Fringe Thursday: 3-10-05 Top Ten Romantic comedies 10 to 6

I love romantic comedies. But I don't really like standard Hollywood romantic comedies. I like movies that are off the beaten track so to speak. The following list is my top ten romantic comedies. Not all of them have happy endings where the guy gets the girl some of them have actual real endings in where the guy for whatever reason losses the girl.

10. She's Gotta Have It (1986)
Spike Lee's first film about an independent woman and her three lovers. I don't think up until that point I had ever seen a movie in where the female lead had a problem with commitment. Nola Darling played by Tracy Camilla Johns is bright, sexy and just blunt. The dinner scene in where all three men she's sleeping with is probably one of the funniest things Spike Lee has ever put on film.

9. High Fidelity (2000)
You can't have a romantic comedy list without at least one John Cusack movie. High Fidelity is based on the novel by Nick Hornby. It's about a guy who's going through the "what's it all about" phase. If you're over 30 you know exactly what I mean. Cusack plays Rob Gordon a manager of a small record store in Chicago. As the movie opens his girlfriend Laura (played by Iben Hjejle) leaves him and moves in with the upstairs neighbor (played by Tim Robbins). Throughout the movie he recalls his past breakups and goes on a emotional journey in an effort to try to put the past breakups behind him. I highly recommend this flick.

8. Chasing Amy (1997)
This is probably one of the best scripts Kevin Smith (post Clerks) has ever written. Granted I'm not the biggest Ben Afleck fan out there, but this movie convinced me that he can actually deliver great dialogue when need be. The scene between Afleck and Joey Lauren Adams in the rain will always stand out as one of the best romantic exchanges in film.

7. Fall (1997)
Writer/director Eric Schaeffer plays a New York cab driver that falls in love with a super model. This is one of those few movies that whenever it comes on cable I have to watch. You have to suspend disbelief to really enjoy this movie. It doesn't end the way you think it does.

6. Love Jones (1997)
Writer/director Theodore Witcher gives us an urban setting in where we find a characters mostly young, African-American, and middle class now keep in mind romantic comedies like this were still rare. In addition to being a very good film the soundtrack is probably one of the most underrated soundtracks ever.

Next week on Fringe Thursday we'll finish the list.