2026 has been an amazing year for movies, original stories and adaptations alike! Obsession, The Drama, and The Odyssey are just a few examples of films that have contributed to record-breaking theatre attendance levels being reported across North America. However, as a movie lover with a special inclination towards romance, I can’t help but notice that love stories have seemingly “gone out of style” in cinema.
Take a second to think about some iconic romantic movies from the 90s and early 2000s. I’ll help you out with a few examples:
Before Sunrise (1995)
Romeo and Juliet (1996)
Titanic (1997)
How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (2003)
The Notebook (2004)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
What about the 2010s? We saw some iconic romance blockbusters including:
The Great Gatsby (2013)
La La Land (2016)
Call Me By Your Name (2017)
A Star Is Born (2018)
Titanic (1997), despite canonically spanning only four days, includes an iconic soundtrack, deeply moving dialogue, and passion-filled characters.
The Notebook (2004) takes its time, spanning years to explore the profound and poignant themes of miscommunication, loss, yearning, and reconnection.
The Great Gatsby (2013) endorses a campy and colourful take on of one of the most iconic tragedies in literature.
Call Me By Your Name (2017) presents a vulnerable and nuanced perspective on a controversial infatuation, teaching lessons about longing, losing, and emotional intelligence.
Fast forward to the 2020s, it is clear that the frequency of production, quality, and impact of romantic movies has drastically dwindled. When Anyone But You (2023) hit the screens, I thought “Finally! An original romantic comedy!” Yet viewers, myself included, left theatres feeling completely duped! Was the chemistry in the room with us? Where was the “com” in this rom-com?
Just this year, Netflix produced two so-called “romantic movies” (People We Meet on Vacation and Voicemails for Isabelle) that completely missed the mark of the genre! I mean, come on! Without spoiling too much, trust me when I say both plots lacked build-up, conflict, and, most importantly, two characters that are completely crazy over each other- aspects that are integral to the genre of romance! Apart from rare modern hits like Wuthering Heights (2026) and Hamnet (2025), romance seems to be suffering from plots that are far too simplistic. It is the same tired formula of a rushed fall-out between two boring protagonists and an even more rushed make-up before the end credits. The lack of relatability that comes from a hastily developed plot and characters leaves viewers uninspired.
Who and what can we blame for the shortcomings in romantic cinema? Is love not interesting anymore? Are we running out of good writers? Is Gen Z more comfortable with simplistic, boring characters, rather than the complex archetypes of characters like Jesse and Celine (Before Sunset)? I don’t have an answer. All I know is that I haven’t been moved by a love story in ages! Hopefully 2027 is the year that people can leave romantic movies thinking, feeling, and learning once again.
