This post containers spoilers for Love – but the show is over 5 years old so it feels like a legitimate move. Also slight spoilers for three other Judd Apatow films.
I recently rewatched the TV show Love, a three season comedy-drama from Judd Apatow which ran from 2016 to 2018. It was as good watching it the second time as it was the first – it’s still smart, funny and good-hearted.
It tells the story of the coming together, falling apart and ultimately coming back together of Mickey, a chaotic alcoholic and sex addict, and Gus an awkward and needy teacher. It’s a classic romance; a central love story, flawed protagonists and a happy ever after. And yet it presents as a crude and lewd comedy. It is of course both, and that’s the genius of it.
I love the vulnerability of Mickey as she navigates her terrible relationships with her ex-boyfriends and family. I love Gus’s frustrations as he attempts to kick start his screen writing career and negotiates his relationship with his demanding employer, a teenage star of a second rate TV show. And I love how it all flips on its head at the end and Gus is revealed to be every bit as unstable as Mickey – he just wraps it all up in fake niceness. And of course I love the happy ending – the last scene is one of the most perfect scenes I’ve seen on TV. I love Love.
I know Judd Apatow is controversial and has (probably justifiably) been accused of sexism and homophobia. But he makes glorious romances for people who don’t even like romance and probably don’t know they are watching one. It’s romance for the unromantic. It’s undercover romance. It’s romance hidden under the bedclothes, and because it’s Judd Apatow, someone has farted under those sheets.
I love a lot of his other stuff as well, and a lot of it is romance or at least romance adjacent. My favourites are:
- 40 Year Old Virgin – terrible title but beautiful romance. It’s upbeat and surprisingly sweet and Steve Carrell plays the uber-awkward lead wonderfully.
- Trainwreck – Amy Schumer is a chaotic disaster of a journalist, an amazing character, and has her happy ever after with Bill Hader’s sports physio.
- The King of Staten Island – Not a romance but strong romantic elements, and the lead character is one of the best portrayals of ADHD I’ve ever in film – when, in the opening scene, he drives down the freeway with his eyes closed, you know that he is very very neurospicy. And it has the happy ending again – happy for now at least.
I understand why many won’t like Judd Apatow films, you need to be up for the crudity of them, but love or hate them, they are a fantastic examples of how diverse the romance genre is. Sure, romance has its strict genre conventions, but within that you can do what you want, and it can end up being Pride and Prejudice or Trainwreck. They are all part of the same big happy romantic family.
