Falling in Love Again: Romantic Comedy in Contemporary Cinema »

Stacey Abbott is Reader in Film and TV at Roehampton University. She is the author of Celluloid Vampires (University of Texas Press 2007), editor of Reading Angel and co-editor of Investigating Alias, both published by I.B.Tauris. She is also Series Editor of Tauris' Investigating Cult TV series.

Deborah Jermyn is Senior Lecturer in Film and TV at Roehampton University. She is the author of Crime Watching: Investigating Real Crime TV (I.B. Tauris, 2007) and Sex and the City (forthcoming in 2008).

The ultimate guide to contemporary romantic comedy, Falling in Love Again offers a timely new assessment of this hugely popular phenomenon.

Romantic comedy has long been a mainstay of the movies, from the classic screwballs of the 1930s, through to Woody Allen’s "nervous comedies" of the 1970s and the current great Hollywood revival, with modern classics such as Maid in Manhattan and Lost in Translation. Yet rom-coms have often struggled to be taken seriously. This original anthology from an international collection of contributors updates, revisits and reflects on today’s romantic comedies. It considers the films and issues that illustrate the breathtaking diversity of the genre, from the queer pleasures of Miss Congeniality and the rom-com persona of J-Lo and Bill Murray, to high school prom-coms and indie romantic comedies. It also explores the new male-centred romances like Wedding Crashers and looks further afield into the healing power of romantic love in the Bollywood hit Raja Hindustani.

These themes and more are covered in a book that takes the romantic comedy seriously, while also examining the many pleasures of this continually regenerating film form. Includes stills from some of the best known and well loved rom-coms of recent years, as well as a comprehensive filmography.

* Acknowledgements and Dedication
• List of Contributors
• Introduction – A Lot Like Love: The Romantic Comedy in Contemporary Cinema -- Stacey Abbott and Deborah Jermyn
• I ? NY: Rom-Com’s Love Affair with New York City -- Deborah Jermyn
• Music, Ritual, and Genre in Edward Burns’ Indie Romantic Comedies -- Robynn J. Stilwell
• Après le coup de foudre: Narrative, Love and Spectatorship in Groundhog Day -- Paul Sutton
• Prom-Coms: Reliving the Dreams and Nightmares of High School Romance -- Stacey Abbott
• The Healing Power of Romantic Love in Popular Indian Romantic Comedies: Raja Hindustani: Home Elsewhere and Elsewhere Home -- Sean Redmond
• A ‘Special Relationship’?: The Coupling of Britain and America in Working Title’s Romantic Comedies -- Annabelle Honess Roe
• Transatlantic Exchanges and Influences: Décalage horaire (Jet Lag) Gender and the Romantic Comedy à la française -- Brigitte Rollet
• Romantic Comedies and the Raced Body -- Karen Bowdre
• Armed and Fabulous: Miss Congeniality’s Queer Rom-Com -- Claire Hines
• What a Difference a Gay Makes: Marriage in the 1990s Romantic Comedy -- Kyle Stevens
• Hommecom: Engendering Change in Contemporary Romantic Comedy -- Tamar Jeffers McDonald
• Lost in Transition: Problems of Modern (Heterosexual) Romance and the Catatonic Male Hero in the Post-Feminist Age -- Janet McCabe
• A New Direction in Comedian Comedy?: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Punch Drunk Love & the Post-Comedian Rom-Com -- Lesley Harbidge
• ‘I believe that if I haven’t found my Prince Charming already, that I will; or he will find me, if he hasn’t already’: Jennifer Lopez, Romantic Comedy and Contemporary Stardom -- Alan Dodd and Martin Fradley
• Le Divorce: Romance, Separation and Reconciliation -- Hilary Radner
• Filmography * Bibliography
• Index
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