ABSTRACT
The romantic comedy continues to endure a critical mauling despite, or maybe because of, its continued success at the box office. The romantic comedy is thriving in the twenty-first century; Hollywood is fully
committed to the genre, as it continues to be a significant presence in the multiplex, proving its worth and popularity with regular box office successes. Yet, paradoxically, commentators and critics continue to bemoan the state of the genre, as each high-profile release is greeted by
scathing reviews and feature articles which compare the contemporary romcom to screwball comedies in particular, seeing the latter as a golden age for the genre against which today’s films fail to measure up.
