Love stories

This New York Daily News article on contemporary romantic comedies reminds me of a joke that journalists often tell: Q. What is a trend? A. Two facts and a reporter on deadline. Something tells me that somebody dreamed up a premise for a Sunday think piece without bothering to fully consider that, hey, maybe a handful of under-achieving movies do not necessarily signal anything significant.

Indeed, it's actually quite funny to read Joe Neumaier's claim that audiences are turned off by recent rom-coms -- and that "the classic genre seems to have fallen out of step with modern life" -- even as he grudgingly acknowledges that some recent "losers" actually were box-office hits. Yes, even the much-maligned Maid in Manhattan. (Of course, it probably isn't a good idea to go back to 2002 while discussing "contemporary" movie trends, but never mind.)