Screwball comedies are a dying art. Aside from the Coen Brothers’ occasional modernist foray into the genre (Raising Arizona, O Brother Where Art Thou?), a good modern example of the classic formula is hard to come by. Any stab at the genre had better include zany plot twists, mistaken identities, machinegun dialogue, double entendres and, of course, the romance.
The tried-and-true genre is usually best left in its heyday — the 1930s and ’40s — and if anyone other than cinematic masters even attempt to transplant the glory of films such as It Happened One Night or Some Like It Hot to today’s silver screen, the results will probably go one of two ways, one of which ends with movies like Gigli. Ouch.