Movies from the Heart—Something’s Gotta Give

I love Christmas movies—and last week’s Love Actually is a favorite. But another favorite category for me is movies where the relationships happen in these great houses.

Am I twisted? Well, maybe. But I think it’s kind of universal to fantasize about beautiful homes and imagine what it would be like to live in one. And the movies are replete with homes that don’t seem totally impractical—they’re not Versailles or something—but they’re usually interesting and lovely.

Something’s Gotta Give, by Nancy Meyers, is one of those films. I don’t mean to imply that a film is good if it has great sets, but the way the sets are used to underscore character and lifestyle can make a film pop.

Take a look at a trailer for the film.

The main character, Erica, a playwright, has a great house. It’s on the beach with a fabulous kitchen, and when she writes, her desk faces a spectacular view. It’s a dream home and one most people would be happy to live in.

But as the writer of a film like this, you wouldn’t spend a lot of time describing that house. In fact, the fewer words you use, the better. But you do want to evoke the feel of the house so that the set decorator can give it the ambiance you want. Houses say a lot about the people who live in them, and just as you create a multi-layered character, you need to think about the place they live in and give that dimension as well.

It was necessary to have this house be one where you could accidentally meet someone in the hallway, even if your rooms were far apart. And this is what happens to Erica and Harry—and it also gives us yet another comedic moment in this strong romantic comedy.

Too often, when you see a romantic comedy and it’s clear from the casting and the poster that it’s a triangle love story, you know who the main character is going to end up with because of their stature as a star. The nice thing about Something’s Gotta Give is that you have two male characters—a younger one and an older one—and both are of a certain stature that you feel it might NOT be obvious who she’ll end up with. And this is totally what you’re going for as a writer.

You want to keep your audience guessing. You want them to root for one guy, then think about it, and change their mind and root for the other guy. This makes it more fun to watch the film and, I promise you, it makes it more fun for you to write it!

Next week, we’re on to a bit of a different kind of romance in The Notebook.

Copyright © Diane Lake

23Jun24

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