The Multi-Part Harmony of the Screwball Comedy
by Kimberley Allen McNamara
The Screwball comedy is named after a baseball pitch. The screwball pitch starts like other fast breaking pitches; it looks like it will break in one direction but then breaks in the opposite direction. The player is caught off guard and swings toward where they believe the pitch will break and whiffs. Strike! The screwball pitch is not what is expected; the Screwball Comedy is also unexpected. Punctuated with rapid repartee, farce-like situations, disparity between economic classes, marriage plot lines; it is to some extent a parody of the Romantic Comedy. (tvtropes.org)
1. The Screwball Comedy usually skirts a marriage plot line. This marriage plot line hinges on the female lead choosing to enter a romance on her terms; she may be pursued but she is the one that directs the relationship. She is strong-willed, independent and wants to embrace her passions/career. The Screwball Comedy marriage plot line differs greatly from the entertaining19th century marriage plots of Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice, and MiddleMarch.
You may argue that Elizabeth Bennett comes close to the modern star of the Screwball Comedy (she is head strong, she has no desire to be married although she doesn’t discount wanting a love interest, and she is passionate about the few things she is allowed in the 19th century to be passionate about: books and walks and remember this is all possible because Elizabeth’s upbringing is unorthodox and allowed for such passions). But dear reader remember, Pride & Prejudice is a novel of manners not of .
2. In film/plays/television shows, the lead female character is usually 2-3 beats ahead of the lead male character. The Screwball Comedy satirizes the traditional marriage plot; the woman is the star, and the man is the satellite. If he is successful, he becomes more than the satellite but he will never burns as bright, only burns alongside our heroine.
The golden age of the Screwball Comedy with its strong, independent female leads is noted as originating from 1934 through 1950s. Bringing Up Baby starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant is cited often as a classic Screwball Comedy. Other famous ones include: It Happened One Night starring Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, The Philadelphia Story also starring Hepburn and Grant with the addition of Jimmy Stewart. More recently, the Coen brothers have incorporated screwball comedic elements into: Intolerable Cruelty, Hail Caesar, and The Hudsucker Proxy. Kristen Wig’s Bridesmaids is considered a Screwball Comedy given its style and ‘marriage plot’. Written by and starring Wig, it was a top grossing film in 2011.
The Coen brothers and Wig tapped the screwball comedic elements: of strong women, witty dialogue, self-awareness, class disparity, societal pressure, and marriage. The Screwball Comedy has evolved to include perhaps darker comic or dramatic elements (suicide, divorce) while retaining the quintessential elements of a Screwball Comedy.
In television shows the Screwball Comedy is perhaps most evident in the works of Amy Sherman-Palladino. Sherman-Palladino’s writing style as witnessed in Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel relies:
· Strong independent female characters
· Plots of Self-Awareness
· Societal pursuits to make the world better
· Rapid-fire dialogue [Wildsound Festival June 17, 2025]
In Gilmore Girls, Sherman-Palladino embeds the dialogue with literary and pop cultural references. The female leads (Lorelai and Rory) are always several steps ahead of their male counterparts who struggle to keep up, and those do match these women stride for stride, or close to it, are successful: Luke and Jess are in it for the long haul; sorry, Max, Christopher, Logan and Dean you were out-paced. ** Lane and Zach, Sookie and Jackson although subplot couples also reflect this tandem tug-of-war of wit and will. Fittingly, Midge Maisel winds up with her manager Susie, a friendship for the ages, the relationship to survive her career.
3. The Screwball Comedy motif as found in current books:
Search for screwball comedy as found in books and you will get discussion boards on Reddit, direction to the films noted above, the short reference film by Wildsound Festival, and tvtropes.org, also Goodreads notations which lean heavily toward rom-com. The following are my offerings:
Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger: Filled with witty dialogue that spotlights highbrow (literary) and lowbrow (pop) cultural references, the fast pace of the omniscient narrator, and the old movie quotes are some of its attributes. Barnes & Noble, in fact, touts the novel as a screwball comedy. Plus, it checks the other boxes: independent women, (Lila, Grace, Ruth, Frances and even, Zelda decide how they will be defined), class disparity, marriage plot lines, and social issues worth examination (religion, regional differences: northerners vs southerners, women’s rights, politics). “The awareness that each conversation might have its roots in our real world adds a little something to this already engaging novel.” (Jane T. Krebs)
The Wedding People by Allison Espeach is another novel that embraces rapid repartee, particularly between the two female leads: Phoebe and Lila, which is wonderfully authentic and entertaining. The male leads (Gary and Jim) manage to tread water alongside these dynamic women. There are marriage plot lines, escapism themes, highbrow (literary) and lowbrow (pop) cultural references. The human issues of depression, grief, and anxiety are faced and voiced with acute precision. As noted on the author’s website, the novel is “uproariously, absurdly funny, and devastatingly tender”.
The Screwball Comedy is a genre that embraces strong, independent female leads, social issues, follows marriage plot lines, chance encounters, with signature wit-infused rapid dialogue. Suffice to say, it is alive and well. Look for this multi-part harmony in books, films, and shows.
*Please note: this article does not address the Screwball comedy as it pertains to LGBTQ+ novels or films but see My Favorite Wife.
**Season Two, Episode 3 Gilmore Girls (I believe Sherman-Palladino includes this on point dialogue so the unaware viewer who is not unlike the clueless reader gets a clear picture of the Gilmores) Dean, boyfriend of Rory, explains Rory and Lorelai to Max, Lorelai’s fiancé.
DEAN: Their eating habits are just the start of what you're gonna have to get used to. There's tons of stuff you should be aware of.
MAX: Really?
DEAN: Oh yeah. Like, don't ever use the last of the parmesan cheese. And never get into a heavy discussion late at night 'cause that's when they're at their crankiest. Oh, and uh, go with their bits.
MAX: Their bits?
DEAN: Yeah, like, if you're eating pizza with them and Lorelai decides that the pepperoni is angry at the mushrooms because the mushrooms have an attitude and then she holds up a pepperoni and the pepperoni asks for your opinion...don't just laugh. Answer the pepperoni.
MAX: Answer the pepperoni.
DEAN: And don't let them near puppies 'cause they'll want to take home every one.
MAX: Oh, that one I knew.
DEAN: Oh, and uh, here's a big one. If you ever think that they're doing something crazy, they're not. You see, after a while, their thinking becomes clear, but by the time it's clear, they've already done two other totally crazy things that you can't figure out. So there's no catching up.
(read more of transcript here)
