Love is in the air, and ‘tis the season to spend time with the one you love – or should I say the ones you love! Because other than your significant others, your gals should be celebrated too! And what better way to celebrate than to watch some good old rom-coms while enjoying butt-loads of popcorn? With me as your #1 film nerd, I am here to assist.So, here are my 10 best romantic comedies to watch for an exceptional Galentine’s Day!
- 10 Things I Hate About You
This film is a story about the love lives of two sisters: Kat (Julia Stiles) and Bianca Statford (Larisa Oleynik). Bianca, the youngest, is popular and social. Kat however, is the complete opposite: anti-social and completely against the concept of popularity. When Bianca mentions the idea of dating a boy, their strict father comes up with the idea that Bianca is allowed to date…but Kat has to date someone first. This film is definitely one of my favorites, and Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the love interests? Yes, please. Stiles and Oleynik play the best sisters with their catty fights and bonding over similarities they didn’t know they had. They show you the craziest things one will do in the name of love, or is it actually bribery? I guess you’ll have to find out.
- Eternity
Imagine this: after you die, you get to choose one magical place that’s perfect for you to spend forever, but you have to choose one person to spend it with. This terrifying ultimatum is presented to Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), who has to choose between Larry (Miles Teller), the man she spent her life with, and Luke (Callum Turner), her first love who died young and has been waiting years to choose her. I was so lucky to have watched this film before it was released and I’m so glad I did. Olsen’s acting was phenomenal, and sorry I do sound desperate, but Teller and Turner were just gorgeous. This film was a tearjerker, and teaches you so many important life lessons about the meaning of love and companionship for eternity.
- Crazy Rich Asians
This film starts with an NYU professor named Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) and her boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding) being invited to a wedding in Singapore. On this trip, Rachel realizes that her boyfriend is actually of generational wealth and must fight for approval from his judgemental mother. There are many life lessons in this film, from judging someone by their background, to loving the person as they are and not for where their money comes from, which I so deeply cherish. This film is just amazing, from the settings to the cast, to the acting, all of it is perfection. The wedding scene is my personal favorite, and you will understand why when you watch it… so please do!
- 13 Going on 30
Thirty, flirty, and thriving…dream life! Or maybe not in this one. This film is about a girl who is just sick of junior high and never having her perfect man. So she decides to wish she was older – and overnight she is, and is an editor for a magazine in New York City! I mean, that is the life I would love to be living that’s for sure. Now that she is transformed into this 30-year-old woman, she must go through female challenges of adulthood, which isn’t as easy as it looks! I first watched this film when I had my first ever sleepover in middle school, which brings me so much nostalgia watching now. It has its funny perks and its sad perks while you cry with friends. It shows one of the sad things about growing up – people distancing and life changing all around you. It all happens fast…too fast. Okay, now I’m getting emotional.
- Pretty Woman
A prostitute and a businessman: an interesting approach, but I promise, a great film to watch! While on a business trip in Los Angeles, Edward (Richard Gere) picks up Vivian (Julia Roberts) for a night, and after spending time together, asks her to stay with him for one week, paying for everything. She of course accepts, and the film takes us through a wonderful and insane journey, showing the struggles of fitting in and making us question if love can overcome such troubles. Roberts and Gere play the most perfect couple; I love them both as actors. There’s nothing more beautiful than watching two random strangers falling in love. I mean, you can see how love can be so confusing at first, but can actually turn out to be something quite nice.
- How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days
Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson) decides to try something different in her advice column, writing about how to lose a guy in 10 days. Ben Barry (Matthew McConaughey), an executive who is so convinced he is great with the ladies, believes he can make any girl fall in love with him in 10 days. When they meet, things tend to go sideways. I love a good film where the girl and guy want nothing to actually do with each other until they slowly do. The 2000s was the best era for rom-coms, even before that! Also, peak McConaughey: nothing but heart eyes for that man, seriously.
- When Harry Meets Sally
The year is 1977, and college graduates Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) share a contentious car ride from Chicago to New York, during which they argue about whether men and women can ever truly be strictly platonic friends. Years later, Harry and Sally meet again at a bookstore, with their best friends Jess (Bruno Kirby) and Marie (Carrie Fisher), where they must stay friends, as long as sex doesn’t get in the way. This film was definitely one of the funniest ones I’ve ever watched, and the cast is just perfect with their acting. While watching, it really raises the questions – can you be “just friends” with someone? That is what you must find out with your friends when you watch this film.
- To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Now, if I wanted to say a film that screams 2018 besides Crazy Rich Asians, I would say this film. This one is about a girl named Lara Jean (Lana Condor) who writes countless letters to her crushes but never mails them. That is until her younger sister decides to mail them, and to their surprise, Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) answers. With them having romantic problems of their own, they decide to form a plan to make their other exes/crushes jealous by fake dating. Oh my, when I say this film set my standards so high for so long – and I am appreciative for it. Fake to real love and enemies to lovers are my personal favorites, but it holds so much in my heart. I will not spoil it, but I am saying for the people who haven’t watched, why haven’t you? This is your reminder to watch it.
- 50 First Dates
Henry (Adam Sandler), a man afraid of commitment, changes his ways after he sets his heart on Lucy (Drew Barrymore), but she has short-term memory loss. She can’t remember anything that happened the day before. But Henry is still willing to try, despite her friends and family being very protective, so Henry must convince them that he’s in it for love. I absolutely love Drew; I think she’s the bubbliest and kindest person out there. I mean, that is just the cutest thing! How is it that a man who never believed in love is willing to try for a girl who will never remember? I am getting emotional just thinking about it, and so will your friends when you watch it together.
- She’s The Man
Viola (Amanda Bynes), a soccer-obsessed teenage girl, becomes angry when her high school decides to cut the girls’ soccer team and refuses to let her join the boys’ team. When her twin brother says he wants to sneak out, she decides to take his place and disguises herself as a boy so she can play soccer at his all-male prep school. She goes in thinking it’s easy, but shortly realizes boys act a lot different than girls, and it will require more work to fit in. I miss Amanda Bynes on my screen dearly and this is why: she is just a perfect light and knows how to act in a comedy! Also, this is prime Channing Tatum, so sit down ladies, this will not be a disappointment.
These are just a few rom-coms you can watch, but the possibilities are endless. You can cry, scream, “aw,” and dance with your gals to all of these films or just a few! Besides sitting down and watching them, you can also have them on in the background while you try some activities with them too!
And after you watch them, don’t forget – rate them on Letterboxd! If you don’t have it, you should definitely download it and follow me: @marinaalopes.
Happy Galentine’s to all that celebrate!