Preface: This article is based on opinion and has some spoilers about the selected films.
I am a big movie gal, especially those with romantic elements that transport you into fictional worlds of love and relationships. Growing up, I was always holding out for that magical princess moment to get swept off my feet, but that hasn’t happened. While real-life love stories may not always mirror those portrayed in films, movies have a special way of capturing the magic of romance. Here’s a list of 10 romantic movies that might resonate with your desire for heartwarming love stories:
- How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days– How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days is a romantic comedy that follows Ben (Matthew McConaughney), a Jewelry advertiser, and Andi (Kate Hudson) a writer for a popular magazine on their journey to love. Andi gets the idea to write about her love life or lack thereof and proposes “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” and unknowingly in the process falls for Ben.
- 10 Things I Hate About You– 10 Things I Hate About You follows Cat (Julia Stiles), stubborn, rebellious, older sister and Patrick (Heath Ledger) , a school known bad boy on their trip through their final year of high school and finding their way through a messy arrangement they didn’t know they would be in.
- A Cinderella Story – A Cinderella Story is about a girl (Hilary Duff), Sam who lives with her evil stepmother and stepsisters and is secretly messaging this guy, Austin (Chad Michael Murray) online and they have never met in person until a night at the school dance, he doesn’t know who she is but goes on a wild goose chase to find her.
- Ice Princess– Ice Princess follows a very brilliant Harvard Bound Casey Carlyle (Michelle Trachtenberg) who discovered she was gifted with the ability to skate. Along her training journey, she meets the zamboni driver who happens to be the coach’s son.
- Princess Diaries– The Princess Diaries follows small town girl, Mia Thermopolous,(Anne Hathaway) on her journey to princess hood and then later in the series to be queen of Genovia. In the process she meets a few people that makes her journey a little harder than expected.
Author’s Notes: This movie has multiple parts to the series but my favorite interests were Michael and Nicholas. These relationships were my favorite because they were the most genuine. Michael was Mia’s best friend’s brother, (Cue best friend’s brother by Victorious) and she was trying to drop hints but he didn’t pick up on them which was disappointing at first but then he realized that she still wanted him even though she was a princess. The second one Nicholas was perfect for her; she just couldn’t fall into temptation because he was an easy option. Nicholas was the opposite to Mia which made their relationship work that much better.
- The Fault in Our Stars– Cancer patients, Hazel (Shailee Woodley) and Gus (Ansel Egort), find each other through a support group. They work together to find the beauty in life with cancer and companionship.
Author’s Notes: This was a more somber movie and more tear provoking however it truly oozes the appreciation they have for each other. The character Gus uses his wish in order to take Hazel to Amsterdam to meet her favorite author, who he ends up reading into. The fact that he gave her all the stars in the sky even though as the title says, “The Fault in our Stars” it was the right person at the wrong time due to having a fault, which is cancer.
- The Wedding Singer– The Wedding Singer is a little bit of an older movie however it’s a really good one because it is an Adam Sandler movie. Adam Sandler’s character, Robbie, is a wedding singer and befriends a waitress Julia, (Drew Barrymore) and Robbie slowly falls for her. However, Julia has another love which throws a wrench in Robbie’s plan.
- Crazy Rich Asians– Crazy Rich Asians follows a professor(Rachel) who travels to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s(Nick) family, it’s not until she arrives that she finds out they are filthy rich. Over the course of the movie she has to navigate the obstacles being set up by Nick’s mother, because she isn’t the same status so she is seen by her as not a good fit for her son.
- Another Cinderella Story– Another Cinderella Story is the second movie in the series and features Selena Gomez and Drew Seeley. In the movie, Selena’s character is living with an evil stepmother and stepsisters, however is given the opportunity to get out by applying to a prestigious dance school, however that opportunity gets messed up by her evil stepmother. However, Drew Seeley’s character, Joey, intervenes and gives Mary another chance of getting out of her situation.
Author’s Thoughts: When asked about my roman empire, it is this entire movie.
- 27 Dresses– 27 Dresses follows Jane who has never been the bride but always the bridesmaid, 27 times to be exact. It isn’t until she gets caught attending two weddings in one night that she meets James Doyle who has other plans with her story.
Author’s Thoughts: This is one of my favorite movies because they start out as friends and then it grows from there. Also the way that the relationship takes turns and matures to Jane falling for James is another key factor because it just adds to the chemistry between them to make their relationship just that much more to be invested in.