Comparing and contrasting Romantic Comedies

In the films Just Like Heaven and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days the opening title sequences are very similar. In the fact that the music is very upbeat and always an actual song that has been released in the charts. The colours are very feminin so pink and other light colours are very prominent as its female friendly, which hits their target audience. When the film has actually started the titles still carry on whilst a scene is being acted out, untill the directors name is on the screen.

The protagonist in both films (Kate Hudson&Reese Wetherspoon) both have well paid jobs and jobs that women watching would aspire to. There life is dominated by their work and they both can't find the balance between work and leisure. Although their highflyers and everything seems fine, their life is incomplete as they both have not found a man, perfect storyline for a Rom-Com.

The main characters in Rom-Coms tend to be good looking, setting off the stereotype that good looking women fall for good looking men and visa versa.

In the two films the men, MatthewMcConaughey and Mark Ruffalo are very different characters. In 'How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days' Matthew McConaughey is portrayed as being a bit of a cool rebel, a maverick in the journalism world who happens to be very good with the opposite sex. We know this as he enters in to the scene  dressed in a black leather jacket, jeans and on a black motorbike, then instantly starts chatting up two co-workers. This indicates his coolness to the audience and his casual laid back manner as eveyone else in the shot is in suits whereas he is casually dressed. However in 'Just like Heaven' Mark Ruffallo is portrayed as a bit of a geek who is still heartbroken from the loss of his marriage. Unlike everyone else around him he seems to be a slacker who just sits on the couch and drinks beer a lot. Mark Ruffallo is the comic one in the film along with a few other co-stars. He's not this macho charmer that McConaughey is in his film.

Kate Hudson in 'How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days' represents the modern go getting, anything for a story female journalist who's living the high life. For example getting free tickets to the NBA final.

Rom-Coms mainly typify the stereotypical view people have on life, in the fact that everyone must be settled by being married, having kids and own a pet dog. Rom-coms are just based on the journey people have to get to that stage. In 'Just Like Heaven' the main character Elizabeth's older sister is the stereotypical house wife in which Elisabeth has always wanted to be, so her sister is forever trying to matchmake her with men she knows.