Natalie Rebel Wilson has always rolled her eyes at the mushy stuff. So when she gets knocked unconscious by a mugger and wakes up living in a stereotypical rom-com, let's just say she's not exactly excited about it. When a struggling New York City playwright Jessica Williams gets back out on the dating scene, her expectations are pretty much in the basement. But she soon makes a connection with an older app designer Chris Dowd on a blind date.
He slowly breaks down her defenses and the results are "awww"-worthy. Romance knows no age limit in this sweet rom-com about two older people who fall in love in spite of their better judgment. Jack Nicholson plays Harry, a music industry man who likes 'em younger. When he has a heart attack at his girlfriend's mom's house Diane Keaton , he ends up falling for her. The results are as hilarious as they are heartwarming. This classic ugly ducking story may rely on stereotypes, but it's held up through the decades for a reason.
After high school hottie Zack gets dumped by his pretty but cruel girlfriend, he makes a bet that he can turn ordinary Laney into prom queen. But the joke's on him as he begins to fall for her instead. Jessica Stein is a journalist from a very Jewish family who just hasn't found The One. That is, until she meets Helen Cooper.
It follows all of your favorite rom-com tropes with a refreshingly queer bent. Can men and women ever truly just be friends? That's the question this film by rom-com queen Nora Ephron attempts to answer.
Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal 's chemistry just bleeds through the screen, and who can forget that iconic moment at Katz's Delicatessen? Admit it, you're already humming along. So many of us sympathize with Julianne Julia Roberts when she only realizes she's in love with her best friend Michael Dermot Mulroney after he gets engaged to Kimberly Cameron Diaz. Both the struggles and surprising upsides of long-distance relationships come to light in this film about a recent widower Tom Hanks and a newspaper writer Meg Ryan who live on opposite sides of the country.
For anyone who spent the past year or so far apart from loved ones, it feels like a balm. Start with two of the best actors in the biz, give them some showstopper musical numbers and gorgeous Givenchy 'fits and you've got the recipe for a remarkable film.
Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn make magic on screen and you'll be humming George Gershwin's tunes, like the iconic "S'Wonderful," long after the credits roll. Even though there are now three Bridget Jones films, the original remains one of our favorites.
The hilarious fight between Firth and Grant that spills out onto London's streets never gets old. Julia Roberts and Richard Gere make a really cute couple, but Roberts' antics are what really earned this one its place in history. A modern staging of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew , this teen flick pairs angsty Julia Stiles with charming Heath Ledger for a high school romance that set the bar for so many of our real-life crushes.
As if! Based on Jane Austen's Emma , this Valley Girl classic starring Alicia Silverstone is filled with not only unexpected love, but the way friendships can evolve over time. The clothes! The quotes! The film is well worth at least one annual screening.
Everyone has a different favorite storyline in this multidimensional holiday favorite. You'll get to know and root for eight different couples: the prime minister and his assistant, two adult film actors, a couple with marital issues and a washed-up pop star.
The rumors and catchy song are true: love really is all around us. You've heard the saying, " aways a bridesmaid , never a bride. She's already over weddings when her sister gets engaged to the guy Jane's secretly crushing over. Enter Kevin James Marsden a wedding writer who, starts to fall for Jane as he interviews her for a story about her 27 turns as a bridesmaid. Reese Witherspoon is a romantic comedy master, and this one definitely measures up. Packed with humor and RealMom jokes, Home Again is the story of the newly separated Alice who invites three aspiring film makers to live with her and her two young children.
As a romance blossoms with one of them, her ex-husband makes a visit. The Main Line has never been so well represented.
The motherless daughter, caring for her father and looking for her prince, is a trope that goes back to fairy tales, but how Alicia Silverstone who plays our hero, Cher and writer-director Amy Heckerling contemporised that narrative is what made what could have been a silly teen flick into an instant classic.
At the same time, they maintained a storybook sensibility and somehow kept our sympathies with the lovelorn Cher, whose insipidness is overshadowed by her charity, loyalty, and genuine goodwill.
This is the only film on this list that is least certainly a rom-com; it caused a bit of a row, in fact. Not to mention the sexual viability of Williams grads. Note: Hoffman might have been playing 21 when he said this line, but the actor was 29; Anne Bancroft, the supposedly senior Mrs. Robinson, was all of Young America was, and to some extent still is, Benjamin Braddock, which reveals the power of this film.
Utterly contrived, but utterly charming, this quick, silly, funny film is pabulum superfood for anyone who believes in second chances and true love. No one has stolen more hearts than Holly Golightly Audrey Hepburn. It has the unclassifiable, magnetic object of affection, the reliable underdog who pursues her, expectations dashed, new friendships formed, true selves discovered, and an undeniably racist portrayal of an Asian landlord by Mickey Rooney.
Yes, it was a different era, but this detail can be difficult to ignore. That said, there are generations of viewers who consider this the greatest rom-com of all time. You end up cheering not just for her romance, but also for an entire insurgency. She fell down in front of the boss she has a crush on while carrying many things! What a wit! Who will win—the nice guy or the jerk?
The clumsy, funny, openhearted girl, of course! This is the pregame of romantic comedies. If you agree, welcome to the squad. The princess screams—Hepburn was apparently not acting here—and then recovers. The kid and the viewer is quickly on board. One of the few rom-coms that comes with both a stamp of approval from your philosophy professor and the Tony reaches of Broadway.
And boy, is it a dead end. Murray gets stuck there, not just in a snowstorm, mind you, but in a continuous loop, where no matter what he does—including suicide—he wakes up in the same hotel on the same day. Watching Bill Murray is fun, watching Bill Murray struggle is really fun, and watching Bill Murray caught in a space-time logjam, wrestling with moral philosophy while pursuing Andie MacDowell is the most fun.
The high schooler, played by Kat Dennings, is demeaned by her fellow classmates for having yet to experience the big O. It may sound tawdry, yet this plot point harkens back to a sweeter, John Hughes—era teen comedy with a few switches flipped wherein the search for a simple sex act was enough motivation for a number of scenes, if not an entire film.
This film takes place in the late s; a high-water mark in terms of the HIV crisis. So what? Exactly our point. Her strategy for doing this is to invite him to her house so that he can help her bring a baby leopard to the city. Later, the dog and the leopard wrestle. This is what we call a screwball comedy.
Why is there no actual Shakespeare on this list? Instead, we have movies that are actually fun to watch, like Shakespeare in Love , and this one, a teen-ready take on The Taming of the Shrew. Like Bring It On , and unlike most films, especially teen films, this one is female-focused. The heroes we cheer for.
And they are active in as much as the narrative as they are subject to it rare! A story about how our parents love us and each other—despite the difficulties imposed by society, time, and work—and how in turn, we learn to love, or not. The romance is great, the jokes are great, the costumes are great, and not to ruin anything, but Billy Idol is pretty great too. The highway scene. Ryan Gosling hunkered over the piano. Her spins.
The way she pulls at her dress. The way he grins while he smoulders. Their love. It embraces their greatness as it embraces us in its giant, vibrant arms. We lean closer to the screen, not to learn but to feel for the whole experience of youth and performance: all that hope, drive, sweat, and love. The movie that inspired 90 percent of vacation hookup jokes since but seriously, we need to talk about Taye Diggs in a puka shell necklace; the man can make anything look good.
Workaholic executive and single mom Stella Angela Bassett finds more than she bargains for when her best friend, played by Whoopi Goldberg, convinces her to take a much-deserved Caribbean vacation. Cheeky, subversive, and sexy as hell, this movie turned the tables on so many male-dominated rom-coms courtesy of one very hot and heavy matchup between Bassett and Diggs, playing some 20 years her junior —and passes the Bechdel test with flying colours.
One of the very few rom-coms to do so. Michael Dorsey Dustin Hoffman is a New York actor who is such a perfectionist, no one wants to work with him. Synopsis : Childhood friends Monica Sanaa Lathan and Quincy Omar Epps set their sights on playing professional basketball as their career paths threaten to pull them apart. Why it's so good : With commentaries on gender, competition, and growth, "Love and Basketball" covers a lot of ground without ever losing sight of its main couple.
Synopsis : Record-shop owner Rob Gordon John Cusack knows everything about music but can't seem to figure out love. As he looks back on his biggest breakups, he mulls over what went wrong with Laura Iben Hjejle , the one that got away. Why it's so good : Based on the book by Nick Hornby , "High Fidelity" is a satire built on snark and skepticism, but it also leaves room for a joyful ending that could make even the most stubborn cynic smile.
Synopsis : Alfred Kralik James Stewart and Klara Novak Margaret Sullavan butt heads at the gift shop where they work in Budapest, unaware that they've been writing to each other as anonymous pen pals. Why it's so good : Stewart and Sullivan are in top form, and fans of "You've Got Mail" will enjoy seeing where the feature pulled inspiration from. Why it's so good : With its gorgeous Irish backdrops and bewitching leads, "Leap Year" is top-tier turn-your-brain-off entertainment for rom-com fans looking to be whisked away.
Synopsis : After a misunderstanding lands Nancy Lake Bell in the middle of a blind date with Jack Simon Pegg , she rolls with the punches and pretends to be another woman. Why it's so good : Blind date mix-ups have been done before and will no doubt be done again, but "Man Up" feels funny and fresh enough to forgive a few predictable plotlines. Synopsis : Celebrity chef Sasha Tran Wong returns to her home city of San Francisco to discover that a spark still remains between her and her childhood sweetheart Marcus Kim Park.
Why it's so good : Wong and Park's infectious charm spills off the screen in a romantic comedy that's as lovable as its two lead stars. Synopsis : Candy-shop owner Molly Amy Poehler and corporate executive Joel Paul Rudd couldn't be more different, but a chance encounter soon turns the bickering duo into inseparable soul mates.
Why it's so good : "They Came Together" ironically lampoons the very genre that jump-started Rudd's career , and sharp-eyed fans will enjoy seeing all the fun references and nods to classic rom-coms throughout. Synopsis : Two unlucky-in-love New Yorkers — Lainey Alison Brie and Jake Jason Sudeikis — fight an instant attraction for each other as they try to keep their newfound relationship platonic. Why it's so good : Sudeikis and Brie are well-matched in this surprisingly tender, fast-talking comedy from writer-director Leslye Headland.
Synopsis : Bookshop owner William Thacker Grant can't believe his eyes when American actress Anna Scott Roberts visits his store in London, and their meet-cute soon turns into a full-fledged affair. Why it's so good : Even the wittiest romantic comedy is nothing without strong chemistry, and Roberts and Grant share it in spades. Synopsis : London teens Jess Parminder Nagra and Jules Keira Knightley set their sights on professional football careers against their parent's wishes, all while Jess is falling for her coach Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
Why it's so good : Nagra plays an easy lead to cheer for in this uplifting underdog story about following your dreams and falling in love along the way. Why it's so good : With a plot that could only exist in the realm of romantic comedies, "While You Were Sleeping" fully embraces its quirks and elevates Bullock's endless charm.
Synopsis : After rebellious heiress Ellie Andrews Claudette Colbert marries a man against her father's wishes and is torn away from her husband, she crosses paths with a newspaper reporter Clark Gable who offers to reunite the two mismatched lovers. Why it's so good : "It Happened One Night" is one of the earliest examples of romantic comedies, and its classic story elements — love triangles, runaway brides, and jerks with a heart of gold — continue to endure in the genre today.
World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options. Get the Insider App. Click here to learn more. A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Meghan Cook. Insider rounded up a list of must-watch romantic comedies. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Modern romantic comedies owe a lot to "When Harry Met Sally" A couple looks for a place to call home in "Away We Go" Stellar acting and writing is abound in "Broadcast News" A compelling protagonist makes "Boy Meets Girl" a must-see.
Fate intervenes in the Candian rom-com "What If"
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