Screwball comedy.

Comedic films characterized by their whimsicality and often eccentric plots and characters. American filmmakers had made comedies from the beginning of the medium, but a new approach developed slowly during the 1930’s as the conventions of romantic comedies merged with the frenetic pace of the slapstick comedies of the silent era. As Hollywood grew more adept at dealing with challenges of sound, characters in romantic comedies began speaking differently, using more slang and generally talking faster. Along with gangster films, screwball comedies were the first American films to understand what could be accomplished with dialogue. The genre also captured the era’s mood by frequently emphasizing the social disparity between the well-to-do and those less fortunate.