Comedian’s top 5 romantic comedies set in New York
Mike Birbiglia, a stand-up comic with a sleep disorder, stars in, co-writes and makes his directing debut with “Sleepwalk With Me,” which is about … a stand-up comic with a sleep disorder.
Below, in his own (very funny) words, Birbiglia chooses his five favorite romantic comedies set in New York City:
“Big” (1988): This film was my introduction to New York-based films and actually New York City at all. Once I saw this, I knew that I, too, would be destined for a penthouse Manhattan apartment with trampolines, pinball machines and bunk beds. The romance with Elizabeth Perkins is believable and laugh-out-loud funny. It’s also heartbreaking, and makes me cry every time I’ve seen it.
“Moonstruck” (1987):
“When Harry Met Sally” (1989): C’mon. Is every scene in this movie perfect? Yes. I could watch this movie over and over on a loop. The time lapses are, for me, what make this film really work, because we truly believe that this oil-and-water couple will stay together and they ought to.
“Metropolitan” (1990): I saw this film in high school, and I watch and rewatch it now like it’s an old friend. It’s about this very specific debutante culture in Manhattan, but because the protagonist is the outsider, we feel like it’s our movie, too. We’re the outsider who has a crush on the incredible, Molly Ringwald-esque Carolyn Farina.
“Annie Hall” (1977): I saw this film in college when I was first studying screenwriting and starting out as a comic. It’s funny, it’s emotional and it’s unafraid. I was so struck when I saw it that it found the beauty in a breakup as opposed to wallowing in it. It also traffics in an area so specific — a neurotic, Jewish comedian — but yet it feels so universal.
