By 2001, it was a dude imported from another century. In 1998, she was reduced to dating an angel and the man who wants to put her bookstore out of business. Her principles had gone dark, her clothes were disheveled, her body hard, her hair hacked off. Flying to Paris in order to get back the fiancé who dumped you over the phone (1995’s French Kiss) or teaming up with a stranger to get revenge on your cheating partners (1997’s Addicted to Love) is something else. But the idea of waiting atop skyscrapers for Hanks and falling for peak-of-his-powers Billy Crystal is one thing. In any case, despite understandable attempts to diversify, her brand was love, and you could feel the search for it turning her bitter. You can even feel it in the sweetness and whimsy of something as terribly made as 1994’s I.Q. And she maybe she could have kept trying, but a chameleon star like Nicole Kidman (never the same role twice), honed in on at least some of Ryan’s dreams of actorly seriousness. But Hanks had different gears, which makes you wonder whether Ryan’s attempts to find gears of her own - as a depressive good-time girl, an alcoholic guidance counselor, and the first woman to (posthumously) receive the Medal of Honor - was, in a sense, a way of keeping up with him. They are right for each other, even when what Ephron has them do at the end of You’ve Got Mail is notoriously wrong. That these two have made only three movies together feels like a rip-off. The few people who saw them together probably had the same thought: “$$$$.” Ryan and Hanks were old Hollywood souls, and the two movies Ephron made with them were set against classical backdrops: An Affair to Remember for Sleepless in Seattle and The Shop Around the Corner for You’ve Got Mail. A year later (1990), she wound up with Tom Hanks in Joe Versus the Volcano. It was the purity with which she picks up her fork and puts it in the lettuce. It wasn’t the moaning and thrashing that made her a star in that deli scene. She began her run as Sally Albright, an avatar for Nora Ephron’s explanatory candor. She was single in the modern sense, striving at first for idealism, then for her dignity. Meg Ryan was on a continuum with society. Hepburn was on a continuum with Tracy, Astaire with Rogers, Doris Day with Rock Hudson. It’s tough work, devoting yourself to the dramatization of falling in love, because the genre refuses to let you stay there. You can do two or three before the idealism turns to dust. And romantic comedies trace a perilous arc. Based on the beginning and middle, you can imagine an end. Wesley Morris: With a good star, there’s a continuum. Today, we look at the titanic figures of the modern rom-com and the players who never quite reached the mountaintop. And while the genre has morphed over the years, we’re still in love with rom-coms - so we’re celebrating them all week. In these movies we find predictable moments, heightened notions of love, and a lot of questionable outfits. Beginning with When Harry Met Sally… in 1989, the genre has become a launching pad for some actors and a refuge for others. Read on for our 50 favorite rom-coms and where to stream them.It’s been 25 years since the birth of the modern romantic comedy. We’ve curated a list of the best romantic comedies you should watch this weekend and beyond. So let's toast to that! Whether you’re hanging with your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, or BFF, you can always cuddle up on the couch with some snacks, and, of course, a glass (or bottle) of wine and escape into the rose-colored world of your favorite rom-com. Or, maybe it's the assurance that opposites do attract, lots of people fall for the wrong person just before meeting the love of their life, almost everyone has a difficult time realizing their person has been right in front of them all along, and everything always does work out that allows us to both feel seen in our vulnerability (aka being human) and safe in our hopes for great love. Perhaps it's the comfort in knowing that the typically formulaic plot of meet-cute, complication, major epiphany, and happy ending will never leave you feeling unnerved. What is it about a good rom-com that always hits the spot? Whether it's an old favorite or a new release, pressing play on this particular genre is as satisfying as a hot beverage on a blustery day.
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