With movies finally and consistently rebounding in theaters, we’ve recently been wondering if R-rated comedies can return to cinemas, too. The genre has been relegated to streaming over the last few years, but once upon a time, comedies, even R-rated ones, could consistently deliver solid box office (Seth Rogen propped up the genre in the 2010s, but now, even his movies debut direct to streaming). Jennifer Lawrence is testing the theatrical waters for R-rated comedies this summer with No Hard Feelings, and there is that mysterious R-rated rom-com filming in Australia starring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, too.
In another positive, pro-grown-up sex comedy development, sex-rom-com The End of Sex from Vortex Media has a Canadian trailer, following its 2022 premiere at TIFF. It stars Schitt’s Creek’s Emily Hampshire and Jonas Chernick (who also wrote the script) as a long-monogamous couple feeling a distinct lack of chemistry in their relationship. In a bid to rekindle the flame, they go on an odyssey of sexual exploration, so it’s like if Eyes Wide Shut was a rom-com.
The film also stars Melanie Scrofano, whom you may know as Wyonna Earp, or the insatiably horny Mrs. McMurray on Letterkenny. Seeing her and Emily Hampshire together on screen is just reminding me that we never got a Schitt’s Creek/Letterkenny crossover episode. Are crossovers not a thing in Canada? Or are they just another victim of the streaming era and the de-emphasis on sweeps week? (Lainey: the answer here is… different networks.)
I am encouraged by not only the return of the rom-com, but specifically the R-rated rom-com, the sex-rom-com, however you want to call it. Grown up movies about grown-ups: we need more of them, especially after two solid decades of childhood nostalgia driving popular entertainment. Also, I just like watching Emily Hampshire on screen. She got a little overshadowed in the later seasons of Schitt’s Creek as the series focused less on the Rose family’s adventures in this weird little town, and more specifically on the Rose family growing up and moving onto the next phase of their lives, but Hampshire is a delight to watch on screen. She has an energy that reminds me of the some of the great cinematic tomboys, like Joanne Woodward and Meg Ryan. I will not be mad if Emily Hampshire is the 21st century answer to Meg Ryan.
Attached - Emily at the premiere of Yellowjackets last month.
