Kate Hudson appeared on “The View” and reflected on the recent 20th anniversary of her iconic romantic comedy “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.” The genre has lost much its box office dominance in the decades since Hudson first linked up with Matthew McConaughey to the tune of $105 million at the domestic box office and $177 million worldwide. For comparison’s sake, the just-released rom-com “Anyone But You,” starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, has earned a decent $38 million and counting worldwide.
“It’s hard to get male movie stars to make rom-coms,” Hudson said about the current state of the genre. “That’s a big part of the equation … is to have that event. If we can get more Marvel guys like … hey, come to do a rom-com! That’s part of the formula, too. That event.”
Not only do you need the star power, but “I think it’s about the writing, and how we’re investing in telling the story of the writing and the directors,” Hudson added. “If you look at the classic rom-coms or movies that last forever — because they do, they’re the ones that last forever; people go back and back — they had the best writers. Nora Ephron! It’s more about how the studios are investing in the talent.”
To Hudson’s first point, “Aquaman” star Jason Momoa recently expressed interest in doing a romantic-comedy film and even humorously pitched making a “50 First Dates” sequel to Drew Barrymore. He told Men’s Health in 2020 that he’d love to play a “romantic-comedy lead, but so far nobody will hire me for it.” Perhaps the genre would see a significant boost if more A-list actors leverage their comic book movie stardom to make rom-coms.
To Hudson’s second point, it was bad writing that kept rom-com legend Julia Roberts away from making rom-coms throughout much of the 2000s. Roberts starred opposite George Clooney in 2022’s “Ticket to Paradise,” which was her first time headlining a rom-com in the lead role since 2001’s “America’s Sweethearts.” The Oscar winner revealed at the timethat a lack of good scripts was to blame.
“People sometimes misconstrue the amount of time that’s gone by that I haven’t done a romantic comedy as my not wanting to do one,” Roberts said. “If I had read something that I thought was that ‘Notting Hill’ level of writing or ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ level of madcap fun, I would do it. They didn’t exist.”
When asked by if she stayed away from romantic comedies for 20 years because “there wasn’t a single good script, not one,” Roberts answered, “Yeah.”
Watch Hudson’s full appearance on “The View” in the video below.
