There are many genres of movies, but it’s hard to find one that is more popular then romantic movies. Whether we’re talking about a romantic comedy or just a straightforward story of true love, there is something about the best romantic movies that keeps us coming back for more. Most guys will claim that they would rather watch football than have to sit down for 2 hours and watch some sappy love story. But when it comes down to it, the most romantic movies have a way of melting the hearts of both genders. And let’s not forget how fun some of the best romantic comedies of all time are. They can have us laughing in our seats while empathizing with the main characters at the same time. The best romantic comedies are able to tap into all facets of our emotions while making us feel great when we walk out of the theatre.
It’s difficult to come up with a list of top romantic movies and top romantic comedies without having some dispute. People have their personal favourites and sometimes they can be quite adamant about their opinions of the best romantic movies of all time. In compiling this list we had to think hard about what makes a great romantic movie. It needs to have characters that we can relate to, and a story that balances reality with the perfect touch of fantasy. Everybody wants to see a love story that is truly incredible and plausible at the same time, or it has to cut to the core of love as we know it. You will find some romantic movies on this list that couldn’t possibly happen in real life, but the story rings true nevertheless. We’ve decided not to come up with two separate lists for the best romantic movies and the best romantic comedies because these days some of the top romantic movies are also incredibly funny. And we apologize for those who are looking for old standards like Gone with the Wind or Casablanca because we’ve decided to keep this list fairly modern. We also want to give credit to some movies that might not be as well known as others.
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So here you have it, our list of Best Romantic Movies of all time…
10. Love actually – we were pretty surprised that this movie actually didn’t do all that well over on rotten tomatoes. It has a fresh rating, but it currently stands at 63%. We think it manages to balance several storylines perfectly and each one is entertaining in its own right. There are some heartbreaking moments in addition to some scenes that will have you cheering. We don’t want to give too much away, but seeing certain characters get their happy ending is really satisfying.
9. The 40 Year Old Virgin – despite being rather raunchy this is one of the sweetest movies around. Steve Carell plays the title role perfectly and we’re rooting for him at every moment. Catherine Keener plays the romantic interest with ultimate charm and we all know someone like her character in real life. And of course the cast of supporting players (Andy’s friends) make this one of the most hilarious romantic comedies of all time.
8. Edward Scissor Hands – long before she played an old lady in the new Star Trek movie, Winona Ryder played another old lady in this one. But in this case she plays an older version of the character that comes to love Johnny Depp’s scissor-clad main character. This movie represents the best of Tim Burton long before he turned into a remake machine. It has a quiet charm, a good touch of humour, and a perfect balance of love and tragedy – making it a splendid modern fairy tale.
7. Ghost – if you watch this movie today you will probably find the special effects laughable. But if you can get over the 80’s feel of this movie, it still holds up as one of the best romantic movies ever. There are many aspects of this movie that are still a part of popular culture today, and everyone will forever remember the scene where the two lovers are making pottery together. And let’s not forget that Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar for her performance. We love this romantic movie. Ditto.
6. Brokeback Mountain – that’s right we decided to put this movie on our list, got a problem with that? When it comes down to it, this is one of the most tragic love stories of all time, and there are so many factors that keep the two main characters from being together. Imagine being desperately in love with somebody and not actually being able to be with them because of what society says. It doesn’t matter if you are gay or straight, put yourselves in the shoes of these characters and we dare you to try to not feel the heartbreak.
5. Sleepless in Seattle – we love the pacing and simple nature of this movie. They tried to recreate the magic with “You’ve got Mail”, but it shows it’s not just the actors that make a good romantic movie. It’s the writing, the story, and a little bit of luck involved in putting it all together in the perfect package. It happened with “Sleepless”, and we can still watch this movie today even though we’ve seen it a hundred times. Everyone lets out a silent sigh when the main characters finally meet each other, and it doesn’t get much better than that.
4. When Harry met Sally – this is arguably one of the first romantic comedies that served as the template for hundreds of movies that have come after. The thing that makes this movie stand out is that it doesn’t try to follow the formula because this is the original. There are so many classic scenes in this movie including the one where Meg Ryan shows Billy Crystal her acting ability in the diner. If you haven’t seen this classic in a while, do yourself a favour and revisit it as soon as possible.
3. Pretty Woman – this is the movie that kick started Julia Roberts’ career, and it introduced us to her big laugh (and huge mouth). We all remember that scene where Richard Gere closes the jewelry box and Julia Roberts lets out that infectious howl – but did you know that scene was ad-libbed by Gere and the laugh was a genuine reaction? Again they tried to do it again with “Runaway Bride”, but all that movie did is remind us of the greatness “Pretty Woman”.
2. Titanic – this movie is over 3 hours long but it never seems to drag. The love story is perfectly played out by two actors who share genuine chemistry. Up until the release of “Avatar” this was the number one box office movie of all time, and for good reason. It is extremely entertaining whether you are a fan of romantic movies or not. Every time they rerun this movie on television we make it a point to watch it again.
1. Wall-E – sure this is an unexpected choice since “Titanic” is universally regarded as one of the best romantic movies of the modern era. But where do we start about how much we love Wall-E? First of all the little guy is as cute as can be. He is probably also the loneliest character we have ever seen on screen, and if there’s anyone who deserves to fall in love it’s him. You know he has a good heart and he is more human than most of us could ever hope to be. The scene where Wall-E and Eve are dancing and flying in outer space is too beautiful to describe. We also want to give credit to the first 5 minutes of “Up” and its depiction of a truly great love story.
Honourable Mentions for best romantic movies:
Jerry Maguire
Roxanne
The Last of the Mohicans
Forrest Gump
Bridget Jones’ Diary
Away From Her
And finally…
Just for fun we’ve come up with a list of Romantic Movies that Guys absolutely hate. Some of these would make it onto some women’s list of best romantic movies, but you can bet guys don’t feel the same way. This next section is written by Mark Stanson, one of our male contributors.
5. Moulin Rouge – what was this? The only thing that this movie has going for it is that Nicole Kidman’s face hasn’t been riddled by plastic surgery yet. Who asked for this movie? It’s just a hot mess of weirdoes and singing that doesn’t make sense. There were literally times when I was watching this movie and thought that I was suffering from hallucinations brought on by food poisoning.
4. Juno – this movie was charming for about 10 minutes until you realize that she’s going to talk like that the entire time. It’s hard to relate to a kid that you want to throw out of the window even though she’s pregnant.
3. 500 Days of Summer – good lord can a movie get any more boring and hipsterish? I can barely remember what happens in this movie because I totally zoned out a quarter of the way through. I normally love Zooey Deschanel so it takes a mighty powerful bad movie to make me hate her flakey character. I’d rather watch her in “Elf” any day of the week.
2. The Second Twilight – the first Twilight actually wasn’t that bad – I’m willing to admit that much. But then the second one exposes us to how wishy-washy all of the characters are. There are so many points in the movie where you just want to throw holy water onto that British vampire dude and tell him to man-up.
Spoiler Alert ahead
1. The Notebook – I would rather eat scorpions than watch this movie again. It is so implausible that these two mopes would die at exactly the same time. At least I think that’s what happens at the end, I can’t really remember because I decided to do my taxes rather than finish this on television. There are so many points in the movie that make me hate the characters even though I love the individual actors who play them. And now there are movies being made where the commercials say “from the producers of the Notebook” which is the same thing for me as saying “from the makers of knives in your face”.
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