I love movies. I don’t mean I’m a casual watcher of movies—I REALLY love movies. I have a degree in film. Other than books and TV, movies are my life. I haven’t seen every movie on earth and we most likely have a different view on film favorites. However, it’s the season of love so lets talk about some of my favorite romantic movies. These are all movies that are romantic to me. I’m going to put each movie in different categories. Big, obvious pulls like Pretty Women or The Notebook won’t be on here because they’re kinda a given, or they’re not necessarily my favorites.
Classics
The first time I saw Casablanca it was just one famous quote after another. A lot of Audrey Hepburn movies are romantic comedies, but I feel like Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the ultimate. Another two actresses whose films were the pinnacle of romantic during their respective time periods were Molly Ringwald and Meg Ryan. I still drop everything I’m doing if I see You’ve Got Mail on TV.
Coming of Age
Coming of age movies are some of my all-time favorites. Its from my love of YA novels, I guess. Really anything having to do with teens and first love. I remember how amazed I was when I saw Juno in theaters (all four times), I was head over heels in love with those characters, the dialogue, and the whole atmosphere. Like I was with Juno, Moonrise Kingdom snuck up on me and became my favorite Wes Anderson film. One movie that you probably have heard of is the Brazilian gay film, The Way He Looks, about a a new kid at school who falls for the blind boy as they work on a school project together. I found this on Netflix one day and I was blown away. The rest of these coming of age films are all fabulous book adaptations that are so entertaining that I find myself rewatching over and over again.
Romantic Comedies
There’s nothing like a great romantic comedy. There were SO many movies I could have picked for this category, especially during the time of the late 90’s/early 00’s like 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless.Because of the success of those films, it helped pave the way for movies like Easy A. I think the Judd Apatow-verse has created, and continues to create, so many incredibly hilarious movies that also have so much heart. I mean, The movies he helped produce like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and I Love You, Man were the backbone of my complete adoration for Jason Segel. Another Judd Apatow film was The Big Sick, a true story about the relationship of one of my favorite comedy couples. When Crazy Stupid Love came out, I thought it was going to be a stereotypical rom-com but it really surprised me as to how much I enjoyed it. The beginning of the Ryan Gosling/Emma Stone magic!
Quirky
I love me a good quirky romance. These movies are all really fresh and interesting. After seeing Jenny Slate in Obvious Child, it immediately became one of my all-time favorite movies. Richard Curtis makes a lot of wonderful British films, but About Time was so special and held an ounce more magic. When I first saw (500) Days of Summer, I was instantly obsessed and it was kind of the start of these uniquely crafted movies like Ruby Sparks. Garden State still resides in my top five favorite movies of all time—quite an honorable position.
There are HUNDREDS of movies that could have been included in any of these categories. Leave me some of your favorite romance movies in the comments!
Lindsay Glenne 