Romantic comedies, with novelist Curtis Sittenfeld

Life and Art from FT Weekend

Forhecz Topher

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 601 Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2023

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld joins us to talk about romantic comedies. Curtis is a long-time fan of rom-coms – her most recent novel is, in fact, called Romantic Comedy. She loves love. But she also knows that there’s a difference between how love is portrayed in TV and movies, and what it’s like in real life. Curtis speaks with Lilah about the state of romantic comedies today: how they’ve changed, and where they could go next.

Don’t forget! Send us your top summer tip: what’s one thing that you’d recommend people do to have the perfect summer? Record a message here: http://sayhi.chat/15xxg

You can also email us at [email protected], tweet us @ftweekendpod, or message Lilah on Instagram or Twitter @lilahrap.

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Links:

– Curtis’ latest novel is called Romantic Comedy

– The FT’s review of Romantic Comedy: https://on.ft.com/3OGt4wC

– Curtis’ other novels include Rodham (an alternate history of the life of Hillary Clinton) Prep (set in an American boarding school), Eligible (a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice), and American Wife (a romance based loosely on the life of Barbara Bush)

– Follow Curtis on Twitter @csittenfeld

Romantic comedies mentioned:

– When Harry Met Sally

– Say Anything

– Notting Hill

– Four Weddings and a Funeral

– Dirty Dancing

– Jerry Maguire

– You’ve Got Mail

– Ticket to Paradise (starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney)

– Rye Lane

– Fire Island

– Russian Doll

– Something’s Gotta Give

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Special offers for Weekend listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial are here: http://ft.com/weekendpodcast.

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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco.

Clips courtesy of Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, and Vestron Pictures / Lionsgate Entertainment.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, listeners, a note before we start, we are preparing for a summer-themed episode in which
0:08.5	Matt Vela, the editor of FTE Weekend magazine, comes on the show, and he and I help you have
0:14.0	the summer of your lives. But we can't do it alone. We want to crowdsource it. So I'm here to ask you to send us one small
0:22.9	thing that you like to do that makes your summer 90% better. Here are some examples from our
0:28.5	team. Get a lightweight foldable chair. Makes your summer better. Make a friend with a boat. Be the
0:34.6	last person on the beach. buy extremely last minute concert tickets,
0:38.7	like moment of concert tickets. One of mine is just don't overstructure your summer.
0:44.1	Take Fridays off without a plan and just wander. Just let your city take you where it
0:49.8	wants. So, okay, send us your summer tips. Deadline is this Wednesday, May 31st.
0:55.4	There's a link in our show notes where you can easily record us a voice message and send it.
0:59.8	Matt and I will play some of them on the show and talk through them.
1:02.6	You can also email us at FT Weekend Podcast at FT.com
1:05.9	or message me on Instagram at Lila Rack.
1:09.3	Okay, have fun with it, and let's get on to the show.
1:17.2	Growing up in the 1980s, the author Curtis Sittenfeld watched a lot of romantic comedies.
1:23.9	So many that they were kind of burned into her brain.
1:27.8	I saw a lot of those golden age of rom-com movies in the theater as a teenager,
1:35.0	and they were kind of imprinted on me.
1:36.4	So it's like I saw, you know, when Harry met Sally in the theater.
1:40.4	I'll have what she's having.
1:42.2	Notting Hill, four weddings and a funeral.
1:45.5	I'm also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.
	...

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