The Heart of the Film

Chapter 39

The Second Golden Age: 1980s and 1990s

You may have noticed that many of the movies I use as examples are from the 1980s and 1990s. It’s not because I came of age then, though thank you if you thought that. It’s because we had some filmmakers then who understood how to make good romcoms. We haven’t been as lucky in the last couple of decades. Let’s pause and tip our hats to those writer/directors who made us smile and sigh and fall in love then. Here then is a DIY Film School Course: romcoms of the 1980s and 1990s—101.

Richard Curtis

There have been years when I wanted to write like Richard Curtis. He started in comedy, co-authoring the Blackadder and Mr. Bean British comedy series with Ben Elton, both starring Rowan Atkinson. You ...