With their witty moments, and touching romantic gestures, romantic comedies (aka “romcoms”) have been an entertaining genre of movies to watch for decades, and these five popular 2000’s classics are no different. But are they really worth watching, or are they overrated? Hi, we’re Olivia and Romi, and in this review we will be evaluating the movies Legally Blonde, 10 Things I Hate About You, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Mean Girls, and Princess Diaries, to see if you should watch them, or if you could go without.

You have two options to engage with our review: Click the video below to view our video podcast version, or continue reading the text-only version below.

Short Summary of Our Reviews:

The Princess Diaries

Context: The Princess Diaries is a coming-of-age comedy movie released in 2001, directed by Garry Marshall. It tells the story of a teenage girl named Mia Thermopolis- portrayed by Anne Hathaway- who just found out that she is the heir apparent of Genovia. Living with her single mother, Helen, Mia is trying to navigate through the rest of her 16th year as an awkward teenager, with her best friend, Lilly, by her side, when her life turns upside-down…

Does the Plot Work? We both thought the plot was good due to the more relatable and honest view on teenage life it presented. The trope is pretty common but the way they presented it made it more engaging

Romance/Comedy: The more awkward and experimental view on teenage romance the movie presented made it more realistic which made it a lot more relatable. Additionally, the comedy aspect is good because it was actually funny in the sense that the jokes weren’t forced and they came very naturally, they were also consistent so that also helped. 

Pros/Cons: The realism of awkward life (not having a perfect life) made the film more relatable to the audience and overall more engaging. The comedy being really good throughout the movies also helped tie it together. However, the makeover scene didn’t age well, due to the fact that only after they straightened her hair and removed her glasses she was considered pretty.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Context: Released in 2003, and directed by Donald Petrie, this film follows the lives of Andy Anderson–portrayed by Kate Hudson–who is a writer for a women’s magazine named Composure as the head-writer for the ‘how-to’ section, and Benjamin Barry–portrayed by Matthew McConaughey–who is an advertising executive. Currently, Andie is working on an article of “How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days,” and Benjamin bet he could make any woman of his choice fall in love with him in 10 days in order to book a major campaign. What happens when they meet each other?…. 

Does the Plot Work?: The plot was mostly good because it has a unique trope, which made it more interesting, however, it wasn’t executed super well.  

Romance/Comedy: It was a little hard to determine whether the romance in this movie was good or not since most of the romantic scenes were them faking their feelings for each other. However, the scenes where it was clear they were in love were very sweet and nice to watch; it definitely made the film more interesting. Additionally, most of the movie’s comedy scenes were just scenes where Andie is embarrassing herself in front of other people. It was a little funny and ridiculous, but it was mostly just cringe to watch and made the film less engaging as a whole. 

Pros/Cons: The trope is unique which made it more interesting to watch as you couldn’t easily tell what would happen at the end. However, the film was super embarrassing to watch—the kind of second-hand embarrassment that constantly barraged you while watching, making it hard to continue. Additionally, it was weird that all the characters thought it was acceptable for them to play with each other’s feelings and then they both got mad at each other at the end for doing the exact same thing, which was a little frustrating and not realistic.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5

10 Things I Hate About You

Context: This teen rom-com, released in 1999, is based on William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. The storyline follows the love story of two couples. Cameron James—portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt—who is in love with the popular girl, Bianca Stratford—portrayed by Larisa Oleynik. Bianca and her sister, Kat—portrayed by Julia Stiles—have a very strict father who doesn’t allow them to date until graduation. Therefore, in order for Cam to date Bianca, Kat has to start dating first, so he tricked another guy to pay Patrick Verona— portrait by Heath Ledger—to date Kat…. 

Does the Plot Work?: The plot for this was definitely unique amongst romcoms due to there being two main couples instead of one. This also aided in the plot being able to build up throughout the story, making it more engaging and fun to watch as this was unexpected.

Romance/Comedy: Having two main couples, both with their own storyline, definitely made it more interesting, as if one couple was getting a little boring to watch you could always focus on the other one. This also aided in there being more romantic scenes in general, which really helped the romance aspect of this movie. Most of the comedy lines in this movie were just sassy, however they were delivered perfectly and naturally so they were pretty funny in most of the contexts. Additionally they were all really overexaggerated which made them funnier and more engaging. 

Pros/Cons: It was really engaging and entertaining to watch because all of the characters had their own storyline and moments in the movie, the fact that it isn’t centered around one main lead was really interesting and fun to watch. However, there could have been some more humor in the movie besides just sassy remarks; but they were still funny so it didn’t impact it too much.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Legally Blonde

Context: Legally Blonde is a rom-com released in 2001, directed by Robert Luketic. The main female lead, Elle Woods, played by Reese Witherspoon, gets dumped by her boyfriend, Warner, because she isn’t smart enough for him to date. So she decides to prove him wrong and get him back by getting into the same college as him: Harvard Law. Now she’s faced with defending a seemingly guilty client, where she learns that maybe there is more to her than just looks…

Does the Plot Work? The plot for this was easy to follow, engaging, funny, and overall really good. It also allowed us to follow Elle on her journey of self discovery super easily . Additionally, the comedy aspect really helped make it more engaging since it kind of lacked in the romance part of it. Overall, however the plot was entertaining and didn’t follow the usual trope of the blonde girl being mean and dumb either, which definitely made it more unique and interesting

Romance/Comedy: Although there wasn’t a lot of romance in this movie the lack of it allowed for there to be a powerful message about not letting other people decide your own worth and self love, so the lack of romance was actually good for this movie. It was also refreshing to see a female lead who wasn’t always depending on the guy for everything; this made the film as a whole more relatable. Additionally, the situations and scenarios were so ridiculous and absurd that they made the movie way funnier. Also the way the script was written and delivered helped with this aspect. For example, Elle will say a joke with the most straight face or act unrealistic with a lot of confidence, which makes the movie more comedic and engaging for the audience.

Pros/Cons: Elle always stayed true to herself, she was always loyal, kind, and understanding, which made her a really likeable female lead and character as a whole. This helps with the audience engagement as having a likeable main character is very important to keep interest while watching the movie. However, there wasn’t a lot of romance in this movie, but this allowed for it to mostly be centered around Elle, giving a powerful message to the audience about how women don’t need men to be interesting.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Mean Girls

Context: Mean Girls is a romcom released in 2004 directed by Mark Waters. It stars Lindsey Lohan, who plays Cady Heron, the main female lead. Cady just moved from Africa to her new school in the US, and as she struggles to fit in she finds about the most popular girl group in the school, “The Plastics”. Soon, she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, who is the ex-boyfriend of the infamous head of The Plastics herself, Regina George (played by Rachel McAdams). To make matters worse, her friend had coaxed her to join The Plastics in order to destroy Regina from the inside. What will happen if her plans, and her crush, come to light?…

Does the Plot Work? Overall, the idea of the film was definitely smart and unique, as it didn’t follow a lot of the usual tropes that a lot of other rom coms did. Additionally, the plot was mostly easy to follow and the romance and comedy parts made it a lot more engaging and interesting to watch as an audience member. However, the plot line was a little harder to follow with the romance aspect. 

Romance/Comedy: The teenage romance was good because it was accurate and relatable, though it wasn’t really noticeable in the movie; it more so seemed to be used as a tool to develop the relationship between Cady and The Plastics. Additionally, there are definitely a lot of comedic parts in this movie and the lines aren’t random either; they aren’t only funny because of the situation they’re in, they’re just funny, which is probably the best out of all of the films we’ve reviewed. The timing and delivery of them is perfect as well. 

Pros/Cons: Some pros of this movie include the comedy aspect being super strong and making the audience more engaged. Additionally, it gives a nice message at the end about not judging or bullying people because it doesn’t get you anywhere, it just makes you worse. We think this message is useful to know and a really good conclusion to the movie. However, the romance aspect in this film was pretty confusing because it seemed one-sided in the beginning, but ended up working even though they barely interacted, which was confusing to watch. Also, almost every one of the characters was mean, manipulative, or two faced in some way, making it harder to relate to the film which brings the engagement while watching down.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5