Tomb

Ladies, I'll let you in on a little secret. Guys are perfectly willing to watch romantic comedies. Honest, we are. Everybody likes comedy, and most of the films Hollywood puts out have at least some romance. If either “romance” or “comedy” puts us off, we'd never go to the movies at all. So, why do we drag our feet when you try to make us watch The Joy Luck Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? Because there's a big difference between a “romantic comedy” and a “chick flick.”

The only male characters in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) are either pushovers who do whatever the women tell them to do, or else they're actually evil. This is a hard sell for male audiences. We want the same thing that female audiences want. Give us male characters we can relate to; characters written by somebody who may have actually met a man.

A chick flick contains many elements of the romantic comedy, but alienates male audiences. It's the same kind of thing that guy m,ovies” have been doing for years. Plenty of guy movies have underdeveloped female characters who serve as eye candy, untrustworthy seducers, or brainless damsels-in-distress. We get that this is a weakness of guy movies, and we get why women object to them. If you add believable and relatable female characters to a guy movie, you'd get the same results as if you added believable and relatable male characters to a chick flick. You'd get a great movie, something everybody likes.

When men and women see films together, the only arguments happen when there isn't a great movie available, which is, sadly, a lot of the time. Usually we must pick between a mediocre film with exploding helicopters or a mediocre film with a climactic makeover scene. Negotiation is encouraged in these circumstances. (“OK honey, we'll watch the Bette Midler film, but you owe me a Chuck Norris next time.”)

Fortunately, filmmakers like Judd Apatow are cluing in to the fact that relationship stories can still work brilliantly for male audiences. Some attempts at “romantic comedies for guys” still fail due to weak plotting and characterization (see Made of Honor, 2008, or better yet, don't.). Still, there are plenty of successes to celebrate. Here's a quick rundown of some of my favourites.

• The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005). Apatow cemented his reputation as a brilliant writer/director/producer with this excellent romantic comedy that actually remembers the “comedy” part. Male and female audiences flocked to it, indicating that this guy is clearly on to something.

• There’s Something About Mary (1998). Much of the praise directed at The 40 Year Old Virgin also applies to this sweet-natured yet kind of insane comedy from the Farrelly brothers. Hey, it turns out that spunk in the hair and electrocuted dog jokes work for male and female audiences! Who knew?

• The Princess Bride (1987). OK, so the romance between Princess Buttercup and Westley isn't that convincing, but the sword fighting sure is. Throw in a polite Andre the Giant, a cackling Wallace Shawn, a vengeful Mandy Patinkin and a daffy Billy Crystal, and there's not much to complain about here.

• Run Fatboy Run (2007). Who the hell dumps a gorgeous Thandie Newton at the altar? That kind of thing would make us hate Simon Pegg's character if he weren't haunted by the same question himself. His woefully inadequate attempts to win back her affections five years later by running in a charity marathon results in a hilarious and endearing film.

• Chasing Amy (1997). Even tears, heartbreak and regret can entertain guys if they're done properly, and writer-director Kevin Smith does it beautifully here. Don't worry; there are still plenty of rude jokes.

• I Love You, Man (2009). Who could have guessed that a simple film about plain-old friendship could have turned out this good? (Oh right, women could have guessed. We'll give you that one.) Paul Rudd and Jason Segel actually make us root for emotional closeness, while simultaneously making us laugh our asses off. I love you too, man!