Love is in the air with Turner Classic Movies’ latest literary installment, Falling in Love at the Movies: Rom-Coms from the Screwball Era to Today, by Esther Zuckerman.
This book spotlights the influence of romantic comedy, from Golden Age classics to more contemporary releases. In this book, Zuckerman guides readers through a brief history of the romantic comedy and basic plot elements. After setting up this context, Zuckerman focuses on hit pairs, tropes, and fantastic variations of this beloved genre. In addition to showcasing a variety of happily ever afters, Zuckerman also takes on discussing endings that are not necessarily happy. Finally, Zuckerman also examines portrayals and changing definitions of how love is depicted in these films and what today’s love stories look like in film.
This book is an excellent guide to romantic comedies and is filled with great recommendations that illustrate Zuckerman’s points. While not all of the films depicted in this book are in the vein of Golden Age classics (for example, 1934’s classic It Happened One Night is of course covered in this book, but so is 2007’s Knocked Up), it is important to approach this book with the knowledge that films and film genres evolve over time.
Falling in Love at the Movies: Rom-Coms from the Screwball Era to Today is available for purchase via Hachette Book Group.
Hometowns to Hollywood 