Women & Men & Sex = Funny by Joan Reeves

Readers agree that this is one of Joan’s funniest romantic comedies.

I love romantic comedy which is one of the reasons I write it. When a reader tells me she laughed so hard her family thought she was crazy, that just makes my day. I guess I can blame all those old movies I watched as a child for my addiction to humor and romance.

Golden Oldies

In case you’d like to waste invest some time in advancing your appreciation of vintage films, let me give you a few suggestions.

It Happened One Night Made in 1934, it starred Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable. Runaway heiress meets a reporter who wants to exploit her story. Key element? The walls of Jericho. Watch the movie and you’ll understand.

Bringing Up Baby Made in 1938 and starred Katherine Hepburn as a zany rich girl who turns uptight Cary Grant’s life into chaos. Key elements? A baby leopard and dinosaur skeleton.

Pillow Talk Made in 1959, it was the first pairing of Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Womanizing songwriter and uptight interior designer share a telephone party line, and that’s when the games begin. (Ask your grandparents if you don’t know what that is. We lived in the country and had a party line long after the rest of the world had private lines. A party line was a true test of one’s integrity. *g*) My cool hip daughter loves this movie so much she bought DVDs of it and the other Doris Day/Rock Hudson films. In several romantic comedies of that era, Tony Randall was the hero’s best friend and was hilarious in his second banana role in each film. He’s the kind of secondary character every romantic comedy needs.

Lover Come Back Made in 1961 and starred Rock Hudson and Doris Day again. In this flick, Rock and Doris are advertising executives who disdain each other’s client recruitment methods. When Doris decides to exact a little revenge, she gets way more than she bargained for. Oh, my! The scene when Tony Randall is driving a heartbroken Doris back to the city, and they stop at a diner is hysterical!

That Touch of Mink Made in 1962 and starred Doris Day and Cary Grant in a movie that confronts the virgin versus the player issue. He’s handsome, rich, and charming. She’s lovely and works though she’s not a career woman. They’re equally captivated, but she wants marriage, and, of course, he wants an affair.

Cactus Flower Made in 1969, this was Goldie Hawn’s film debut with Walter Matthau and the renowned Ingrid Bergman. What a romp this is! Yeah, it, and all the ones above are outdated in terms of our culture, but I bet you’ll laugh.

Fast Forward

In more recent years, there have been a lot of romantic comedy films made, but most of them fall short. They either throw in elements that are crude, not sexy–and they have no brilliant writers on staff to turn it into funny and sexy–or they’re derivative, lesser films with no freshness.

My Fave Romantic Comedies of Recent Years

In no particular order, here’s my list:

Pretty Woman
Notting Hill
About a Boy
Love Actually
Something New
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Sweet Home Alabama
The American President
Groundhog Day
When Harry Met Sally
The Princess Bride
Better Off Dead
Sixteen Candles
The Goodbye Girl

So, there you have it. A picture of my childhood and all the time I wasted invested in building my knowledge base of romance and humor.

Post Script

Joan Reeves writes funny, sexy Romance Novels. She lives her happily ever after with her hero. Joan’s books are available at most ebook sellers, with audio editions available at Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. She publishes WordPlay, a free subscription newsletter for readers and Writing Hacks, a free subscription newsletter for writers.

Find Joan online: Blog, Website, Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. Always remember Joan’s Motto: It’s never too late to live happily ever after!)