Thinking Inside the Box

Last night I watched The Hangover (written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, directed by Todd Phillips). It wasn't the best comedy I've seen this year - that honour goes to I Love You Man (reviewed here) - but it was a close contest.

Neither film attempts to reinvent the wheel, but both are thoroughly enjoyable. Both possess likable leads, a compelling premise and enough hilarious one-liners and set-pieces to keep the audience laughing throughout.

Films like this make me realise that it's okay to think inside the box sometimes. That while pushing the boundaries of film/theatre/comics/novels/whatever and revolutionising the way we think about storytelling are noble, even necessary aspirations, writers aren't obligated to think so radically within every single project they approach.

Look at superhero films. In particular, look at the two most popular superhero films of last year: The Dark Knight and Iron Man. The Dark Knight (written by Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer, directed by Christopher Nolan) was ground breaking, at least within the superhero genre, and it deserved all the success that came its way. Iron Man (written by Mark Fergus & Hawk Otsby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, directed by Jon Favreau) was a much more straightforward affair. Nothing about the plot of that film was unexpected; it centred on a selfish protagonist becoming selfless (Spider-Man, Wolverine) who was spurred into action by a surprise tragedy (Batman, Spider-Man), then goes on to confront a villain who is essentially a bigger, badder version of themselves (Hulk/Abomination, Spider-Man/Venom) but who used to be the hero's mentor (the first two Spider-Man films, Batman Begins).

Iron Man, however, approached this by-the-numbers story with three dimensional characters, energetic pacing, strong performances and exciting action. In short - like I Love You Man or The Hangover - it was a simple story, told well.

In saying all of this, the last thing I want to imply is that writers can rest on their laurels, knowing they can fall back on a few basics to carry their story through. If anything, writers working within a simple, familiar story should be working even harder. They have to stand out amongst all of the mediocre examples of their chosen genre, and to do so their execution must be as polished as it can possibly be. For every Iron Man there's a Spider-Man 3; for every Jaws a Jaws 2.

And with that, I'm going to go write my charming little romantic comedy.