Whether you have a partner, “it’s complicated”, or will be celebrating Galentine’s this February, the perfect movie for the month of love is a romantic comedy. Many cynics could claim to hate the genre of rom-com, rolling their eyes at the mention of romance, but these feel good picks could even change the most negative mindset. With decades of options, finding the perfect rom-com to fit your mood may seem impossible, but this list compiles laugh out loud, witty and idyllic movies that leave you wishing your own life was a rom-com.
- 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Starting in no particular order is an enemies to lovers plotline that sets the bar high. “10 Things I Hate About You” is a must watch for everyone, and possibly the best introduction to the rom-com genre. This movie follows the sisters Kat and Bianca Stratford who are highschoolers with a strict dad. The plotline starts with Cameron, a new student at school, who develops a crush on Bianca. However, she can’t date or have any interest in boys unless her crude and hard-headed sister Kat dates. Cameron hires and pays Patrick to go out with Kat, but that leads to them really falling for each other. This movie includes enemies to lovers, a fun scheme, and an unforgettable musical number that has been referenced in promposals for years. Even with all these elements intersecting with each other, this movie is an easy watch that has easily become THE movie I play in the background while doing mundane tasks.
- 27 Dresses (2008)
In my opinion, the month of February just leaves me with a longing for spring, and “27 Dresses” is a perfect spring rom-com. The movie follows Jane, a young single woman who has been a bridesmaid 27 different times. At one of the weddings she was a bridesmaid for, she meets Kevin, who hates the idea of love and optimism. Jane’s sister gets engaged shortly after, and enlists Jane to help with wedding planning. They get an article written about their wedding and it turns out the cynical Kevin writes wedding and romance articles under a pseudonym. Instead of writing about their wedding, he gets very interested in writing about how many times Jane had been a bridesmaid. This leads to Jane showing Kevin all her bridesmaid dresses and that grants us this movie’s most iconic scene. And if you didn’t already guess it, by the end of the movie Kevin unlearns his unromantic ways and he and Jane fall for each other. “27 Dresses” is lighthearted and fun and the perfect watch for all the optimists in life.
- How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
After your first time watching this movie I guarantee you will be singing “You’re So Vain” for days. The comedic aspect of this movie is at an all time high as Andie and Ben are both trying to win separate bets. Andie Anderson writes for a women’s magazine and guarantees that if she provokes a guy enough she can get him to dump her in 10 days. This is the focus of her latest article. Ben is in advertising and makes a bet that he can make any girl fall head over heels for him, and his boss challenges him to do so in 10 days. If you can’t already guess the two cross paths and try to prove their points on each other, but their goals directly contradict each other. By the end they find out about their separate bets, get mad and perform the already mentioned iconic song “You’re So Vain”. By the end though, you’re left with a love story between the two that you’ll love.
- To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
Yes it is true, every girl who was a tween at the time this movie was released definitely claimed this was their favorite movie throughout all of middle school. Lara Jean, is starting her junior year of high school and is miserably single. Her older sister is dating her longtime friend and crush, Josh, and Lara Jean is a hopeless romantic who watches romance movies and writes letters to her crushes she never mails out. These letters are hidden in a box that her younger sister found, and she mailed them out. Another one of the crushes, Peter, approaches her about the letter and as he’s talking to her, it dawns on Lara Jean that all her letters get mailed out. She sees Josh also approaching her with his letter so Lara Jean kisses Peter to get out of that situation. After that Lara Jean and Peter decide it would be helpful to both of them to fake date, but there’s a flaw in their plan—if it’s not obvious, they both catch real feelings. Some things get complicated with the usual high school drama but over the course of the three movie installments to this series, Lara Jean and Peter overcome all their challenges.
- Notting Hill (1999)
The most iconic rom-com leading man, Hugh Grant, stars in this sweet and cute movie set on the streets of Notting Hill in England. Grant delivers the perfect leading man while Julia Roberts’ character is as intriguing to the audience as she is to Grant’s character. The plotline follows famous movie star Anna Scott as she tries to get away from the paparazzi and fame for a little while and she enters a small travel bookstore owned by William in Notting Hill. After she stops in the store, she goes back on the streets and William also goes out to buy something but they run into each other again and he spills something on her. He helps her clean up and this leads to both of them having a fascination with each other and longing to see each other again. William takes her to meet his friends and on dates and she invites him to her hotel room and movie sets. Their relationship didn’t work out well as she was in the spotlight all the time but in the end they reconnected and together overcame their challenges. This is possibly the least popular movie on this list, yet a must-see if you’re looking for more “rom” than the “com” aspect.