“Think Like A Man” crew attempts rare feat with romantic comedy sequel or “Why no one’s tried making a sequel to ‘Boomerang,’ “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” or “The Proposal.”
With an impressive $91 million haul this year, Screen Gems announced a sequel is in the works for “Think Like a Man” that will once again be written by Keith Merryman and David Newman and produced by Steve Harvey.
Granted there’s no guarantee that Megan Good, Gabrielle Union or any of the cast from this year’s hit film will return for a sequel, but any movie with Good or Union is worth at least one viewing from me. I loved the first movie and the different dynamics of couples, but I’m not sure how essential a sequel is as the ending wraps up all the subplots nicely enough.
This got me thinking of how many romantic comedies I’ve enjoyed that had sequels. I suppose you could count “Father of the Bride,” “Grumpy Old Men” and “Legally Blonde,” but those are all fairly big stretches as the romance aspect was merely a subplot for the larger comedy.
Confession time: I like good romantic comedies and have a decent sized collection on DVD and Blu-Ray, but after the credits rolled I can’t say I felt any desire to see what happens next for Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey’s characters in “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” or where Paula Patton and Laz Alonzo’s characters go after they finished “Jumping the Broom.”
Audiences want the illusion that every couple they invest two hours in will enjoy their happily ever after. Returning to them in a sequel likely means something is going to mess up that picture-perfect ending before they ultimately get back together.
Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo can spawn sequel after sequel but there’s only so many ways a couple can have disagreements, take a break/separate before the dramatic reunion and declaration of love for one another. Take all the critics who said “The Hangover Part II” was too similar to the original and multiply that by a hundred for a romantic comedy sequel so it’ll be very interesting to see how Harvey and company give us a compelling reason to think like a man again.
