Not just food but in defence of the rom-com

Why are rom-coms essential?  rom-coms are essential because they chart the super-reality of painful real life moments in romance but with the insertion of comedy that makes this pain bearable.  I know the latest trend, of which I, myself, am guilty, is to discuss ad nauseam, the fine performance of Gosling and Williams in the super arty 'Blue Valentine'.  Such conversations are punctuated and yes, even by yours truly, with words like, 'the deterioration of romance'.  But it is not trendy to talk about the tried and still being tested, rom-com.  I mean it is the rom-com that comes along when movies like Blue Valentine, infused with miseries of love gone curdled and saves us.  It saves us by exploring and expounding the realities of romance, much like Blue Valentine but the saving part occurs, when it portrays the inevitable misery through a rambling, falling-over over furniture, Kate Hudson or the quintessential rom-com actor, Diane Keaton  I think it is the simultaneous experience and removal of reality that ultimately makes the rom-com essential in this cruel cruel world...Ben Harper could write a song about that.

That was the first in a brief, five part series on the joys of romancing the dot coms!  I think, that's right!