Romantic Comedy Movies for Valentine's Day : Interview with Local Author Cathie Glenn Jennings

The Burlingame Public Library is happy to present ROMANTIC COMEDY MOVIES FOR VALENTINE'S DAY, EVEN MEN WILL ENJOY on Monday, February 11, 2013 at 7 pm in the Lane Community Room.  

The program will consist of a discussion by local author Cathie Glenn Jennings, who is the co-author of the e-book Laugh & Cry Movie Guide:  Romantic Comedy Edition—100 Romantic Comedies to Make You Laugh and Feel Happy Ever After.

Over email, I asked Cathie five questions so we might get to know her and find out more about this interesting idea of an e-book.  Her answers are informative and delightful.

 Read on...

John Piche: So when did you get the idea to write a guide to romantic comedies?  And are these your favorite types of movies?

Cathie Glenn Jennings: I love feel good movies.  For many years, I had been a compulsive movie list, focusing on how movies can made me feel after viewing.  Then I started teaching classes that eventually became the first edition of my book.  When I decided to update the book, I saw it as a series of movie guides to different types of movies that leave you feeling good after watching.  I decided to focus on Romantic Comedies first because it’s my favorite genre.  Granted, the story rules for this genre are limited.  How does the boy get the girl, or the girl get the boy?  After meeting “cute,” how does the story keep them apart for most of the movie?  In my opinion, it is an underappreciated niche because it requires great acting and writing skills to keep the audience engaged in this narrow format.   Meryl Streep has said her most difficult acting task is to act like she is in love with her male lead.  Romcoms are the most complex scripts to write so they feel fresh.  The writer’s wisdom says dying is easy, comedy is hard. It is the unpredictability of the love story obstacles and the poignant subtext of inevitable eventual loss—the greater the love, the greater the loss—that makes it entertaining and engaging for me.

JP: How many movies to you watch a week? And do you still like to go to the theater or stay home to watch them? 

CGJ: It depends on my schedule, but I view between 3-5 movies and documentaries a week at home, with the exception of panoramic and/or visually stunning films, like Skyfall, Life of Pi, or Lincoln, that offer a total experience that is hard to duplicate at home.

 3 reasons I prefer to watch movies at home are: 

• It’s more relaxing than fighting through the frenetic theater lobby for snacks and seats in a not so clean theater.  The food is organic and, just guessing here, probably lower in calories.
• The viewing schedule is flexible, with pause and rewind at my command.  I enjoy watching the special features and Making of documentaries on DVD for movie trivia and outtakes.
• I can take first impression notes as I’m viewing the movie and compare them to how I feel about the film in the next day.  The best movies stay with me days after seeing them.

JP:What do you think the appeal of romantic comedies are? 

CGJ: The appeal of the romantic comedy Will the boy get the girl? story is universal because everyone falls in love, has been in love, or aspires to be.  As Delia Ephron points out, once you’ve fallen in love, the only place to fall in love again is the movies. 

JP: It seems that sometimes the comedy is so gross as to overshadow the romance, right?

CGJ: Agree.  I find viewing the Judd Apatow immature male gross out comedies uncomfortable and not very funny.  But then, I’m not an immature stoner slacker male in their target audience, so it’s not surprising that I don’t resonate with that comedic point of view.

JP: What is the most romantic film you ever saw? The most comedic?  

CGJ:  That’s a very hard question.  There are so many great ones and it really depends what I’m in the mood for. Some Like It Hot is my favorite classic romantic comedy, mashed up with a mafia road chase, by the master filmmaker Billy Wilder.  He had lots of practice.  He and his writing partner would start each day writing a boy-girl “meet cute” scene that kicks off most romantic comedies.  For romantic film, if I have 4 hours on a rainy afternoon, in bed with a cold day, I’d probably chose Gone with the Wind.

JP: I see you published your guide as an ebook.  How has that experience been?  As a librarian, I see it being incredibly exciting, but limiting at the same time. Do you think ebooks are the future of publishing and reading?

CGJ: E-books are disrupting the publishing industry, much like iTunes changed the music industry.  Any technology adaption has pros and cons for users and content creators.  On the positive side, readers have easy access with instant downloads and easy portability for out of home. For publishers, content updating is easier and can be done at any time—a big advantage for a movie reference book like mine.  Amazon has nurtured the e-book category and is very supportive of small and indie publishers, like myself.  On the negative side, slow technology adopters may leave it to the younger generation rather than try and figure it out themselves.  It’s a process that is difficult to predict the adaption rate.  But it seems inevitable in the long run.

JP: Thank you Cathie, we look forward to your program at our library!

 A resident of Burlingame, Cathie is the author of the e-book Laugh & Cry Movie Guide:  Romantic Comedy Edition—100 Romantic Comedies to Make You Laugh and Feel Happy Ever After available at the Amazon Kindle Store.  Join the conversation about favorite films that make you laugh and cry at www.LaughandCryMovieGuide.com or follow Cathie on Facebook.com/laughcrymovies and Twitter @laughcrymovie.