As though the Diaz-aissance wasn’t enough, no less a rom-com authority than Julia Roberts will also be returning to the genre that launched her career, co-starring in the new film Ticket to Paradise with another rom-com stalwart George Clooney. Yes, you read that right: Julia Roberts and George Clooney will be appearing in a film together as “two long-divorced parents who impulsively married each other.” Oscar! Oscar now, or I mutiny!
Honestly, whether or not either of these films are good, I am just so overwhelmingly glad to hear that we’re getting fresh, quality rom-com meat. It’s been a long fallow season filled with dark indie movies, I have fewer reproductive rights than my mother did at my age, and sometimes I just need a film full of pratfalls and high-heeled escapades and first-date kisses and totally fake, low-stakes drama to distract me from this mortal coil.
Welcome back to the rom-com fold, Cameron and Julia—we’ve missed you. Which reminds me: It’s high time for a rewatch of My Best Friend’s Wedding.
