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Romantic comedies are filled with a wide range of emotions because love can be messy. The genre has had many funny moments because fans can relate to the situations characters are placed in. Sometimes they hit a little too close to home, but at least there is some form of emotional connection to the characters.
The early 2000s had some of the best romantic comedies that had fans of the genre talking. Some movies helped push the genre a bit because of how raunchy the comedy was and others went back to basics, which made it such a fun time for everyone. Almost all the leading ladies in romantic comedies have become a staple for the genre during this period.
13 Going On 30
Coming off of her success in Daredevil and Alias, Jennifer Garner took a leading role in one of the most wholesome romantic comedies ever. 13 Going on 30 may lean a bit on the fantasy aspect because of the magic dust, but the message of trying to find yourself again is lovely.
Apart from Garner being an absolute joy to watch on screen, Mark Ruffalo steps in as the boy-next-door leading man and makes fans of the genre fall in love with him. Ruffalo shot up to stardom overnight because of how well-written Matt Flamhaff was in this movie and their chemistry was undeniable.
She’s The Man
Shakespeare fans rejoiced when She’s The Man came out. This adaptation of The Twelfth Night charmed audiences because of how modern and entertaining it was. At the time, Amanda Bynes was at the top of her game and this was her defining moment.
She was able to use her comedic talents to play Viola and Sebastian Hastings while landing herself in one of the most confusing love triangles ever. With every good leading rom-com lady, there has to be an equally charming leading man and Channing Tatum was perfection as Duke Orsino. Whether it was their humor or their chemistry, they were both fun to watch.
How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Sometimes chemistry is all that matters; Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey were electric together in How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The story makes for an interesting premise, as an advice columnist and a marketing executive first use each other for their careers.
The tactics used to lose the guy in one perspective and get a girl in another to make for the back and forth to be very entertaining. Of course, like all good romantic comedies, after they spend that much time together, the feelings become genuine, and it gets more difficult to continue the ruse.
The Princess Diaries
The main draw of The Princess Diaries was the notion of a teenage girl becoming a princess. Almost everyone can relate to Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) because everyone wants what happens to her to happen to them. This movie became a huge hit for Disney in the early 2000s, but it wasn’t only because of Hathaway’s likability.
Seeing Julie Andrews return to the screen as Queen of Genovia made fans of hers flock to the theatre. The romantic elements were there, but it was about a teenager finding out who to love and a widow trying to find love again. In some ways, both granddaughter and grandmother helped each other come to terms with relationships.
Bridget Jones’s Diary
Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) taught many young women out there that love can be incredibly messy at any age. The important thing to note about Bridget Jones’s Diary is that Bridget stayed true to herself, and she ended up having two men fall for her. It does help that Hugh Grant who became the King of romantic comedies for a period and Colin Firth were both charming and attractive for this love triangle to be entertaining.
All three of these actors were in their prime and ended up making one of the best romantic comedies in the era, which sparked another two sequels. Many can relate to Bridget Jones because of how down-to-earth she is, and the movie highlights women’s insecurities in a healthy way.
The Holiday
There is always that one Holiday movie that people watch annually, and The Holiday is one of them. First and foremost, the cast works together incredibly well because they’re all quite charming in their own way. Iris (Kate Winslet) and Amanda (Cameron Diaz) have been struggling in their relationships.
When things come to a head, they both find a getaway website that has the option to swap homes. Iris heads to sunny California and Amanda heads to a quaint English village. Amanda ends up bumping into Iris’ brother Graham (Jude Law) and ends up forming a different friendship, while Iris gets close to Miles (Jack Black) and finds a new connection.
(500) Days of Summer
There are some romantic comedies that have more tears than laughter and (500) Days of Summer is one of them. Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who is a greeting-card writer and hopeless romantic, is caught completely off-guard when his girlfriend, Summer (Zooey Deschanel), suddenly dumps him.
The movie then goes down memory lane with Tom re-living some of their greatest moments together as a couple. This set Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel to be one of the most talked-about on-screen couples of the early 2000s because of how this story impacted audiences.
Knocked Up
The tide started to change in the genre when Judd Apatow went to the big screen with Knocked Up. Apatow’s comedic angle is always about taking characters the audience can relate to and making their relationships realistic.
In this case, the movie is about a female TV presenter who ends up getting pregnant after a one-night stand. Not only does this movie start a conversation, but it has Katherine Heigl breaking onto the big screen after gaining popularity on Grey’s Anatomy and a young Seth Rogen showing off their comedic chops. Apatow takes a very common scenario and makes it a healthy experience for the characters.
A Cinderella Story
The story of Cinderella has been recycled and revamped to suit any era. But, A Cinderella Story had some special magic and didn’t feel like the others. The main reason is because of Hilary Duff’s likability factor and how she had grown into the girl-next-door after doing Lizzie McGuire on the Disney Channel. They modernized the fairytale and used technology to make the anonymity of online chats more realistic.
Sam (Hilary Duff) has her very own pen-pal that ends up being Austin Ames (Chad Michael Murray) who is the quarterback on the football team. The masquerade ball is one of the best nights of her life because she got to live out her princess fantasy before heading back to her father’s diner where her stepmother (Jennifer Coolidge) treats her as her own servant.
10 Things I Hate About You
The one movie that put Heath Ledger on the map and made him a teenage heartthrob in the early 2000s is 10 Things I Hate About You. Another Shakespeare adaptation that had teens everywhere swooning over Patrick Verona. It’s loosely based on The Taming of the Shrew, but of course, they modernized it to make it one of the best romantic comedies of the millennia.
Kat Stratford (Julia Stiles) is being forced to start dating because her younger sister Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) can’t start dating until her older sister finds a suitor. Stiles and Ledger had some great chemistry, but it’s pretty easy to fall in love with Ledger’s charm in this movie. As long as the chemistry works between the leading characters, the romantic comedy will always work well in the long run. That is the reason many of them are memorable, it comes down to the pairing on-screen and if the audience believes their love for each other.
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