Quentin Tarantino’s favourite rom-coms of all time: “I have found myself crying”
A genre predominantly associated with female characters and female audiences, rom-coms have thus been seen as less important and nothing more than frivolous and shallow films about the pursuit of a man that would nary pass the Bechdel test.
The thing is, there are as many terrible action flicks as there are bad rom-coms, but it’s this female-oriented genre that gets the worst reputation. I’d argue there are way more enjoyable rom-coms compared to male buddy comedies, but let’s not make it a competition to bring the incels out of the woodwork.
A true cinephile wouldn’t write off any genre (well, maybe apart from a Marvel movie), and even Quentin Tarantino can vouch for a great rom-com. The obsessive film lover is incredibly open when it comes to his favourite movies, and he has never shied away from revealing the rom-coms that have made him feel all warm inside, even the ones that have made him cry.
Tarantino actually thinks that directors like Nancy Meyers, for example, aren’t taken seriously enough, even though her scripts are deeply impressive. He loves her film The Intern, although it’s not technically a rom-com, claiming that the script was “right up there with It’s Complicated”. Written and directed by Meyers, It’s Complicated is a rare example of the genre starring an older couple, with Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin playing ex-partners who begin an affair, which is made even more difficult when Steve Martin appears, charming Streep and throwing a spanner in the works.
Another 2000s romantic comedy that Tarantino has admitted to loving is one that many critics tore apart back in the day is Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. The Matthew McConaughey starrer, which puts a unique spin on A Christmas Carol, wasn’t exactly a huge success, but the director couldn’t care less for it reduced him to tears.
On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, he revealed, “There is a flashback when they were children, and they are at a swing, and it’s snowing. And she gives him a birthday gift, and it’s a camera. And it was exactly like the first camera I was ever given when I was a little kid. And all of a sudden, I just start crying.”
He added, “There is something about watching a rom-com on an aeroplane that I think you become more emotional when you are three miles up in the air. I have found myself crying, literally weeping on flights”.
On the theme of the 2000s and watching films on flights, Tarantino cites the Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore vehicle Music and Lyrics, which gave rise to the fictional child of Duran Duran and Wham! in the form of PoP!, as another favourite, the knowledge of which Grant once recounted came from a surprise interaction with the Pulp Fiction filmmaker that threw him for a loop.
“He does love that film. I had this weird experience that some do in London: this sweaty person pushed his way through the crowd to me, and it was Quentin Tarantino. And to my enormous surprise, he said, ‘Oh, man, I love Music and Lyrics‘. He said he watched it on a plane, and was so disappointed that the plane landed before the film ended, that he had to quickly go and order it from Blockbuster or something. And I thought, ‘Surely not, not Quentin Tarantino!’”
To round off this slightly bizarre list appears a proper classic in the form of Annie Hall, which features Woody Allen as the annoyingly neurotic (although sometimes painful relatable) Alvy Singer, and Diane Keaton as the ever-charming titular character. It’s a bitingly honest look at the process of falling in and out of love, set against a terrific 1970s New York backdrop, and while discussing it with Jimmy Kimmel, Tarantino explained that he has a list of movies he thinks are simply “perfect”, elucidating, “Look, when you say perfect movies, you’re talking about any individual person’s aesthetic but even trying to account for all aesthetics… perfect movies kin of crosses all aesthetics to one degree or another.”
Annie Hall is one of the films he considers “perfect”, and it’s hard to argue with that, even though its director remains a questionable assest. Sometimes, you just can’t go wrong with a movie that is painfully real, because if it’s doused in enough humour, you’ll be able to see the funny side of a dire situation.
Quentin Tarantino’s favourite rom-coms:
- It’s Complicated (Nancy Meyers, 2009)
- Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Mark Waters, 2009)
- Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
- Music and Lyrics (Marc Lawrence, 2007)
Never Miss A Take
The Far Out Quentin Tarantino Newsletter
All the latest Quentin Tarantino content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.