what does the modern romance film really need?

A speed-roundup by the 3shotcine team this Valentine's season, just for you lovebirds.

What do you think romantic films need more of?

It's okay to say Glen Powell, we don't have to be contrarians about everything, you know.

I am	and I think we need more...
Atlanta	As a certified rom-com hater, rom-coms urgently require more gay people, I can’t believe it’s 2025 and I’ve not watched a romcom about a he/him lesbian and a nonbinary person named after a mythological entity who have a meet cute at a crystal shop and know each others’ exes.                              Good (or at least adequate) communicators whose romantic problems do not simply arise from them being unable to TALK to one another.  Love triangles where the boys kiss (Challengers does not count, those boys needed to get down and dirty, it would've saved us a lot of tennis).  Sex scenes that actually look enjoyable, like, I want to be convinced everyone is having a good time.  Ayo Edebiri, do I need to say more.  Butch women (masculine women deserve love too)  Frazzled English Women (falling in love with butch women above? Just a suggestion). Bring back women with messy hair, chain-smoking in knee high boots.
Danis	Brown - Yellow texture to the scenes Oaky trees More songs from unknown artists More POV shots of couples looking at each other More scenes of talking and just having fun The romantic interests randomly doing things on some street
Emmanuel	Flirty banter that gets me smiling and shit Person A opens the door to find person B but person B is already there cause they wanted to see person A too AHHH “Oh, you got something on your face” cue eye lock and realization that they’re in deeper than they think Breakfast the morning after type scenes Confession scenes/casual moments where literal bars of poetry are dropped!! “Eh I’m just OK at the guitar” proceeds to sing an OK but heartfelt swoonworthy rendition People in love being awkward af with each other cause that’s so real How things play out long term!! Give me some old people in love! The two side characters getting together lol so cheesy
Komal	cigarettes the city as one of the lovers oversized button ups hair wrapped up in towel diaries belly laughter handsssssssss. fingers. fingernails.  someone in a fuckass bob haircut someone working at a magazine nasty makeout & dire consequences an idiot  someone so down bad it's actually concerning (see: anthony bridgerton) can we normalise some heated scenes happening in cars, where is all the car tension? do filmmakers hate filming in cars? what’s happening? screaming over the smallest stupidest thing /pos or /neg idgaf it was you all along
Milaine	Interesting and unconventional careers that are NOT just working at an abstract office job or wtv I want to see people taking pictures of marine wildlife (like Jennifer Lopez in What to Expect When You’re Expecting) and operating a food truck (like Anna Kendrick in What to Expect When You’re Expecting) and making movie trailers (like Cameron Diaz in The Holiday) and scoring movies (like Jack Black in The Holiday). Unadulterated yearning… I need it like, urgently actually! Cynical black cat character who doesn’t believe in love x earnest golden retriever who loves love and romance EXCEPT something happens to break the golden retriever’s heart and now the black cat character realizes that omg!!! Maybe I DO believe in love because the golden retriever has showed me the BEAUTY of it!! And I AM going to help them believe in love again!! Actual comedy! Some of these “jokes” are not even a hee or a ha! They need to be hee hee ha ha!! For the main characters to have real lives outside the relationship A leading man that actually likes women Glen Powell (I said what I said!! Set It Up is the best romcom available on Netflix!!) Contributions from my friend Zue: Kind of ugly leading men (Tom Cruise before he did his teeth. But Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally is a bit too far…) Badly dressed protagonists in the way that normal people dress, badly More nuanced portrayal of struggle A better solution to unsolvable issues Stop making fanfiction into movies (The Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce fanfiction made me want to gouge my eyes out) NO MORE cheating fantasies
Suria	Late night drives when the night is young and life is good No more love triangles, PLEASE that hurts emotionally and physically and i’m tired of it Running around the city together
Sophia	hands
Syiva	LOTS OF deep eye contact. Where “the eyes speak” Cigarettes and meaningful talks on a quiet setting Lingering tension and the feeling of “in betweens” (are we something more? are we not?)
Taie	a montage romance scene with the cheesiest song ever A montage breakup scene with the saddest song ever with fade ins and fade outs (im sorry u can tell i only watch romcoms and not actual plain romance BUT NO. NOTTING HILL’S SEASON CHANGE IS IMMACULATE) random musical number where everyone knows the lyrics and dance in a non-musical that’s completely original (see: enchanted) someone is wet from the rain (spoiler: its the man) random product placement coupled with unfounded misogyny (IM KIDDING) Scarves. they are so romance. not shared tho. The coziness of winter time opposing the loneliness you could feel in winter… absolute banger… THE FLIP PHONE/LANDLINE DRAMA OF IT ALL… listening into calls and all… absolute YUM breakup scene cs they dont know how to communicate and everyone starts screaming at the screen rebounding with a mutual and realising that they’re actually no good for them completely leaving your whole family for this person you promised years ago cause you still love them getting with the person people don’t expect you to pick or even YOU expect to pick (AGAIN, see: enchanted & lowkey barbie princess and the pauper but not to all the boys i loved before: i still love you where lara jean picks noah’s character and NOT JORDAN FISHER’S???) A NARRATOR. BRING THEM BACK (see: moulin rouge) Lowkey, ryan gosling.
Zeff	Blonde people Historical gays i.e where is my Alexander x Hephaestion yaoi movie typa stuff and the gays conquer the world? Where is my Frederick the Great movie where he’s gay and plays the flute and hates women and people are like haha that’s so 18th century of him to hate women Protective bodyguard x soft royal pairings mmm More boykissers, the straights have eaten well for far too long already Tasteful coitus, with dialogue exposition weaved in, because coitus for the sake of coitus is boring and only HBO can do that (it’s their trademark) Sad sex Love interests with actual stakes in the story/move the plot as well alongside the protagonist/lead More bonding scenes of characters doing trivial stuff like sitting around a campfire or something. Not every scene has to be about killing a god and saving the bloody world. I appreciate having moments in between where only the dialogue carries the scene but I understand if your producer hates that idea haha. Respectful relationship, nasty disrespectful coitus Blonde people

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