I’ve been watching a lot of romantic comedies recently. By “a lot,” I mean “all of them.” Everything from “A” (Adam’s Rib) to “Z” (Zack and Miri Make a Porno). Technically, I started even before “A,” with 10 Things I Hate About You and 27 Dresses. And just in time for Valentine’s Day, I’ve edited together some of the most awww-inducing moments in Hollywood history.
In the 40 Inspirational Speeches montage, those speeches weren’t actually the climaxes of their films. They were what got the characters fired up to take on the opposing army/rival team/preppy frat house. But in a romantic comedy, the big speech is the main event. You have two people who clearly love each other (that much was obvious from the poster). But for some reason, one of them is taking that job in Hong Kong and/or getting back together with Chad (curse you, preppy frat house!). There’s only one thing to do: run across town, show up panting in the nick of time, and pour your heart out. I find it comforting that even in this age of 3D CGI madness, the denouement of a romantic comedy is almost always a big block of dialogue.
You might even say that these climactic speeches are the whole point of a romantic comedy. We want to see someone bridge that gap between “it will never work” and “happily ever after,” armed only with the power of words. And the way you cross that chasm is by not caring if you fall. You have to lose your cool, drop your guard, and swing for the fences. It’s interesting that there’s often an element of public humiliation to these declarations. In Keeping the Faith, Ben Stiller has to woo Jenna Elfman via speakerphone, with her whole office listening. In Hitch, Will Smith stops Eva Mendes from leaving town by jumping in front of her car. In Made of Honor, Patrick Dempsey actually interrupts the girl’s wedding to another man, and does his whole “I’ve loved you forever” monologue right there in the church (he is eventually punched). In Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise arrives home to find his living room full of strange women, but he barely hesitates. “If this is where it has to happen,” he says, “then this is where it has to happen.” And that is exactly the point. These men don’t give speeches like this because it comes naturally to them. They do it because love has left them no other choice.
These people are not just expressing love, they are putting themselves at risk. And it’s that combination of what they say and what it took to say it that lifts us up where we belong.
THE RULES: Characters must be speaking directly to their beloved (no talking to a third party), no actor can speak more than once (but some people did appear more than once), no TV shows (even though Spike had an amazing speech in the finale of Buffy).
NUMBER OF CLIPS I STARTED WITH: 285
CATEGORIES I ORGANIZED THEM INTO: Basic I Love You, Compliments, How I Feel, Forever, Random
CLIP MY GIRLFRIEND REALLY WANTED ME TO INCLUDE THAT I HAD TO CUT: Singles. “You… belong… with… ME!”
CLIP I REALLY WANTED TO INCLUDE THAT I HAD TO CUT: Conan the Barbarian. “If I were dead and you were still fighting for life, I’d come back from the darkness, back from the pit of hell to fight at your side.”
EDIT I’M PROUDEST OF: In The Notebook, the two characters are standing right at the edges of the frame. The problem is that I had to cut out the edges of the frame to crop the clip to 16:9. So I used my After Effects kung fu to actually remove the MIDDLE of the frame. See?
Before.
After.
ORIGINAL FINAL CLIP: The Simpsons. Marge: “Best kiss of my life.” Homer: “Best kiss of your life so far!”
UPDATE, 11/13, 12 pm: After I pushed this live, someone pointed out a neat coincidence. The two final clips are the big Titanic kiss, followed by Sam, the little blond kid from Love Actually. This totally didn’t occur to me, but Sam is a huge romantic movie buff. At one point in Love Actually he actually watches and acts out that very scene from Titanic. Things like that happen when you edit.
And thank you Pasteur for reminding me that Patrick Dempsey and Patrick Duffy are two different people.
Great work.
though I can’t help feeling Groucho and MArgaret Dumont were slightly out of place in there.
Well done! Bravo! Bravo!
Are you Romantic comedied-out? Did you gain any insight about them? I’d love to hear your meta-analysis of the whole genre vis a vis your bender.
No Wilder! No Lubitsch! You’ve made a wonderful thing, but I have to implore you to at least include something from The Apartment…
I suppose, due to its status as a pop culture phenomenon, there was no way you could leave out “You had me at ‘Hello'” – but MAN would it have been nice if you had! *hates that movie with more passion than even this montage of intentionally combined moments of passion*
I originally thought the post was goint to refer to this: http://vimeo.com/35055590
<3
Can you comment on how many hours of editing and note-taking this required?
I hate to nitpick a brilliant work, but it’s Patrick Dempsey who was in Made of Honor, not Patrick Duffy (of Dallas fame).
Great show, though! I only really have one question – when does Li Mu Bai say that in the film?
Excellent catch about the two Patricks – post is updated.
Li Mu Bai says it fairly late in the movie, when he and Yu Shu have tea together. The full quote is: “I don’t know what to do. I want to be with you… just like this… it gives me a sense of peace.”
I checked out the more obvious scene, where he confesses his love as he’s dying, but I wanted to stay away from the real downer moments. That’s why I didn’t use City of Angels.
My God, Belinkie! You’ve done it again. This is brilliant work! Really brightened this dreary, rainy morning in SoCal.
I think you’ve done a fantastic job. Congrats!
The Other Sister!
Do they teach you as a writer or an actor that people are only allowed to say “I love you” when whispering or in a weird, emotionally tense, lowered voice? There was comparatively less loudness/shouting.
Loved the inclusion of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in this, especially given its opening narration. (“Random thoughts for Valentine’s Day, 2004. Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.”)
Wow! And I really mean it. I can only imagine how much time it takes to watch so many movies and to choose the best moments. This is so great and I hope you did it for someone, who would appreciate it.
I have just one request. Can you make a list of all the movies you included in the video, so that the rest of us can watch them? :)
And happy Valentine’s Day!
this is one of the cheesiest things i’ve seen in quite some time. i tried to hate it. really, i did. i failed.
Excellent supercut! Just posted on the Atlantic Video channel:
http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/253090/
I heard about this from your podcast and half expected it to be the same actors repeating their undying love in movie after movie…however to a different person each time!
Nice to see this on the MentalFloss site too.
Could you post a list of all of the movies included in this?
Would have loved Reality Bites in there. But loved this none the less!
What’s the song called?
It’s an instrumental version of “Sometimes When We Touch” by Dan Hill.
Speaking of which, here’s an oddly touching version of the song performed by champion boxer/Filipino congressman Manny Pacquiao: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKuIHs1ELQU
Was sad not to see Perry’s confession of love to Lydia from the Fisher King. Eminently quotable!
I’ve figured out part of the list:
When Harry Met Sally
Say Anything
Princess Bride
The Birdcage
As Good as it Gets
Lord of the Rings series
Pretty Woman
Shakespeare in Love
Ghost
Jerry MacGuire
West Side Story
The Kids are Alright
Forrest Gump
Moulin Rouge
Aladdin
Beauty and the Beast
Shrek
Who Killed Roger Rabbit
Gone with the Wind
Joe Black
Twilight Series
Braveheart
Moonstruck
Rocky
Star Wars series
Dirty Dancing
Pretty Woman
Harry Potter (not sure which one… Hermione&Ron)
Grease
16 Candles (I think)
Lady and the Tramp
Avatar
Brokeback Mountain
True Lies
Titanic
Spiderman
An Officer and a Gentleman
Wall-E
The Simpsons
(the kiss montage was hard to follow)
… and the few the editor mentions in the accompanying article:
Adam’s Rib
Zach & Miri make a Porno
10 Things I Hate About You
27 Dresses
Keeping the Faith
Hitch
Made of Honor
The Notebook
Love, Actually
Anyone want to add? Maybe we can come up with the complete list?
andonehead already noted Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
and I missed Love, Actually from the editor’s post above.
Pretty good! BUT… I never said I USED all the movies I mentioned in the post above, just that I watched them.
I’ll post the complete list eventually, but I want to give people time to guess. I always like the “How many of these can you name?” game.
awesome. The only thing it’s missing is Fools Rush In “You’re everything I never knew I always wanted.”
Here’s what I have in order…I’m clearly missing some. Also, I only caught 94 different movies (not counting some, like Princess Bride, that show up twice).
1. When Harry Met Sally
2. Chasing Amy
3. Annie Hall
4. Scot Pilgrim vs. the World
5. The Birdcage
6. As Good as it Gets
7. Just Wright
8. Lord of the Rings
9. Duck Soup
10. Bridget Jones Diary
11. Original Sin
12. ?? with Harrison Ford “I love you”
13. Shakespeare in Love
14. Ghost
15. Pirates of the Caribbean
16. Jerry Maguire
17. West Side Story
18. The Kids are Alright
19. Pulp Fiction
20. Garden State
21. How Stella Got Her Groove Back
22. Say Anything
23. Pride and Prejudice
24. Casino Royal
25. The Wedding Singer
26. Runaway Bride
27. Forrest Gump
28. Love Story
29. Moulin Rouge
30. Bridges of Madison County
31. Princess Bride
32. Wayne’s World
33. Along Came Polly
34. It’s a Wonderful Life
35. Coming to America
36. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
37. Crazy Stupid Love
38. Little Shop of Horrors
39. Aladdin
40. Beauty and the Beast
41. Shrek
42. Who framed Roger Rabbit
43. ?? with kid “I love you more than anyone has ever loved”
44. Spartacus? “I love you more than my life” with Kirk Douglas?
45. The Other Sister
46. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
47. Gone With The Wind
48. Naked Gun
49. Meet Joe Black
50. Twilight Eclipse
51. Singin’ in the Rain
52. Sweet November
53. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
54. The Holiday
55. ?? Black and white movie “I love you”
56. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
57. Hitch
58. Zack and Miri Make a Porno
59. The Notebook
60. Braveheart
61. Moonstruck
62. Rocky
63. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
64. ?? “I always have” guy with face scar
65. Made of Honor
66. ?? kissing scene with Alec Baldwin? in the rain
67. Pretty Woman
68. ?? black and white movie kissing scene (Casa Balanca?) 3:12 or so
69. Slumdog Millionairre
70. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
71. Twilight (possibly another one)
72. Grease
73. Sixteen Candles
74. ?? African American couple kissing around 3:20
75. Lady and the Tramp
76. ?? black and white rolling on the beach kissing at around 3:23(I know this is a classic, but this far into it, my brain is fried)
77. True Lies
78. 10 Things I Hate About You
79. Avatar
80. Good Will Hunting
81. Brokeback Mountain
82. ?? shadowy figures kissing in the rain around 3:27 Paltrow? Daniel Craig?
83. Romeo + Juliet
84. Spiderman
85. Four Weddings and a Funeral
86. Mamma Mia
87. My Girl
88. You’ve Got Mail
89. An Officer and A Gentleman
90. Wall E
91. ?? Kevin Costner? kissing a lady in a head scarf around 3:36
92. The Simpsons
93. Titanic
94. Love Actually
95. and # 95? Not even sure where I missed it.
If you can help me fill in the blanks or correct any mistakes, that would be awesome. I want to use this as a bridal shower game.
12. with Harrison Ford is Working Girl.
64. Terminator (finally placed the face)
66. Not sure that’s Alec. Movie looks older than that…
66.5 (aka #95) – you missed Dirty Dancing – Swayze & Grey in the final scene
71. Yes, that’s the prom scene from the first one.
76. From Here To Eternity
91. Finally saw a clip that refreshed my memory – The Bodyguard
That’s still not quite all, but thank you for helping fill in some of the blanks… I need to set up my Netflix queue. :)
Thank you! I can’t believe I didn’t include Dirty Dancing. I was SURE it was listed higher in the list.
68 is Casablanca
I think # 74 is What’s love Got to Do With It.
#82 Great Expectations
# 66 Breakfast at Tiffany’s
#43 Little Manhattan
The only one I still don’t know is # 55 Look like Notorious, but not.
Very impressive work, Jessica! #55 is indeed Notorious. I figured I had to get an “I love you” from Cary Grant in there!
And #74 is a personal favorite of mine, Hustle and Flow. It’s been clear for a while that one of Terrence Howard’s prostitutes is hopelessly in love with him, but way too shy to come out and say it. He’s getting ready to pitch his demo to a famous rap star; it’s the moment he’s been dreaming of since the beginning of the movie. He leaves the house and walks towards his car. Suddenly, he stops, reverses, barges past all his confused friends, bursts back into the house, and kisses Shug like she’s the last woman on Earth. Then he leaves without saying a word.
It is just awesome. Always makes me smile.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGhXqDIU7UM
#55, maybe Touch of Evil? I want to say the lady is Janet Leigh.
Haha, just kidding. Didn’t see Belinkie’s reply. -_-;;;
66. Breakfast at Tiffany’s?
not as themey, but I prefer this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3p0Bq6OWGo
Nice work.
Many of these same movies could be edited to produce a clip entitled, ‘How Hollywood Says “I Despise You.”‘ Maybe all of them, I don’t know, I’m not a big fan of mush.
I do like that scene at the end of “Lost in Translation” where Bill Murray whispers something in Scarlett Johansson’s ear.
Great, great editing. Would have nominated the Star Wars “Empire Strikes Back” scene where Leia says “I love you” and Han Solo says “I know.”
Maybe you can do a future one on insults/barbs/witty repartee traded by romantic co-stars.