Confessions of a Closet Romantic

Send us Fan Mail It's the season: bring on the witchy energy. These movies could be called dark romcoms, because they center romantic love in their plots, and they're often funny, but it's a corrupted or disappointing love, with witches as the main characters scrambling to find their power and the right sorcery for success, illegal illicit or otherwise. On the way to making us laugh...

Send us Fan Mail It took me a long time to check out this sport romance, but to say I was knocked over by this inventive, dramatic, erotic story is an understatement. It's about a threesome, a love triangle, sport prodigies, early promise, the pursuit of excellence, the thrill and disappointments of growing up, playing the game of life and love, sex as the game and the game being mostly about...

Send us Fan Mail Mismatched family cultures, personal values and beliefs: most romantic couples can relate. The sexy atheist and the hot rabbi at the center of this funny and often deep and touching fish out of water romcom dodge devastating zingers, doubtful friends, meddling families, sarcastic siblings, and a culture that just doesn't want one of them, but their sparkling chemistry and fai...

Send us Fan Mail (I'm taking a little break over the next few weeks because my sweetie is coming to visit! See you in October). This month, I'm celebrating the fourth anniversary of my podcast! After more than 100 episodes, I had sunk into a tiny romance slump — then I discovered these romcom parodies, poking gentle but hilarious fun at romance tropes (do grown women always trip and fall...

Send us Fan Mail I've been feeling a bit under the weather, while also preparing for my sweetie's upcoming visit (a much longer visit this time), and my heart's full of romance and  thoughts about when we first fell in love. So it's the perfect time to replay my episode about Cyrano, Joe Wright's lush romantic musical version of the classic Cyrano de Bergerac story. Every...

Send us Fan Mail Being single — whether it's a temporary identity or permanent — is valid life choice, but it doesn't often feel that way in our society. Living a romantic life can mean being part of a couple, and also includes being unpartnered, child free, parenting a pet, and falling in love with yourself. Some brave real life artists and fictional characters of the 19th and early 20t...

Send us Fan Mail The 4th anniversary of the show is coming up, and I have learned so much about myself and my desires while making this podcast. I appreciate every listener, and also feel so grateful for the journey I've been on, taking a closer look at some of the best romances in books and on screen. So I'm replaying an episode from my 2nd anniversary that celebrates connection and sex...

Send us Fan Mail I'm child free but Anne Hathaway, Brooke Shields and Nicole Kidman are the hottest of hot mamas in these romcoms, and make motherhood look like living your best life on steroids. It's a difficult enough job without worrying if you qualify for the MILF label like these ladies do, and sure, they're guilty of mothering while sexy and gorgeous. But these actresses of a...

Send us Fan Mail Let's close out Pride Month with a replay of my episode about two amazing LGBTQ screen romances: the romantic drama Supernova, and the gleeful musical about teen love, The Prom. Prepare for snotty crying, then bopping in your chair. https://www.confessionsofaclosetromantic.com Don't miss my episode on the fantastic LGBTQ romcom Fire Island . And the fabulously funny, hon...

Send us Fan Mail Hey romance friends! Let's celebrate Pride Month with a trio of smart, funny, quirky movies about queer girl crushes on high school classmates. Classmates to lovers is one of the most popular romantic tropes ever, and these movies have quite the unique take on those beats. The friendships are deep and full of love, the romantic explorations are hot, sexy, and heartfelt and th...

Send us Fan Mail A romcom where a main character is addicted to porn? That's just the beginning of this amazing character study, written, directed by and starring Joseph Gordon Levitt. Jon is a difficult man to admire: he's a dishonest womanizer, marinated in heteronormative culture and toxic masculinity. Then two women cross his path and change it —one to his detriment (Scarlett Johanss...

Send us Fan Mail It's been a couple of years, a hot minute since we spent time with the Bridgerton and  Featherington families. If this was real life, every single woman in the Ton would now be a confirmed spinster, but fortunately, in this glittering romantic period costume drama world, we resume the story as the wallflower Penelope Featherington finally gets the romance she has dreamed of....

Send us Fan Mail Romance friends! I'm celebrating my 100th episode this week with an indulgent deep dive into the tear-stained emotion, blind love and delicious word play in Taylor Swift songs. My romance friend Mariah, a Swiftie from way back, returns to the show so we can gush together over the passion, the heartbreak, the artistry, the tiny exquisite emotional universe that is every Taylor...

Send us Fan Mail I'm a J Lo fangirl from way back, and even though the title of her narrative concept film based on the album of the same name seemed ridiculously self-absorbed, I got completely transported by it anyway, because...J Lo. It's not just the story of her second chance romance with the person she never stopped loving, and has reunited with over the age of 50, it's a stor...

Send us Fan Mail I have the sweetest hangover that I don't want to get over. My first ever visit with my long-distance sweetie was amazing, he's already gone home, and we're already planning our next visit. I'm exhausted, but in the very best way, so I bring you a replay of my second chance romance episode, which I created a little over a year ago after I got on dating apps for...

Send us Fan Mail I'm meeting my LDR sweetie for the first time this week, after more than a year of online dating, and excited doesn't begin to cover it. Humans are spread out all over the globe yet hyper connected, so many of us will experience a long distance romance at some point in our lives. LDRs are thrilling and intensely romantic, but  can also leave you open to frustration and p...

Send us Fan Mail I'm a classic film nut, and there's no better example of overblown, dramatic and romantic Hollywood storytelling than the movie Black Narcissus, starring Deborah Kerr. Based on the 1930s Rumer Godden novel, it’s a story that shows how women throughout history have so often buried themselves in service to others as they sublimate their own feelings and desires — or more l...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I'm joined by my romance friend Mariah to gush, giggle, get deep and then frothy again about the Barbie movie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, directed by Greta Gerwig. It was the most mega of mega movie hits last year, now Oscar nominated in many categories, and well deserved. It's been a long time since a movie has made me laugh and think this...

Send us Fan Mail My favorite shows, books or movies feature women over the age of 40 finding sensuality, romance and connections of whatever type they desire. Unfortunately, society likes to pretend that women — especially older women —don't have desires. There aren't many examples of sexy fearless aging in Hollywood once you get beyond the Book Club and Nancy Meyers movies, shows like A...

Send us Fan Mail I'm one of the last remaining people on planet earth to see this amazing movie, and it still managed to surprise me, even after all the hype. I love Greta Gerwig, I love her courage in telling a story about feminism and patriarchy using Bazooka pink, candy colors and a beloved, if stereotypical, doll. And I love Barbie even more now after learning about her modern diversity a...

Send us Fan Mail It's a holiday miracle: I've finally watched one of the most perfect Hallmark holiday movies I've ever seen, with stellar writing, directing, editing, and acting. The story is heartfelt, it has relatable stakes, it's romantic and touching and funny: everything a holiday movie should be. Not surprisingly, it's inspired by one of my favorite romcoms of all t...

Send us Fan Mail There's no way to exactly describe the dark and hilarious debut dramedy Shiva Baby except to say: you giggle at what should be sad, feel heartbroken for what should be exciting, become annoyed with the emotional meddling, and end up a ball of stress and tension — until the twists and turns of this darkly comic plot unwind the whole thing, ending with a painfully hysterical mo...

Send us Fan Mail How I love a romance set aboard a luxury cruise ship or ocean liner, especially classic movies set on ships in the early to mid 20th-century, a heyday of ocean travel. The coziness, the leather luggage with a separate toiletries case, the cute staterooms and cabins, the service, people dressing for elegant dinner and dancing, the endless ocean views, and falling asleep rocked by w...

Send us Fan Mail It's Halloween week, and time to confess that I'm strangely attracted to Gothic horror stories and creepy "romance," especially the many interpretations of the fascinating classic 19th century novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Each filmmaker and writer present different themes in their Jekyll and Hyde adaptations, from gender and sexual politics, p...

Send us Fan Mail Selecting potential mates based strictly on physical attributes is definitely a vibe —as seen on the UK dating show Naked Attraction, which has recently started streaming in the US. As expected with a TV show that features full frontal nudity, it's inspiring quite a lot of discussion :) So I invited my UK-based sweetie (a.k.a. Mr. Bingley, a perfect nickname, because he'...