Loser - 2000 ***

'Loser' is one of the group of 'old school' rom-coms that was very popular in 2000. 

Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari seem to have disappeared into obscurity now, but were immensely popular at the end of the 1990s.

Here, Biggs plays Paul, a nerdy but dedicated student working hard to get a scholarship who falls in love with Dora, a quirky yet troubled student who is finding it hard to make ends meet in her financially, as well as keeping her relationship with her college lecturer quiet.

I liked it, although usually Jason Biggs is too much to bare. 

The Awful Truth - 1937 ****

Notably Cary Grant's first 'screwball' film, it's certainly a funny one and is now in the annuals of the top hundred comedies. Grant and Dunne play a soon to be divorced couple. Despite not wanting to stay together, they each go out their way to sabotage the other's new relationships leading to some hilarious moments that only Leo McCarey could envisage. Ralph Bellamy is rather good as Dunne's new love interest, but it is Grant who fills the screen with wit and charm, the only way he knows how.

Just Go With It - 2011 ***

Moderately funny, but nothing to get too worked up about, this movie features Adam Sandler in the role he loves best, that of a quirky, not very funny, hard done-by bloke. After a misunderstanding, Sandler meets a woman he believes is meant for him. The thing is, he has always worn his wedding ring (despite the marriage ending when he was a teen) so that women will not want commitment from him. He therefore has to convince his new girlfriend that he is getting divorced from his wife and she believes him. This is so that she doesn't  The only thing is that he doesn't have a wife, only a good friend (Aniston). After a lot of begging, he persuades her to play along as his soon-to-be-divorced spouse, as well as her two children.
Of course there are some funny moments, but the standout performances have to be from Aniston's two children, one of whom spends the whole movie speaking in an awful cockney accent in preparation for going to drama school. Sandler gets annoying after a while.

The Grass is Greener - 1960 ****1/2

An amusing and typically English film. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr are the owners of a large stately home which they periodically open to visitors for extra money. One day Robert Mitchum appears and falls in love with Kerr, who reciprocates and rushes off to London with him for a few days under the pretence of visiting friends. Meanwhile, Grant (fully aware of the situation) has the pleasure of an old friend (Jean Simmons) who drinks too much, flirts too much, and is besotted with him.
It's quite farcical but very enjoyable and easy going - must watch.

Standing Room Only - 1944 ***

An enjoyable little rom-com starring the delightful Paulette Goddard who plays the quirky and ditzy Jane.
Lee Stevens takes his secretary to Washington but is annoyed when Jane cancels their hotel bookings without telling him thinking that they aren't adequate.
Finding no other rooms available in the whole city, the pair take posts as maid and butler in a house but soon find the jobs not exactly how they imagined.
A nice movie, nothing special but worth a watch all the same.

Same Time, Next Year - 1978 ****

Surprisingly witty, tender and actually a very amusing plot, 'Same Time, Next Year' manages to glorify infidelity in a way that can't make you angry with the 2 leading stars.
Burstyn and Alda meet by chance after each having a meal alone in a lovely inn, and decide to spend the night together in Alda's holiday home. The next morning, although superficially full of regret, they both decide that they must see each other again, but not in such a regular way as a normal affair. Their rendezvous will take place at the same place and the same date each year (when Alda is away from his family in his holiday home working) and will last for one weekend only.
The basic premise of the film takes us through year after year after decade, as the couple become older, wiser, yet still totally devoted to each other. Their weekends are spent talking about their feelings, and the good and bad in their wives and husbands. It's bizarre, because you come away from the film, almost believing that they aren't doing anything wrong, when in reality they are having an affair which spans 25 years, however little time they actually spend together.
I enjoyed it, found it funny, and wasn't offended by it's carefree view of cheating (although I am usually the first to diss films where this takes place). I thought Burstyn and Alda made a terrific couple, more so because they are both so different and unlike each other.

Twentieth Century - 1934 ***

I think Howard Hawks is an amazing director, but I can't say that this was one of the better comedies of the 1930s. Carole Lombard is ravishing with a quick wit (very like Jean Harlow) and John Barrymore has always been one of my favourite old - school actors, but I just felt there was something lacking in this film. It was a bit over the top and it didn't cause me to laugh nearly as much as 'Bringing Up Baby' or 'My Man Godfrey.' I guess the story was quite amusing and you get a snapshot of what it's like to be behind the scenes of the theatre but other than that it wouldn't be one I would rush to watch again.

Because I Said So - 2007 ***

This was a nice rom-com, although Mandy Moore is far too sickly sweet for me. Diane Keaton is always good in everything I have ever seen her in and I thought she looked surprisingly good for her age. She plays an overprotective mother who decides to kick-start her daughter Milly into a good, compatible relationship (for once) by placing an add online. She interviews a number of suitors before deciding on one whom she feels is fit for Milly and then sits back and watches the results. The problem is, very rarely do these things work out for the best, especially if you have an interfering parent in the background who won't let you go when push comes to shove.
One to watch, light, frothy and not taking itself too seriously.

It's Complicated - 2009 ****

I was seriously surprised by how funny this film was. I was expecting it to be a typical rom-com like all the others that have been churned out in the last few years but actually it was very amusing. Meryl Streep is wonderful, I don't think I've ever seen her in a film that I didn't like but Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin - what is going on with their faces??? They both seem like they have been drowned in botox from their forehead to their chin leaving this creepy slightly manic look that doesn't change regardless of what emotion they are trying to show. It is particularly obvious in Steve Martin which leads to some very disturbing scenes where he is stoned out of his head but still looks exactly the same as he did beforehand.
Streep and Baldwin are a divorced couple, Streep is now single and Baldwin is married to a woman that he cheated on Streep with along with inheriting a couple of her children. However, several awkward moments ensue and before long they are beginning an affair behind Baldwin's wife. Ironic, as now the first wife has become the mistress. Some very funny parts, some sentimental parts, and some downright bizarre parts, but all in all I think this film is one of the better comedies that has come out in America.