what s happening? reporter: to the rescue, a comedy boom the likes of which has rarely been seen. over the top. smoking! reporter: relentless. phil conners. ned? reporter: outrageous. i just laugh my ass off. reporter: and the comedy craze had heart. oh! and you have a number of people who are especially adept at the form of the romantic comedy. you have sandra bullock, you have hugh grant, you have meg ryan and you have tom hanks. my name is forrest gump. reporter: beyond the laughs the 90s saw serious new movements in film, too. we got a problem here? you really had for the first time a large collection of black film makers documenting what was going on in the culture. reporter: animation came roaring back to the box office in a huge way.