In last month’s breakdown of Inside Out, I talked about the emerging new Female Myth. Trainwreck is a big first step toward Amy Schumer fulfilling that role for comedy. Schumer is a classic example of a comedy writer with lots of natural talent, matched with tremendous experience in s

Spoiler alert: this breakdown divulges some of the plot. American Hustle is a fun, if overly long, time at the movies. It uses all kinds of  narrative smoke and mirrors to tell its classically American tale, but ultimately it’s a bit hollow inside. To see how this film works, we have

Recently, I experienced one of those moments of serendipity where the contrast of two cultural events leads to some surprising insights. Within a few days of each other, I saw the final episode of The Bachelor, followed by the French Canadian film Starbuck. The Bachelor tracked, in it

Intouchables is the “feel good” movie of the year. When I first heard about this true story of a quadriplegic and his caretaker, I resisted seeing it because it sounded like such a downer. Word of mouth said the film was successful because of the fine acting and sensitive directing. W

Date Night is a so-so comedy thriller. For those wishing to master the screenwriting craft that’s a good thing, because you can often learn the most from a movie that isn’t too good or too bad. Its strengths and its flaws are easier to see.  With stars Steve Carrell and Ti

Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner accomplish a rare feat in Up in the Air, which is to write a transcendent romantic comedy. In all my genre classes, I talk about the importance of transcending your form, of hitting all the required story beats but also twisting them so the story is or

Comedy is the most under-estimated of all genres. Most writers think they can write a good movie comedy if they’re funny. They think all you have to do is string together a lot of jokes and gags and you’ll have a successful comedy script. How wrong they are. It’s not

Burn After Reading was already in progress when the Coen brothers began work on No Country for Old Men — which, of course, went on to win the Oscar. The latest film was supposed to be a return to the lighter side, which doesn’t exist in the Coen’s world. Burn After R

I often find that the easiest films from which to learn professional storytelling techniques are the mediocre ones, where both strengths and weaknesses are clear. Certainly that’s the case with Definitely, Maybe, a romantic comedy that offers us all kinds of lessons. This is the story

Yet another Apatow-branded comedy is a surprise hit at the box office – but are we really still surprised? Freaks and Geeks alum Jason Segel makes his writing debut with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, an R-rated romantic comedy that would have been better if we didn’t already