From Hollywood with Love

The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy

By: Scott Meslow

Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur

An in-depth celebration of the romantic comedy’s modern golden era and its role in our culture, tracking the genre from its heyday in the ’80s and the ’90s, its unfortunate decline in the 2000s, and its explosive reemergence in the age of streaming, featuring exclusive interviews with the directors, writers, and stars of the iconic films that defined the genre.

No Hollywood genre has been more misunderstood—or more unfairly under-appreciated—than the romantic comedy. Funny, charming, and reliably crowd-pleasing, rom-coms were the essential backbone of the Hollywood landscape, launching the careers of many of Hollywood’s most talented actors and filmmakers, such as Julia Roberts and Matthew McConaughey, and providing many of the yet limited creative opportunities women had in Hollywood. But despite—or perhaps because of—all that, the rom-com has routinely been overlooked by the Academy Awards or snobbishly dismissed by critics. In From Hollywood with Love, culture writer and GQ contributor Scott Meslow seeks to right this wrong, celebrating and analyzing rom-coms with the appreciative, insightful critical lens they’ve always deserved.

Beginning with the golden era of the romantic comedy—spanning from the late ’80s to the mid-’00s with the breakthrough of films such as When Harry Met Sally—to the rise of streaming and the long-overdue push for diversity setting the course for films such as the groundbreaking, franchise-spawning Crazy Rich Asians, Meslow examines the evolution of the genre through its many iterations, from its establishment of new tropes, the Austen and Shakespeare rewrites, the many love triangles, and even the occasional brave decision to do away with the happily ever after.

Featuring exclusive interviews with the actors and filmmakers behind our most beloved rom-coms, From Hollywood with Love constructs oral histories of our most celebrated romantic comedies, for an informed and entertaining look at Hollywood’s beloved yet most under-appreciated genre.

©2022 Scott Meslow (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

A fun book!

This dissection of the rom-com genre and its major players was fun to listen to and featured some of my favorites.

I love love & this book

This book was recommended in a rom com study class I was talking & I could not love it more. Fascinating & fun.

Delightful performance, can’t read along

Delightful book and phenomenal performance….Weirdly the audiobook and physical copy are slightly out of sync with each other. Almost every chapter has a couple of paragraphs that aren’t in the same order as the printed book (usually before or after the inserted essays and asides). While not a dealbreaker by any means, it was slightly confusing for those of us who read along with the narration.

Informative

This was a good and knowledgeable study of romance movies and I thoroughly enjoyed the authors in depth coverage of the movies he includes. He just leaves out some movies that in my opinion should absolutely have been included like the Notebook- one of the most romantic movies ever.

RomCom History and Future Personified

This book begins with my favorite of all time, When Harry Met Sally and ends with To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before which is now my daughter’s favorite Netflix franchise.

It’s a fantastic retelling of these movies, the growth of its initial audience, how Hollywood has changed and how social media has impacted the genre. Even if you’ve not seen all the movies included in this book, you’ll still learn & enjoy it.

Arthur is a great narrator. He’d be great for voice over work on screen and off. Bravo to him for not holding back on highlighting Hollywood’s lack of diversity and how difficult it still is to get movies made.

Finishing this book is as wistful, romantic & loving as it feels to walk out of a theater after watching a feel good romantic comedy.

Made my road trip fly by!

I’m a screenwriter who loves and (writes) romcoms.
I found it enjoyable. It’s not really about writing or screen riding as much as Hollywood and the genre. Enjoyable!

Great details

A great look at this genre. Loved it! In the mood to rewatch all my faves.