Moviefone: "10 Underrated Romantic Comedies You've Never Seen (but Should)"

[JamesG]

10 Underrated Romantic Comedies You've Never Seen (But Should)
By Monika Bartyzel
Posted Feb 11th 2011



1. Next Stop Wonderland (1998)






Back in 1998, most people were busy with The Big Lebowski and didn't even notice Philip Seymour Hoffman's sweet romance, Next Stop Wonderland, even if the film did inspire a bidding war at Sundance.


Hope Davis stars as a beautiful, young, cynical woman just dumped by her on-again, off-again boyfriend (Hoffman). As she dates and muses about her life, she keeps just missing Alan (Alan Monteiro), an aquarium volunteer who might just be perfect for her.

Or, at the very least, not as terribly wrong as every other man she meets.



Instead of falling into the usual rom-com cliches, Wonderland focuses on the process of finding someone you connect with, not the idyllic romance or happily ever after.












2. A Little Romance (1979)






You may have heard that Diane Lane was a child star, and this would be why. This 1979 film sees her as a 13-year-old, too-smart-for-her-own-good, Heidegger-loving American living in Paris.

One day she meets a cute and witty French movie buff (Thelonious Bernard), they talk philosophy and the two fall in love. When circumstances threaten to separate them -- her well-off mother (Sally Kellerman) doesn't trust this poor French boy -- they enlist the help of an old man (Laurence Olivier of all people) to help them run away for a romantic getaway in Venice.












3. Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)






Actress and now filmmaker Jessica Westfeldt's first script sees her starring as a smart Jewish artist and journalist sick of the abysmal men she's been dating. (How bad? Jim J. Bullock bad.)

When a new personal ad sounds too good to be true, it's because it is -- the ad was written by a woman.



Unable to resist an intellectual connection, she answers the ad and falls into a romance with Helen (Heather Juergensen). As she navigates the waters of lesbianism, Jessica tries to come to terms with her passions, sexuality and path in life.

"Mad Men" star Jon Hamm also makes a brief appearance in the film -- he and Westfeldt have been together for over a decade.












4. Three for the Road (1987)






Before the rehab, drug-fueled drama and television lasciviousness, Charlie Sheen was a quintessential '80s star. And amidst his cinematic fame -- the same year he was busy with Wall Street -- Sheen starred in a road movie called Three for the Road.


Sheen plays a political aid trying to get in good with a senator by driving the man's troubled daughter (Kerri Green) to reform school, with the help of his friend (Alan Ruck).

Obviously, she's too cute to resist -- and not as bad as her dad made her out to be -- and the guy ends up falling for his young ward. The turmoil might have something to do with Sally Kellerman, who once again plays mom to the female star.












5. Splendor (1999)






Determined to make a film that wasn't a darkly ironic, apocalypse-fueled adventure, Gregg Araki grabbed Kathleen Robertson, Johnathan Schaech and Matt Keeslar to tell the story of a single girl who meets two very different, very cute guys.

Zed is a goofy, dumb rocker who takes what he wants, and Abel is the smart and sensitive writer. When she can't choose between them, she decides to keep them both.



Araki's trademark themes and style are traded in for a candy-colored romance that merges classic tropes with progressive partners, and it's fueled by one of the best soundtracks Hollywood has ever offered.

It's quirk to the extreme, but the rom-com also overflows with bubbly charm.












6. Saving Face (2004)






Michelle Krusiec stars as an Asian-American doctor looking for someone special, and she finds it in a young dancer (Lynn Chen). But her mother (Joan Chen) descends upon the scene, complicating matters in every which way.

Mom doesn't believe her daughter is gay, she's overbearing and worst of all -- she's experiencing similar interpersonal issues with her own elderly father.



A 48-year-old widow now pregnant and refusing to explain who the father is, she's been kicked out until she gets married and restores honor to the family.

Though both leads are struggling romantically, the film is as much about their familial journey as it is about their love lives.












7. Roger Dodger (2002)






Not all rom-coms are about women looking for love.

Sometimes they're focused on young boys like Jesse Eisenberg, who plays a high school student eager to learn the ways of the romantic world from his single uncle, played by Campbell Scott.



Over the course of one night, Scott teaches Eisenberg his vision of how the romantic world works, which includes hitting on two much older women played by Jennifer Beals and Elizabeth Berkley.

The old, perverted uncle shouldn't be endearing, but Scott gives him heart as he bonds with his young nephew and nurses his own broken heart after being dumped by Isabella Rossellini.












8. Nobody's Fool (1986)






Rosanna Arquette stars as a young woman suffering from her past -- she once became so incensed with her boyfriend that she actually stabbed him in public.

Having given away her baby and existing as a shell of her former self, she's not sure what to do with her life until she meets a rugged young man (Eric Roberts). He makes the world seem a little brighter, but he's only in town for a short period of time.


It's an unconventional premise with unconventional romantic leads, but there is a sweet charm that emanates between Arquette and Roberts.












9. Party Girl (1995)






Party Girl is one of the major reasons Parker Posey became the indie It Girl.

She plays Mary, a wild fashion fiend and partier who gets arrested and has to work off her debt by clerking at her godmother's library. As she battles with responsibility and the woes of the Dewey Decimal System, Mary finds a life path and a super-sexy beau in a falafal vendor named Mustafa (Omar Townsend).


Guillermo Diaz and Liev Schreiber also appear, but the true magic rests with Mary -- a woman who finds happiness and love when she pauses her airheaded lifestyle and dusts off her mind.












10. Overnight Delivery (1998)






Paul Rudd and Reese Witherspoon may be experiencing romance in How Do You Know, but even in the hands of Hollywood pro James L. Brooks, the pairing is nothing compared to their 1990s road movie, Overnight Delivery.


Partially written by Kevin Smith (who had a falling out with the production), Rudd stars as Wyatt Tripps, a well-meaning but awkward kid who gets mad at his long-distance girlfriend and sends her a nasty overnight delivery with the help of Witherspoon's Ivy.

When it all turns out to be a misunderstanding, he has to hit the road and stop it.



The premise might sound familiar because Todd Phillips used that very same story only two years later for Road Trip, but this treatment thrives with Rudd and Witherspoon.

http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/02/11...es-underrated/

[Schmoopie]

Just had to reply to this thread and give a huge thumbs up to Three for the Road. I have been looking for that movie everywhere but no one has it-not even Netflix! It not only stars Charlie Sheen but also Alan Ruck from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Spin City" fame, and the female lead is played by Kerri Green, who was in "The Goonies" and "Lucas". It's absolutely hilarious and I am dying to see it again.

[JamesG]

Originally Posted by Schmoopie

Just had to reply to this thread and give a huge thumbs up to Three for the Road. I have been looking for that movie everywhere but no one has it-not even Netflix! It not only stars Charlie Sheen but also Alan Ruck from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Spin City" fame, and the female lead is played by Kerri Green, who was in "The Goonies" and "Lucas". It's absolutely hilarious and I am dying to see it again.

Three for the Road has never been released on DVD.

It got released on VHS around when it first came out, but that's it.