Brace yourself for another romantic comedy about a woman whose cynical approach to love is deemed unacceptable, and so must change. This time, it will be titled The Competition, and will star Golden Globe nominee Thora Birch (Ghost World), with Harvey Lowry (A Play On Words) in the director’s chair. The possible saving grace for this one is that Birch is also on board as producer, along with Jasmine Fontes, and Kelsey Tucker – who wrote the script.
So, what is the groundbreaking plot of this independent movie? Well, a woman finds blogging success in the promotion of a theory that recommends her female readers should end their relationships after six months, in order to “avoid heartache.” She cannot be allowed to continue pedalling such a chilly social attitude, however, and so an attorney challenges her to a competition designed to disprove her troublesome theory.
Director Harvey Lowry expressed his passion for the project while announcing the involvement of Thora Birch.
“It’s a very funny, heartwarming romantic comedy set in the Pacific Northwest. We are very excited to have Thora Birch and other very talented actors on this film.”
Those “other very talented actors” referred to by Lowry apparently include Chris Klein (Authors Anonymous). This suggests that the lawyer in this plot outline is indeed male, which makes the whole thing even less interesting – not because he is a man, specifically, but because this character choice makes the rest of the project entirely predictable.
There are several things we can surmise from the small amount of information so far released about The Competition. Firstly, it seems fairly obvious that – since this is a romantic comedy – the ‘anti-romance’ theory being promoted by the blogger is considered to be wrong. Her theory is one that regards ‘romance’ as a minefield, through which women must carefully pick their way – protecting themselves at all costs, at all times. This is clearly bad for men and the patriarchal construct from which they benefit, so this blogger must be brought back in line. After all, not all men cause heartache, am I right? Sometimes, a girl can be lucky enough to stumble upon a Good Guy who restores her faith in Love.
Secondly, unless The Competition features a giant plot twist in which it is revealed that she was right all along, then this film will almost certainly follow the age-old plot arc of “Emotionally Damaged Woman is saved from herself by Good Guy.” Make no mistake, the premise of this movie reads like Not All Men – The Movie, and we can only hope that the fact that it is written by a woman, and produced by women will add at least a little sharpness to what currently seem to be incredibly dull edges.
