American motion picture genre typically featuring a comic battle of the sexes in which the hero and heroine are caught up in a romantic pursuit or patching up a marriage, involving a rapid sequence of improbable events and a surrounding group of eccentric characters. The dialogue is generally fast-paced and witty, and romantic love triumphs in the end. The hayday of the screwball comedy was from the mid-1930s through the 1940s.
