Do you have any weird traditions? Little quirks that you’ve been doing for years now and don’t really know where it came from? Most of mine are pretty standard – talking to magpies during walks, flipping my pillows over before I go to sleep, writing all first drafts of my stories in notebooks before I type them up, all that fun stuff. Another tradition I have around the start of every year to mark the completion of the Earth orbiting the sun is binging romantic comedies. I find them a comforting, if somewhat predictable, genre, and I wanted to share some of my favourites with you as a way to ring in 2025!
Starring: Grant Gustin & Lucy Hale
Why you should give it a chance: “One bone can change everything” C’mon, who doesn’t love a smutty double entendre?
Take a wild-child interior setter for a high-end real estate company (Nicole, played by Hale) and a socially anxious software developer (Max, played by Gustin), and what do you get? According to Puppy Love, it’s a horrible first date filled with awkward conversations, cute dogs and a ghost pepper-fuelled porta-potty dump in a public park. So far, the standard for most online dating, right? Well, there’s a bit of a snag. While Max and Nicole didn’t hit it off and vowed to lose each other’s numbers, their dogs did *insert The Bad Touch by Bloodhound Gang*. So now, these two are forced to be doggy grandparents and throughout the film, end up growing closer through your standard rom-com tropes to the inevitable conclusion.
As you may have guessed, this film isn’t super original. The tropes here are well-worn and none of the plot points surprised me, which, for the rom-com genre, aren’t straight deal breakers for me. The chemistry between Gustin and Hale is on clear display and I think they do a good job of portraying the enemies-to-lovers arc as believable, and it’s fun to see them on screen together because they seem like they’re having such a fun time.
Having a rescue dog myself, the scenes where the two leads bonded with their dogs made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and I enjoyed most of the jokes. I did feel that Max’s social anxiousness was overplayed and the classic third-act fight and make-up felt particularly contrived and rushed. That being said, this film has one of the most cathartic “fuck off” line delivery’s that I’ve heard in a long time. A good watch for a slow Sunday afternoon with your pets.
Starring: Hugh Jackman & Claudia Karvan
Why you should give it a chance: A lovely story about not caring what people think set in the rural outback along with Hugh Jackman’s first film; who’d say no to that baby face?
Picture in your mind the type of person you assume would pen a bestselling romance novel that takes the world by storm. Did you picture a handsome Australian road train driver? Well, then Paperback Hero‘s pulled a fast one on ya. Jack Willis (Jackman) is the author of the next big romance hit under his best friend’s name. Said best friend Ruby (Karvan) couldn’t care less about being an international bestseller; she’s getting married to her fiance Hamish (Andrew S. Gilbert). Needless to say, this is a problem for Jack but the solution is staring him right in the face. In order to get Ruby to come with him to Sydney to pose as the author of his book, Jack agrees to pay for Ruby’s lavish wedding.
Here’s where the plot thickens… it turns out Jack has harboured feelings for Ruby and used his feelings for her as inspiration for the book and as Jack and Ruby spend more time together it’s clear that Jack wishes he was marrying Ruby, not Hamish. Will Jack build up the courage to tell Ruby how he feels and reveal to the world that he is the true author of the book?
I love the message of this film, which is to own who you are and not be afraid of what other people think of you. As a writer who struggles with caring what other people think, this is an important message I think more people could take up. It also has my celebrity crush, Claudia Karvan, in it and Hugh Jackman steals the show in his big-screen debut as the loveable Aussie Larrikin. The comedy is decidedly Australian from top to tail with great supporting work, especially from Gilbert. The ending is a bit anti-climatic for the rom-com genre but avoids the usual big romantic gesture and is a breath of fresh air. A classic Australian comedy that lets Hugh Jackman show off his musical talents as well.
Starring: Simon Pegg & Lake Bell
Why you should give it a chance: A quirky British comedy perfect for people too jaded from the usual rom-com fluff to maybe inspire you to take chances and be yourself.
One of the most annoying things as a single person is when people try to tell you why you’re single and give you suggestions on how to meet someone or try to set you up with someone when all you want to do is pay for your chocolate milk and get home to watch Seinfeld in your apartment on a Friday night. As a single person, within the first five minutes of Man Up, I was vibing with Nancy (Bell) as she gets dragged down to a party for an awkward blind date when she’s got a comfy setup watching Silence of the Lambs.
It turns out Nancy has been single for a while now and at 34 it’s fair to say she’s given up on the whole concept of love. On the way to London to celebrate her parent’s 40th wedding anniversary, she’s stuck next to someone on the way to meet a mystery man that had been matched with her based on a self-help book. The stranger then leaves the book for Nancy who then bumps into said mystery man Jack (Pegg) who mistakes her for his date. Nancy decides to take him up on his offer and a night of drinking, dancing and bowling ensues, which seems like the start of something beautiful… until Jack finds out the truth.
Rom-coms live or die on the chemistry between the two leads. If they don’t seem to care if they get together, then why should I? This first hurdle gets cleared easily as the chemistry between Bell and Pegg is electric, especially during the close-quarters dance sequence and intoxicated bowling montage. Every second the two are on screen together I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the other shoe to drop and then once it did I felt like the response from both parties was realistic, if a little skewed for comedic purposes.
Now, to get the obvious question out of the way, am I jealous? Yes, I am jealous; I’d kill to be able to bowl with Simon Pegg and Lake Bell gets to just because she’s some super-talented actress who auditioned and put time and effort into her performance and didn’t have to kill anyone for it, it’s just not fair! It does get a bit off-beat with the ending, but I’d say it’s earned that silliness by the film’s end. It’s quirky, with a weird sense of humour that is not everyone’s cup of tea… no wonder I connected with it so much. As a side note, Lake Bell’s accent had me convinced she was British until I double-checked as I was writing this. Check this one out if you want something a bit more offbeat from your main leads.
Starring: Paul Mercurio & Tara Morice
Why you should give it a chance: A quintessentially Australian piss-take of sports movies while teaching you more about ballroom dancing than you could ever need to know.
When I was a child, all the way back in the pre-social media days, we had to learn how to ballroom dance. It’s been about 12 years since then and I still couldn’t tell you why we had to other than it killed some time between lunch and maths. The main thing was that every little step and flourish of ballroom dancing was an exact science and anything outside those specific parameters was nipped in the bud as soon as it emerged. The frustration I felt during these lessons reminded me of the frustration felt by Scott Hastings (Mercurio) in the opening scenes of Strictly Ballroom.
Scott has a natural talent for dance, yet much to the chagrin of his teachers, parents, and officials, he is compelled to perform his own blasphemous dance moves. The film follows his journey from a brash solo dancer to a considerate coupled dancer, thanks mainly to the clumsy and head-over-heel in love with Scott, Fran (Morice).
The film is set up as your typical sports documentary about the ins and outs of the National Ballroom Federation and sets about skewering all the usual sports tropes with this nudge nudge wink wink mock seriousness that would normally irk me but the writing and performances are spot on to keep it the right side of fun.
The relationship between Scott and Fran is your typical girl meets boy, the girl gets a makeover, and suddenly, boy is interested. It’s nothing new but again the humour and performances save it from being boring and predictable. The supporting cast is fantastic, especially Scott’s father and the slimy head of the Ballroom Federation, treating the Scott situation with an absurd level of seriousness; you can’t do anything except laugh. If you haven’t checked this out, make it one of your 2025 resolutions.
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson & Rachel McAdams
Why you should give it a chance: It’s a heartwarming film about decisions and their consequences, love, laughter and finding enjoyment in life… it’ll also make you bawl your eyes out at the end.
Now, this may be considered cheating as it’s a mix of romantic comedy and coming-of-age film but I’m going to allow it because 1) it’s my damn list and 2) this film has a love story between two characters as one of the central tenants of the film so it’s getting in. About Time follows Tim (Gleeson) who at the age of 21 is let in on the family secret – the men in his family have been able to travel back in time. He can’t change history in major ways (no offing baby Hitler then), but he can go back to moments in his life and change his actions.
The premise is best watched from a distance and not approached lest it get jumpy. The majority of the film is Tim going back and trying and failing to get a girlfriend until he meets the beautiful and insecure Mary (McAdams). From there it’s a winding road of ups and downs, terrible best-man speeches, professional screw ups and moments of genuine beauty that the film makes sure to give the appropriate gravitas and reference. However, the end of the film makes sure Tim and the audience realise that there are some life events that his gift is powerless against.
Off the bat, I just have to say that this entire film’s cast is spot on, from Gleeson and McAdams to Tim’s father (the ever-impressive Bill Nighy) and the smaller bit players (including Margot Robbie and Vanessa Kirby). Each character feels like it has a specific purpose in Tim’s life and cutting them out would hurt the film immensely. Gleeson and McAdams are sweet as anything together, from their first meeting to married life together, and it helps cement this film for me as one of my favourite romantic comedies. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the relationship between Tim and his father is so beautiful and loving that the final minutes of the film have me in tears every single viewing without fail. That ability to draw that emotion out of me right after having me laughing my ass off is a testament to the writers, directors and performers. What could possibly top this film?
Starring: Ben Mendelsohn & Claudia Karvan
Why you should give it a chance: This film captures the feeling of young love, all the dumb ideas resulting from it and Australiana in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to those of you that read my review of this film (in short: I fucking loved this film). The basic plot of The Big Steal is that Danny Clark (Mendelsohn) wants to impress Joanna Johnson (Karvan) so he decides to trade in his parents’ beloved Nissan Cedric, their birthday gift to him, in exchange for a Jaguar to cover for a lie he told Joanna to get her to go out with him. The date goes surprisingly well until it doesn’t, leaving Danny with a busted car and Joanna refusing to talk to him. The rest of the film is a rollercoaster of sleazy car dealers, a race against time to swap car engines, a late-night car and caravan chase and one of the best scenes involving prickles in Australian cinema.
Mendelsohn and Karvan have both gone on to bigger productions, but seeing them together on the screen, it’s obvious that they were both having so much fun in this movie with great supporting work by the likes of Marshall Napier, Steve Bisley and Maggie King. The film captures the feeling of that first teenage love and the awkward interactions that many likely experienced fumbling around those feelings. If you haven’t seen it then you are missing out on one of the greats of Australian cinema!
Which Rom-Coms make you swoon? Have we missed any out? Have you seen The Big Steal? Let us know in the comments below.
