Screwball vs. Romantic Comedy

[David]

A friend of mine was just telling me that folks have a strange opinion of what a screwball comedy is (or was, I guess he meant). He opined that what it isn't is a bunch of cartoon people frantically crashing into furniture, &c. It's not Bobby Clark or Benny Hill. He added that, while a budding romance is at the center, Groucho and Margaret don't fit the screwball parameters.

My friend said that one problem is the blurred line between screwball and romantic comedy. Obviously the boy--girl thing figures in both, but there's a flippant approach to the former that's generally absent in romantic comedy.

He added that WHEN HARRY MET SALLY is a romantic comedy because they're quite serious underneath the charming goofiness. Contrast that with HIS GIRL FRIDAY: Walter is still "wonderful in a loathsome sort of way."



What do you guys think? Although I think the line between romantic & screwball is blurry, too, I buy my friend's overall distinction. By extension, I consider MY MAN GODFREY primarily romantic (Godfrey is wounded in love in a serious way). But what of PALM BEACH STORY, where romantic relationships in Palm Beach are screwy but the marriage-in-trouble story is serious? This is why genre is only an assist; these categories never hold up as laws.

My friend also said that most screwballs are female-driven (there's probably a master's thesis in that just waiting to be submitted to a dissertation committee). I would add that many dozens of them from the 1930s involve heiresses & the consequent social commentary on the divide between rich & poor/working class, as you would expect from Depression-era comedies (e.g., EASY LIVING).

More blurriness between genre once you consider that some heiress comedies involve social/class commentary & serious romance but are not specifically screwball (e.g., IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, ALICE ADAMS). And what's this?! Some social/class commentary commedies are neither primarily screwball nor romantic comedy (e.g., YOU'RE TELLING ME).



Where would you place a film like George Stevens's THE MORE THE MERRIER?