“The greatest thing you will ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” 2020 has been the year of COVID-19, quarantine, masks, online school, and distance. While holidays, special moments, and class were shared via video, your time alone was still spent working or worrying. So, now, it is finally time to relax and recharge! Here are 10 romantic comedies to get you in the mood for a little self-care.
“Kat Stratford is beautiful, smart, and quite abrasive to most of her fellow teens, meaning that she doesn’t attract many boys. Unfortunately for her younger sister, Bianca, house rules say that she can’t date until Kat has a boyfriend, so strings are pulled to set the dour damsel up for a romance. Soon, Kat crosses paths with the handsome new arrival, Patrick Verona. Will Kat let her guard down enough to fall for the effortlessly charming Patrick?”
Though the only high school romantic comedy on the list, still just as cute, funny, endearing, and lovely as the rest. I think we can relate to every character in some way and you are rooting for all of them. Apparently based on Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew, a brilliantly modern interpretation you will love.
“Perennial bridesmaid, Jane, always puts the needs of others before her own, making her the go-to gal whenever someone needs help with wedding plans. So, when Jane’s younger sister, Tess, snags the man Jane secretly loves, Jane finds herself questioning her role as a wedding junkie for the first time in her life. Meanwhile, a handsome reporter sees Jane’s unusual story as his ticket off the bridal beat.”
Many little girls, including myself, absolutely loved weddings and grew up with plenty of fanciful ideas in their heads of what their wedding would be like. 27 Dresses takes that a step further and gives us a character that not only has a vision for herself but a vision for all the people she cares about. Enter Jane’s cynical opposite, and we can see weddings both ways and come to learn that it should not be about the wedding, it should be about the marriage. One of the last great rom-coms, I totally recommend!
“When Kate learns that her fiancé, Charlie, has become smitten with a young Parisian woman, she boards a plane for France. She is seated next to Luc, a small-time crook who uses her to smuggle a stolen necklace, leading Luc to the hotel where she’s staying to confront Charlie. As Kate and Luc get to know each other, their sarcastic rapport grows warmer, and Kate must decide where her heart truly lies as Charlie tries to win her back.”
I was born in 1993 and this is one of my all-time favorite movies. Hate to love is one of my favorite tropes and the chemistry between Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline is perfect. Giving us a better understanding of the difference between infatuation and love, it also gives us a better understanding between loving someone and being in love. Full of passion, adventure, and self-discovery, you don’t want the ending to be any other way.
“Dumped and depressed, English rose Iris agrees to swap homes with similarly unlucky in love Californian Amanda for a much-needed break. Iris finds herself in a palatial Hollywood mansion while Amanda navigates the lanes of a picture-perfect English village. Soon enough, both lovelorn ladies bump into local lads perfect for a romantic pick-me-up.”
One of the greatest rom-com’s of the 2000’s, (and Amanda is totally living out my dream). With the amazing cast of Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Jack Black, and Rufus Sewell, Nancy Meyers really outdid herself. The movie has a little something for everyone – blue skies and sunshine and time by the pool in sunny LA, a snowy little cottage near an English village, perfectly romantic and swoon-y moments with Jude Law, and silly but heartwarming moments with Jack Black. If for nothing else, watch Iris’s monologue about Jasper and you will be hooked.
“Always shy of commitment, Tom lives as a serial dater. Hannah, his best friend, has wanted to marry and now has found Mr. Right — just as Tom realizes he really loves Hannah. When she asks him to be in her bridal party, Tom seizes the opportunity to prevent the nuptials and woo her himself.”
Maybe because I am super biased, (and as mentioned above dream of finding love in and moving to the UK), but at first I am not really on Tom’s side. Though, this may have been the point. Either way, you learn to love Tom just as Hannah has and it is not so much about Tom getting in the way, rather, Hannah learning the truth about herself. When a prince of sorts captures her heart, she is completely swept away, and sometimes you need that outside voice of a best friend going “wait, hold on”.
“William Thacker, is a London bookstore owner whose humdrum existence is thrown into romantic turmoil when famous American actress Anna Scott appears in his shop. A chance encounter over spilled orange juice leads to a kiss that blossoms into a full-blown affair. As the average bloke and glamorous movie star draw closer and closer together, they struggle to reconcile their radically different lifestyles in the name of love.”
What a classic…. One of Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts best rom-coms with a script that people still reference today. Written for and filmed in England, most of the humor is rather witty, and the romancing scenes subtle, (which is something I adore). Another great one for this list.
“Dedicated environmental lawyer Lucy Kelson goes to work for billionaire George Wade as part of a deal to preserve a community center. Indecisive and weak-willed George grows dependent on Lucy’s guidance on everything from legal matters to clothing. Exasperated, Lucy gives notice and picks Harvard graduate June Carter as her replacement. As Lucy’s time at the firm nears an end, she grows jealous of June and has second thoughts about leaving George.”
This list is a mix of my top tier favorites and a few B-list rom-coms. To me, this is high on the B-list. With that said, it is one of the best rom-coms of the 2000’s and has a great combination of Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. Another that uses the hate to love trope, it was quite refreshing to see the man be the one head-over-heels and totally dependent on the woman. With a great mix of funny and heartwarming moments, it is totally worth the watch.
“While celebrating her newest and most lucrative account — the wedding of Internet tycoon Fran Donelly — Mary is rescued from a near-fatal collision with a runaway dumpster by handsome pediatrician Steve Edison. After spending the most enchanting evening of their lives together, Mary thinks she has finally found a reason to believe in love. What she doesn’t know is that cupid and her career are about to collide head-on.”
Until I became an author, I wanted to be a wedding planner and this movie is why. One of Jennifer Lopez’s best movies, the story is unique, dynamic, and fun. Mary’s father’s speech about his wife and their marriage is still inspiring to this day and it is another film that shows how it isn’t about the wedding, it is about the marriage. I absolutely adore this film, 10/10.
“Lonely transit worker Lucy Eleanor Moderatz pulls her longtime crush, Peter, from the path of an oncoming train. At the hospital, doctors report that he’s in a coma, and a misplaced comment from Lucy causes Peter’s family to assume that she is his fiancée. When Lucy doesn’t correct them, they take her into their home and confidence. Things get even more complicated when she finds herself falling for Peter’s funny and charismatic brother, Jack.”
On any given day my favorite rom-com is a teeter-totter between While You Were Sleeping and French Kiss, (with You’ve Got Mail in a close third). One of the most completely random, crazy, yet fantastic, and special stories you will ever watch, it not only shows that you can fall in love with a person but their whole family. My family knows this movie almost word-for-word and there are countless memorable scenes. Really, if you haven’t seen it before, you need to see it now.
“Struggling boutique bookseller Kathleen Kelly hates Joe Fox, the owner of a corporate Foxbooks chain store that just moved in across the street. When they meet online beforehand, however, they had become an intense and anonymous Internet romance, oblivious of each other’s true identity. Eventually, Joe learns that the enchanting woman he’s involved with is actually his business rival. He must now struggle to reconcile his real-life dislike for her with the cyber love he’s come to feel.”
What is not to love about Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Heather Burns, Steve Zahn, and Dave Chappelle? And when Kathleen says, “When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does,” how can you not find her as enchanting as Joe does? Though I have not watched the source – 1940’s The Shop Around The Corner – romance authors, including myself, have been inspired by this 1990’s classic.
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