Picture for a moment, if you will, the opening sequence of a film. A romantic comedy. Close, on the female lead, she stands in her apartment a puzzled look on her face — darn it! She wants love! Dating is hilarious! Sex is hilarious! People chase other people through airports and make embarrassing speeches at corporate functions all in the name of L-O-V-E. This female lead is unemployed. She is a slacker. She’s uncertain what she wants to do with her life, but she is certain that she’s ten to fifteen pounds overweight. She engages in recreational drug use, sometimes even drinking bong water. She fears change and cries at the drop of a hat. But boy is she lovable!
Her boyfriend/love interest is handsome, smart, well-educated, financially stable, adventurous and athletic. Sounds improbable right? A far-fetched fantasy that would never make it past a studio executive’s assistant. Right? Now imagine that these characters are reversed; the bong-water drinking counterpart of our relationship is a man-boy, and the sexy smart sophisticate is a twenty-eight year old woman. Now that sounds like a movie. In fact, it sounds very much like every romantic comedy I have seen in the last year and a half. Now I may sound a little militant here, and for that I apologize but I have to ask — WHAT THE F%$*? Why has the romantic comedy turned into more of a male fantasy than a female one? And why is Hollywood telling well-rounded, beautiful women, that we should just settle?