Second Act of JLo’s Career: Back to the Beginning

Now that romantic comedies seem to be making their grand reentry into the theater (including the movies that make fun of the tropes, like Isn’t It Romantic is proclaiming to), it seems like the time was ripe for one of the rom-com queens to start making movies again. But that isn’t necessarily the movie she falls back into, since Second Act isn’t really a rom-com. The title of the movie may be appropriate for Jennifer Lopez’s current place in the film industry – she worked her way up with the rom-coms, took a break to try her hand at serious material, and now is ready for the second half of her career. Sure, she’s banking on the feelings from her first half films in order to get started, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Will Second Act be the classic that her old films are? Maybe not, but it’s a start, and it could be a sign of where film could be heading (as well as an idea of how to do movies without resorting to reboots and sequels).

Crazy Rich Asians: Rebirth of the Rom-Com?

I’m not a huge fan of romantic comedies to begin with, but when my mother and I left the theater, we were both struggling to come up with the last rom-com we enjoyed (or even saw) in the theaters. Mamma Mia? Well, kind of, but not exactly. It was probably The Big Sick, a little more than a year ago in 2017, but that didn’t spring to mind immediately. What did was the fact that there seemed to be no big rom-com that we could really pick out, one that stuck in the mind as either a classic (i.e. Pretty Woman, Maid in Manhattan, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) or the newer movies we found ourselves re-watching in our living room (i.e. The Proposal). Not only does Crazy Rich Asians have the potential to become the latter in my home, it has the potential to join the ranks of the former, especially for the community for whom it is intended. Though it occasionally falls into the pitfalls of cheesy, as befitting of its genre, the underlying story is sweet, touching, and has the ability to reach an audience who have spent a long time seeing themselves depicted onscreen as stereotypes or sidekicks.