Whether you’re embracing being single or have someone to cozy up with this Valentine’s Day, romantic comedies are a fun way to spend time with loved ones and with yourself. Here are five rom-coms you can’t miss.
1. “My Best Friend’s Wedding” (1997)
The Romance: friends to lovers
The Comedy: mildly raunchy
Our food critic protagonist (knowing her vocation doesn’t actually mean much to the plot at all), Julianne (Julia Roberts), finds herself being invited to her best friend, Michael’s (Dermot Mulroney), wedding. We learn of Julianne and Michael’s long history from the very beginning; thus, the movie follows her quest to sabotage the wedding.
I found this film quite funny, and although there were familiar character archetypes sprinkled throughout (the sidekick, for example), the film never felt cliché or overdone. Additionally, the themes within the movie were pleasantly profound. The film was a great exploration of a person coming to understand their feelings and gaining perspective on what love is.
Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment
2. “13 going on 30” (2004)
The Romance: friends to lovers
The Comedy: light-hearted
This rom-com follows Jenna’s (Jennifer Garner) desire to be “thirty and flirty and thriving.” When her wish comes true (literally, there is magic fairy dust involved and everything), she finds herself working for a prominent editorial magazine and dating a famous hockey player. However, Jenna realizes that her best friend Matt (Mark Ruffalo) is missing from the picture, and essentially sets off to reconcile with him, while realizing her feelings.
This film has several entertaining and memorable scenes such as when Jenna creates a choreographed flash mob to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” The plot was engaging, the chemistry between the characters was electric, and the overall film was very endearing.
Photo Credit: Shout Studios
3. “Feast of the Seven Fishes” (2018)
The Romance: friends to lovers
The Comedy: raunchy
This was one of my favorite rom-coms on the list. It has a unique, compelling plot that follows Tony (Skyler Gisondo) and Beth (Madison Iseman) slowly learning to love each other despite their differences and different family traditions (hint: the Feast of the Seven Fishes, which is portrayed in the film as a very chaotic Italian Christmas Eve tradition). Lastly, I felt that all the characters were very complex and fleshed out, including the secondary characters, which helped the conflicts avoid becoming cliché.
The only thing I would disclaim is that if you intend to watch this with younger individuals, beware that there is substantial swearing and sexual references.
Photo Credit: Netflix
4. “Love Hard” (2021)
The Romance: fake dating/enemies to lovers
The Comedy: light-hearted
One day, Natalie (Nina Dobrev) swipes right on who she seems to be her perfect match. After a montage of her falling head over heels with this person through her cell phone, Natalie decides to surprise him for Christmas by flying to the small town where he lives. However, Natalie is in for a surprise of her own to learn that she had been catfished by Josh (Jimmy O. Yang), the person she believes is far from being her perfect match.
Among the familiar skeleton of most rom-coms, the diverse cast and engaging plot helped to push this movie away from feeling like déja vu. I think adding more slow burn would have intensified the chemistry between the main characters. For example, it almost felt like the director spent more time trying to make the audience believe that Josh was a lovable character as opposed to convincing us that Natalie was actually falling in love with him. Even so, it is a worthwhile watch and will put a smile on your face.
Photo Credit: Netflix
5. “Love at First Sight” (2023)
The Romance: love at first sight
The Comedy: sarcastic, light-hearted
Hadley (Haley Lu Richardson) and Oliver (Ben Hardy) fall in love with each other over the duration of a flight from New York to London. While the secondary plots (the family “drama”) were close to veering on the side of cookie cutter rom-com gunk, I thought the character stories, and how they were developed throughout the film, were unique enough to avoid it. Lastly, the characters had beautiful chemistry, and the slow burn was the crème de la crème.
In terms of comedy, this may have been my favorite of the five films listed. The unique narration lended itself greatly to the comedy due to the fact that the narrator is an actual character we see throughout the movie.
Macey Heys, Managing Editor
(Featured Image from Sony Pictures Entertainment)