Netflix’s romantic comedy programming is more than a summer fling

It’s Summer Lovin’ Week here at Mashable, which means things are getting steamy. In honor of the release of Crazy Rich Asians, we’re celebrating onscreen love and romance, looking at everything from our favorite fictional couples to how Hollywood’s love stories are evolving. Think of it as our love letter to, well, love.

There was a weekend, back in June, when my Twitter feed suddenly lit up with praise for some buzzy new movie. Which wouldn’t be that odd the thick of the summer movie season – except that the film in question wasn’t just another nine-figure blockbuster sequel du jour.

Instead, it was Set It Up, a low-key charmer starring two attractive young people that most viewers will only kind of recognize (Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell). 

It wasn’t a remake, reboot, or adaptation of anything, but it had its own familiar charm: It was a classic romantic comedy. And it turned out to be just one of what Netflix is calling their “Summer of Love” – a loose collection of love stories, released one by one over the course of the season. 

“In this day and age, everybody needs a little love in their life, with all the disturbing news that’s often out there.”

“They hadn’t been made very much recently in the theatrical sense, in the theatrical model,” Matt Broadlie, Director of Original Films at Netflix, said over the phone of Netflix’s plans for the romcom.

But “because we’re Netflix, we were able to see that people around the world had been watching a lot of romcoms in our catalog,” he continued. “And putting two and two together, people enjoy watching them, there aren’t a lot of them out there, so let’s jump in and get into this genre that seems to be really enjoyable for a lot of people.”

May’s The Kissing Booth was part of that rollout. So were Ibiza, Alex Strangelove, and Ali’s Wedding. This weekend’s extremely charming To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is next up, and September brings Sierra Burgess Is a Loser. 

Some have gotten better reviews or stronger buzz than others; because Netflix doesn’t release viewership numbers, we don’t know for sure how many people have watched each film. 

Anecdotally, though, the hype I’ve seen around them suggests that Netflix is on to something. And not they’re not the only ones. The major studio offerings this year have included Love, Simon, and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, both big hits, with Crazy Rich Asians still to come this week.

“I think in this day and age, everybody needs a little love in their life, with all the disturbing news that’s often out there,” said Broadlie. 

“But I think also it’s a really satisfying art form and form of film. You kind of know what you’re going to get and you can guess what’s going to happen along the way, but it’s still incredibly satisfying, kind of like comfort food.”

Susan Johnson, director of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, floated a similar theory about the resurgence of the romcom in a separate interview. “I think it has to do with the climate in the world. I think we’re in a time that’s pretty dark right now, and there’s a lot of confusion about a lot of issues, and people want to escape,” she told me on the phone.

Plus, Johnson points out, there’s a whole cohort of audiences now who were too young for romcoms the last time they were big in the ’90s, and who are now craving sweet stories of their own. “I think it’s time for this generation to have a resurgence of what I loved so much 20 years ago, and 40 years ago, and before I was born.”

Naturally, any conversation about the return of the romcom raises the question of why they went away in the first place. While there’s no one right answer, Broadlie blames the current craze for “really big films that everybody enjoys” – e.g., your Marvel flicks, your Star Wars sequels – over films like Set It Up, “which may seem to be a little more specific in their target audience.” 

Likewise, there’s no single answer for why studios suddenly became obsessed with mega-budget blockbusters in the first place. But it’s not a huge leap to imagine that Netflix and other streaming services  – with their irresistible promises of an easy movie night in, without long drives to the theater or expensive babysitting arrangements – may have had a hand in squeezing out mid-budget films like romcoms. 

“Romantic comedies will stay – they’re just going to look a bit different than they might have traditionally even 20 years ago.”

It’s a bit ironic, then, that Netflix is now proving to be, if not the genre’s savior, at least one of its loudest champions. 

However, Broadlie believes romcoms are a perfect fit for Netflix precisely because it isn’t a major studio chasing monster hit after monster it. Rather than aim their films at “everybody in the world,” he explains, “we can get a significant portion of that and still be very successful.”

(Plus, Netflix and chill is a thing for a reason. “You can sit on your coach with your significant other and cuddle,” he noted.)

At the same time, Netflix’s romance menu seems designed to offer a little something for just about everyone. In the mood for teen hijinks? Give Alex Strangelove a shot. Hungry for more Asian or Muslim representation? Try To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before or Ali’s Wedding. Prefer rom-dram to rom-com? The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society might be for you.

It’s that diversity of focus that Johnson believes will be the key to the genre’s future. “Romantic comedies will stay – they’re just going to look a bit different than they might have traditionally even 20 years ago,” she said. What she finds “exciting,” she noted, is that “everyone’s feeling free to tell their story, their love story, their version of a romantic comedy.”

And although not all summer romances are built to last, Netflix, for its part, seems ready to commit to a lasting relationship with the romantic comedy genre. 

“We’re going to make it a life of romance, not just a summer,” teased Broadlie. “You should definitely watch this space for more of them after the summer’s over. For sure.”