What Makes A Rom-Com's First Kiss So Magical?

We’re deep in the October scares, however it wasn’t that long ago that Netflix was serving us one romantic comedy soon after another, dubbing 2018 the Summer of Love and giving new life to the genre that had previously fallen flat at the box office.


Over 80 million viewers tuned in to root for the women who generally don’t get the guy as they lightly drifted through dreamy meet-cutes to steamy first kisses — the latter of which routinely being swoon-worthy enough to mark our calendars for the next rom-com's premiere.


Netflix reported that they are already hard at work on their next batch of fluttery flicks, so while we wait (and continue to rewatch last summer’s faves), MTV News examines what made those first kisses so completely captivating that we kept coming back for more.


FIREWORKS: The Kissing Booth


A fantastic first kiss is supposed to create you visualize fireworks, and we literally do in The Kissing Booth any time Elle (Joey King) and Noah (Jacob Elordi) lock lips for the opening time at the eponymous carnival game.


Leading up to that moment, Elle did not think about all sparks between them as Noah, in his own way, showed how much he cared for the girl he grew up with — yet their fiery kiss ignited a flame also big to disregard. “It sort of set the full story on track then, between them,” author Beth Reekles described of the moment.


Thinking back on the scene she had scripted eight years back, Reekles thinks the portrayal was absolutely brilliant — thanks, in large part, to the flashy pyrotechnics. “I just didn’t know how they were going to do that on screen without the internal monologue that goes on in the book,” she mentioned. “And the way it was with the music and the fireworks and the lights bursting, I just feel really happy thinking about it now.”


MUSIC: Sierra Burgess Is a Loser


Honestly, what’s the point of living indoors a rom-com if there isn’t a killer soundtrack backing every milestone? Music sets the mood and cues the audience give attention to either the romance or the comedy at any given moment in the story.


Leland, the songwriter and producer beyond hits from Troye Sivan and Selena Gomez, kept that in mind as he scored Sierra Burgess Is a Loser. “I want music that only takes the emotion I’m feeling and turns it up,” he said.


Sierra (Shannon Purser) and Jamey’s (Noah Centineo) big first kiss — or, more accurately, the initial kiss throughout which both parties are aware that they are kissing each other — is unique for a rom-com, in that it’s only the initial of the two major get-togethers that close the movie, the other being Sierra and Veronica’s (Kristine Froseth) reconciliation.


To create the sense that both relationships are similarly key to the story, Leland wove them with each other with a solitary song. “From the moment they kiss, that’s once the movie begins to wrap up, so there needed to be this feeling musically that the film was wrapping up and that the film was wrapping up beautifully,” Leland mentioned. To carry out that, he wanted a sound that was “upbeat and celebratory, anthemic, and something that felt 80s-inspired,” and so was place on Earth throwback bop “Middle of Love.”


PASSION: To All of the Men I’ve Loved Before


Chemistry wasn’t exactly a supply for To All of the Gentlemen I’ve Loved Before’s charismatic leads, Lana Condor and Centineo, nevertheless on the day of a first kiss, the vibe needs to be so electric that it doesn’t even matter that it took testing roughly 35 nightgowns in a hot tub before finding the best one, or that all of the pretty snowy mountain shots had to be abandoned because of a unexpected heat wave in the middle of their ski trip shoot.


to prepare ensure Lara Jean (Condor) and Peter (Centineo) would bring the love the day of their romantic hot tub kiss, director Susan Johnson built up tension by keeping their faces apart throughout rehearsal. “I think letting that moment happen for the initial time while the cameras were rolling feels like real life,” she said.


To further illustrate how tentative that beginning magic would be, Johnson recalled the marked difference between shooting their sweet first kiss and shooting their final kiss on the field: “They were literally having that scene and then they would eat cheeseburgers in between each shot,” she mentioned. "That’s how comfortable they were with each other."


DESTINY: Set It Up


Because the initial kiss indicates a new chapter in the lives of the story’s leads, the audience needs to feel a sense of destiny. In Set It Up, right before their first kiss, Harper (Zoey Deutch) and Charlie (Glen Powell) neatly recap fate’s inner-workings framed by the “you like because, you love despite” bit from earlier in the movie, showing that they’ve been right for each other all along.


Then, to extend that meant-to-be feeling, as Harper and Charlie finally fall into each other’s arms, the camera moves into a classic rom-com swoop — first tightening on the couple, then gliding above their heads, showing all the passersby in Bryant Park and landing along the New York City skyline.


Director Claire Scanlon employed this particular camera movement to remind the audience that “it’s not just about Charlie and Harper,” she mentioned. “This is a universal story, we all have a story to tell.”


And isn't that what the romantic comedy is all about, to assist us recognize that love is all around and can take place to anyone at any moment?