Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Amazon Prime
When 21 Jump Street actor Dave Franco revealed that he and his wife, actress Alison Brie, had co-written an “elevated” romantic comedy in 2020, the Internet—or at least the side that really gives a damn about rom-coms—was set ablaze with criticisms. What does an “elevated” rom-com mean? Why work in a genre that you seemingly dislike enough to distinguish your film as “elevated?” How many rom-coms has Franco seen?
Here’s the full quote: “We want to approach that film in a similar way that we did in this film, in the sense that we want to make a smarter, more elevated version of a romantic comedy,” Franco told Discussing Film. “We were inspired by classics like When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless In Seattle and Pretty Woman, which are all films that are grounded, where the acting is really strong. And they are all shot like dramas, so they look good. We were just wondering why people don’t really approach the genre from that smarter point of view these days. And so that’s what we tried to accomplish with this script.”
I won’t waste your time re-examining this quote or explaining why such a broad generalization about a wide scope of movies is hazardous. Instead, I’ll inform you that Franco and Brie’s new rom-com venture, Somebody I Used To Know, is not much better than whatever lackluster rom-coms Franco was referring to—if they’re truly lackluster, anyways. Ironically enough, one of the film’s main problems is that it’s too concerned with seeming smart and above its peers, despite the interesting themes it delves into.