Christine Giordano
Picture this: You’re scrolling through your favorite streaming platform in search of the perfect movie night pick. A spooky new true crime thriller? Pass. An action-packed sci-fi film? Maybe next time. A cheesy romantic comedy with two extremely attractive leads with great on-screen chemistry? Yes, please!
While romantic comedies get a bad rap for being labeled as “chick flicks”—an expression that, BTW, wrongly assumes that women can’t be arbiters of taste and great art, but I digress—let me make the case why this genre is the unsung hero of film. For one, laughter is universal, and you have to admit that matters of the heart can be rather, well, funny (laugh or else you’d cry, amirite?). Romance films also demonstrate all the different types of love and relationships, as well as all the various ways love can be expressed, no matter how unconventional or messy. And if you’re still not convinced? Consuming romantic comedies arguably makes you a better person. In fact, frequent viewings of romantic films can urge an individual to be more sensitive and morally open, found a 2016 study published in Media Psychology. So, yeah, everyone could benefit from watching more romantic comedies—for the goodness of humanity, ya know.
Ready to contribute to society without leaving your couch? From rom-com classics such as Roman Holiday and Sleepless in Seattle to new releases such as The Map of Tiny Perfect Things and Jennifer Lopez’s Marry Me, these are the 50 best romantic comedies to watch right now.
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When shy, straight-A student Ellie Chu takes on a gig to write a love letter for a jock, Paul Munksy, trying to woo his crush, Aster Flores, she ends up becoming his friend and falling for Aster herself. In this Tribeca Film Festival-winning coming-of-age romantic comedy, these teens discover the true nature of platonic as well as romantic love.
You can’t create a list of best romantic comedies and not include When Harry Met Sally, written by none other than the queen of rom coms herself, Nora Ephron (she has three classics on this list for crying out loud). That scene at Katz’s Delicatessen (you know the one) is literally so iconic. Need a refresher? Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) have known each other for over a decade, but when they start to develop romantic feelings for one another, they fear that sex will ruin their friendship.
AS: This Nora Ephron classic tackles the question of whether men and women can ever really just be friends. Spoiler alert: According to the film, they can’t. But the fun’s in the two main characters figuring that out.
To catch a break from her suffocating touring schedule, Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) spends a night out in Rome…while on a sedative prescribed by her doctor (oops). When American reporter, Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) finds her sleeping on a park bench, he takes her back to his apartment for her safety (uh, I guess). Joe soon finds out about Ann’s regal status and bets his editor that he can score an exclusive interview, but instead of uncovering a story, he finds love.
AS: A princess, played by—who else?—Audrey Hepburn, spends the day undercover and falls for a photographer who shows her freedom she’s never experienced before.
10 Things I Hate About You gave us the quote, “I hate the way I don’t hate you. Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all” and memes mocking Julia Stiles character’s comically large copy of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar and for that it’s a cult classic. Here’s a refresher: Kat (Julia Stiles) is smart, a bit abrasive and has little interest in boys, which is unfortunate for her little sister Bianca who isn’t allowed to date until Kat has a boyfriend. To score a date with Bianca, Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) bribes hot new student Patrick (Heath Ledger) to get Kat to fall for him. But will Kat finally let her guard down to let love in?
Thirteen-year-old Jenna (Christa B. Allen) is sick of junior high, her overbearing parents, and is itching for a boyfriend, so she makes a wish with a packet of magical wishing dust during a disastrous birthday party to become an adult. She wakes up the next day, 17 years into the future, as a 30-year-old (Jennifer Garner) with everything she’s ever wanted—a hot boyfriend, great job, and beautiful apartment—but adulthood isn’t as easy as it looks. If the warning, “Be careful what you wish for” was a movie, it’d be 13 Going on 30.
The opening scene of this movie shows Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) sulking while watching Fatal Attraction and listening to Céline Dion’s “All By Myself,” which should tell you all you need to know about the quirky protagonist. In summary, Bridget sets a new year’s resolution to improve herself and her love life, and starts keeping a diary to document it all. Somehow she finds herself caught between two men: her sleazy boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant), and the divorced son of a family friend, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). Lest to say, things get rather chaotic as Bridget works to decide who to choose.
As if Clueless wouldn’t make this list! If you somehow haven’t seen this movie yet, here’s the gist: Beverly Hills High queen bee Cher (Alicia Silverstone) is a pro when it comes to making over and matchmaking her peers, like Tai (Brittney Murphy), and even some of her teachers. Her own love life? Yeah, that doesn’t seem to be on Cher’s priority list until she’s caught between two boys: her hot new classmate and her stuffy ex-stepbrother, Josh (Paul Rudd).
Highly-successful 40-something stock broker, Stella (Angela Bassett), is influenced by her BFF Delilah (Whoopi Goldberg) to take a well-deserved, first-class girls’ trip to Jamaica. While enjoying her time in the sun, Stella begins a fling with charming, 20-something Winston (Taye Diggs). When Stella returns to normal life in San Francisco, she realizes that she’s developed real feelings for the handsome young man, but doesn’t know if the ‘ship can work given their distance and uh, the age gap.
Charming English bachelor Charles (Hugh Grant) is unlucky in love, but senses his luck may have changed when he meets a lovely American woman, Carrie, at a wedding. They spend one magical night together before Carrie heads back to the states (ah, don’t you hate missed connections?). Nevertheless, these two just keep crossing paths—at four weddings and one funeral—pushing them to believe that, by fate, they’re meant to be despite the timing always being, well, off.
Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, offbeat teen Juno (Elliot Page) makes the decision to give up the child for adoption to married couple Mark (Jason Bateman) and Vanessa Loring (Jennifer Garner). Things get, uh, complicated, however, when Mark puts his marriage and the adoption in jeopardy when he develops an unorthodox friendship with Juno and starts having doubts about his marriage and fatherhood. Meanwhile, Juno must navigate her true feelings for the father of the unborn child, Paulie (Michael Cera), and make even more adult decisions with the support of her family in this coming-of-age film.
Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey), an advertising executive and womanizer who, to score a big campaign, bets he can make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days meets his match in Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson), an advice columnist working on a new piece about how to get a man to leave you in, get this…10 days. In true rom com fashion, when these two start spending time together, their plans backfire and they end up falling for one another.
In this laugh out loud funny rom com, a young middle-class Greek-American woman coming to terms with her cultural identity falls in love with a non-Greek man. Little does her fiancé know that marrying her also means he’s got to marry her giant Greek family, essentially, and get on their good side.
Pakistani comedian Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) and American grad student Emily fall in love, but as their romance blossoms, Kumail worries about what his traditional Muslim family will think of their ‘ship—and this threatens to tear them apart. When Emily suddenly falls sick and is left in a coma, Kumail ends up developing an unlikely bond with her parents. This heartwarming rom com will have you crying tears of laughter one sec, and tears of heart-wrenching despair the next (ahem, you’ve been warned).
In the movie that gave us, “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her,” rom com king Hugh Grant stars alongside rom com queen Julia Roberts. William Thacker (Hugh Grant) is a humble London bookstore owner whose world is thrown for a loop when a chance encounter with Hollywood icon Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) blossoms into a romantic affair. If they are to make their relationship work, they must reconcile their entirely different lifestyles.
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan take the stage, once again, as leads in You’ve Got Mail (another classic rom com in Nora Ephron’s canon). Quick rundown: Literary superstore tycoon Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) and independent book shop owner Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) fall in love over email. The catch? Because of the anonymity of the internet (this was before social media obvi), he doesn’t know that the woman he’s infatuated with is also the woman he’s trying to put out of business.
In this kooky rom-com, aging bachelor with an eye for younger women Harry Sanborn’s (Jack Nicholson) world is turned upside down when he has a heart attack during a visit to his young girlfriend’s family’s seaside home. Oh, did I mention that the girlfriend’s mother Erica Barry (Diane Keaton) is also staying at the house for the weekend? Awkward. When Harry is sent to bed rest at the Barry home, he ends up falling for the mother of his young lover, who, given his history (among other things), is out of his league.
“Inconceivable” what a joy this cult classic is! The Princess Bride is a fairytale adventure about a beautiful young maiden and her charming prince. After being separated from him, Westley must battle the evil—and rather odd—characters of the mythical kingdom of Florin in order to save his one true love, Buttercup, and once again be reunited.
In order to keep her visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada, pushy book editor Margaret (Sandra Bullock) lies and says she’s set to marry her helpless assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds). Andrew agrees to the charade, with a few conditions: Margaret has to meet and try to fit in with his outlandish Alaskan family. With a suspicious immigration official lurking in the background, the pair must decide, uh, like right now, if they’re actually going to follow through with the wedding.
Robbie (Adam Sandler), a wedding singer, and Julia (Drew Barrymore), a waitress, are engaged to Mrs. and Mr. Wrong, respectively. Robbie gets dumped at the altar by his fiancé, and loses all hope for love. But then he meets Julia, who enlists him to help plan her wedding, and he quickly falls head over heels. To win her over and stop the wedding from happening, Robbie must prove to Julia that he’s been Mr. Right all along.
Hopeless romantic Lara Jean (Lana Condor) bares her soul in secret love letters to her five crushes that she never intends to send. When her younger sister Kitty sends out the letters behind her back, it, uh, turns LJ’s world upside down, to say the least. To avoid having that conversation with her older sister’s ex-boyfriend and one of her old crushes, Lara Jean starts a pact with jock and crush Peter (Noah Centineo) to pretend to date. LJ avoids a tough convo with her sis, and Peter gets to make his ex and LJ’s ex-best friend Gen jealous—win-win. However, things get tricky when fake feelings start to become real.
Assistant Editor Naydeline Mejia is an assistant editor at Women’s Health, where she covers sex, relationships, and lifestyle for WomensHealthMag.com and the print magazine.
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