Death of the rom-com

I recently saw the trailer for a new Matthew McConaughey rom-com called The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. I believe the French have the perfect adjective for this film - minable. The trailer showed too much, the plot seems too cutesy, and there's no doubt in anybody's mind that MM and Jennifer Garner will find themselves in a picture-perfect wedding on a tropical beach, orchids in the hair, cute dog with a bowtie, etc.

Obviously, I can't help feeling that this is just another in a long line of movies marking the end of the beloved romantic-comedy genre. What 27 Dresses and Failure to Launch left gasping for oxygen, The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past seems intent on killing.

This genre may be giggled at today, but it has produced some stellar classics like When Harry Met Sally and Roxanne. In your heart-of-hearts, you know there's going to be a happy ending - but the writing is so flawless, the plot so cannily revealed, that your heart aches at the very possibility of everyone's wishes not coming true.

Where is that pitch-perfect writing? That careful construction of plot? Seems like most rom-coms assume that showing you a few shots of Matthew McConaughey without a shirt - or Katherine Heigl in a sexy dress - is enough. 

Most rom-coms today are fantasy-driven, relying on dashing heroes, romantic landscapes, and a splashy ending to make their mostly-female audience ooh and aah. The denouements are overly dramatic and tend to unfold before a rapt audience of bar-goers or Internet cafe-gamers who will burst into applause when the heroine finally relents and forgives the very-apologetic hero with a very-wet and very-public kiss.

I get chills just thinking of Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan finally surrendering to the obvious on a dark street on New Year's Eve. The intimacy of it. The feeling that you're watching a private moment is goosebump-worthy.

But I don't get that feeling so much in the movie theatres anymore.

Where is the anticipation? The suspense? I want that moment when I sigh and think, 'How are they ever going to get past all this and fall in love?' All I seem to think is, "If James Franco flicks his hair one more time..."