With its release on YouTube, audiences worldwide can experience a fresh, new film that rewrites the RomCom genre, with elements of comedy, drama, action & noir.

TEMPE, AZ, UNITED STATES, March 18, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Much ado has been made in the media about the resurrection of the RomCom, with recent articles in The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and Slate discussing the comatose state of the genre. Unanimously, the publications are pulling for a great comeback to the heyday of movies like "When Harry Met Sally" and "Romancing the Stone".

And while the Hollywood machine has realized that the genre has gone stale, studios have been gingerly dipping their toes back into the pool, making attempts at revitalizing the date-night movie, with offerings such as "Marry Me" with Jennifer Lopez and "I Want You Back". While this is a good start, it's still not enough to overcome how the RomCom genre itself has fallen onto hard times in recent years.

Steady offerings on cable channels have contributed mightily to the genre being completely defanged and declawed, with often-recycled plot lines, modest budgets, rote predictability, and vanilla characters contributing to the descent. Romantic comedies were once cash cows for the studios, because they could be made relatively inexpensively, and if the film was well-done and had the right talent, could be depended upon to make a killing at the box office. But in the era of CGI extravaganzas and superhero movies, the beloved RomCom has taken a back seat to chasing the big bucks that Hollywood executives seem to relentlessly seek out with tentpole films.

With rare and tentative forays into RomComs by traditional big studios, it's the indie film scene that has been left to carry the RomCom torch, while bringing fresh, new narratives to genre aficionados. One independent film addresses these issues, while bringing a much-needed reset to how these stories can be told.

Recently named one of the "Best Independent Films of 2021" by Marie Asner of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, and averaging 4.5/5 stars on Amazon Prime, "The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater" is a perfect example of a genre-redefining film.

Romantic comedies must have two standard tropes: the couple must meet in the beginning of the film. Roger Ebert called it the "meet-cute", and the couple must end up together by the end of the film. It's everything in-between that can make a story magical and fresh, or in the case of scores of recent romcoms, dull and lifeless.

"The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater" ups the ante of the narrative by having unique characters in completely unexpected situations, where the stakes can literally be life and death. Screenwriter and star Lorrisa Julianus set about writing a RomCom that she would like to see, and in the process, created a standard by which the genre can be judged in the future.

The film tells the tale of Ava Moriarty, an art history PhD candidate and reluctant dominatrix who desperately wants a reset in her life. When some very questionable personal and business issues arise, she is forced into an impossible position that requires her to repay a massive loan within 30 days. With no way to reacquire her money, she is forced into a scandalous scheme that involves a mysterious Episcopal priest who has deep secrets of his own.

"There are genuine consequences to the choices my characters make," Ms. Julianus mused. "I didn't want to follow predictable storylines, and as a writer, I wanted to add some deeper reflections into the human condition within the context of the story. Big laughs have largely gone missing in most recent RomComs (that I've seen), and I wanted to change that too."

"But even more than adding comedy back into the RomCom, I wanted parts of my story to be completely unexpected and to have more literate qualities like metaphors as part of the narrative. The tale has elements of feminism, self-actualization, toxic masculinity, understanding and forgiveness, religion, gay rights, and even art history. There is a lot going on, and it's a deliberate approach. We always wanted to assume the audience's intelligence in telling our stories."

Ms. Julianus' husband, and the film's director/producer C.J. Julianus added, "Lorrisa and I are movie fans, and we wanted to craft a movie that appealed to our own sensibilities. Any film that delights us with unexpected twists and turns is something that we always appreciate, and far too often we wind up disappointed. With 'The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater', we feel that we've accomplished our goal of creating a fun, unexpected film, while combining comedy, drama and noir into a movie that has the opportunity to reinvigorate romantic comedies".

And with its worldwide release on YouTube, "The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater" now has the opportunity to reach millions of viewers that the film may have struggled to find previously.

Mr. Julianus continued, "YouTube is ubiquitous these days for movie watching. People don't ask 'what's on TV tonight?" anymore. Instead, they say, 'what's on the computer tonight?'. Folks now watch content on their computer, mobile device, or Smart TV. Now our beautiful film can reach people everywhere, and we are VERY pleased about that."

"The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater" can be viewed free on YouTube with commercials, and can also be seen on Amazon Prime, Tubi, GooglePlay, AppleTV, and IMDbTV.

Todd Bennett
The Claw News
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The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater

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