Winner of the Enrique García Diez book award for literary research (2009), The secret life of romantic comedy offers a new approach to one of the most popular and resilient genres in the history of Hollywood. Steering away from the rigidity and ideological determinism of traditional accounts of the genre, this book advocates a more flexible theory, which allows the student to explore the presence of the genre in unexpected places, extending the concept to encompass films that are not usually considered romantic comedies.

Combining theory with detailed analyses of a selection of films, including To Be or Not to Be (1942), Rear Window (1954), Kiss Me Stupid (1964), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Before Sunset (2004), the book aims to provide a practical framework for the exploration of a key area of contemporary experience - intimate matters - through one of its most powerful filmic representations: the genre of romantic comedy.

Original and entertaining, The secret life of romantic comedy is perfect for students and academics of film and film genre.

List of illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The theory of romantic comedy
Romantic comedy and laughter
Happy endings, forgotten middles and the ideology of romantic comedy
The space of romantic comedy
The Sydney issue
Genres and films
2. Comic negotiations
I. Laughter, love and World War II: *To be or not to be*
Love and the invasion of Poland
A table for three: the love triangle
Lubitsch meets screwball royalty
That great, great Polish actor
Performing love, performing war
II. Romantic comedy in no man's land: Kiss me, stupid
Romantic comedy in the 1950s
Satire and comedy
Moral standards and character identification
Climaxing in Climax
Bang, bang
Comic combinations
3. Romantic comedy on the dark side
I. The other thrills of *Rear window*
Look at me
Society calling
It started with a kiss
The neverending story
II. The space of comedy and beyond: *Crimes and misdemeanors*
Love, faith and the comic space
Inside the Statue of Liberty or love in the time of cholera
Splitting genres
The fisher king and the future generations
4. Contemporary romantic comedy and the discourse of independence
Love in real time: *Before sunset*
The realities of love
Walking and talking
Sex and the city
Bibliography
Index