The 18 Best Love Stories You Can Watch Right Now:
Romances have been written for centuries, predating the invention of movies. Love is one of the few themes that can be found in all kinds of stories, and readers of all types have always been able to discover and appreciate new stories about fake characters falling in love.
You might be thinking of a romance that comes out of the blue, like within La La Land as well as Runaway Bride. You might also be interested in love stories starring powerful female stars, like Someone Great or The Incredible Jessica James. Feeling like a different kind of love story? Our list of the greatest romantic movies has something for everyone.
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai:
When Karan Johar’s first movie as a director came out in 1998, it became an instant classic in Bollywood. Rahul and Anjali are best friends in college until Rahul falls in love with Tina and Anjali realizes how she really feels about Rahul.
Before Tina’s death, they stopped talking to each other. Tina leaves behind a daughter, who is also named Anjali, in honor of their old friend.
Ajali reads letters from her late mother as a child and learns about her dad’s old friend and first love. Tina tells her daughter to find Anjali and set up a romantic relationship again between the two friends.
Johar’s most famous movie, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, is still his best work to this day. It made his name linked to pure power within the Hindi film business. Khan and Kajol’s chemistry is captivating throughout, from the time when they teased each other in college while wearing GAPs to the scene in the gazebo, where they were in unimaginable sexual tension.
Even though the movie is known for its love triangle, Anjali and Tina are never in competition with each other. Instead, the movie portrays their friendship and their individual relationships with Rahul. In the beginning, Rahul says, “Love is friendship.” In the same way, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is always a story about friends.
Roman Holiday:
Some might say that Roman Holiday didn’t completely create the romantic comedy genre, but it is a classic from the 1950s that helped change what people think of as a rom-com.
Like a modern fairy tale, it’s about a princess from Europe who falls in love with an American writer while they are both in Rome and goes on a few adventures with him.
This movie is still very charming and perfectly sad, even though it came out 70 years ago. Its humor and emotional power have not changed at all. It also mostly works because Audrey Hepburn as well as Gregory Peck are great together; they both do some of their best work during this 1953 classic.
Eurovision Song Contest:
I didn’t think Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of the Fire Saga would be one of the most moving and beautiful movies of the year, but Rachel McAdams is always a surprise.
In this silly but touching Netflix original comedy, she and Will Ferrell play two Icelandic singers who want to win the Eurovision Song Contest. The Mean Girls and Game Night star once again shows that she is one of the most underrated comic actors of her generation.
There are times when it’s so funny that you’ll laugh out loud. But the real shocks are the amazingly catchy original songs as well as the touching moments in between the laughs that will make your heart smile.
That’s not solely because of the tale of love, though it is a big part of it. As an added bonus, Dan Stevens gives the funniest performance of his career, which is additionally surprisingly moving.
Alex Strangelove:
Some may think that Alex Strangelove is just another coming-of-age romance where a famous teen struggles with his sexuality, but the movie gives the story its own unique twist.
In a high school story, Alex Truelove lives in an incredibly modern and accepting place that doesn’t have many attitudes against being gay. Alex still does not know what or who he wants. He needs to discover a bit more about himself before he can be sure.
A lot of LGBTQ+ romances are about main characters who are fighting against social biases. Alex Strangelove, on the other hand, shows the gay experience in a happier way.
After all of the movie’s twists and turns, EW’s critic said, “It’s hard to fault the greater message here that we all deserve the right to be true to who we are, even if it takes a few hard turns as well as some emotional damage to get there.”
Four Weddings And A Funeral:
In this classic love story, Hugh Grant perfects his cute British guy charm with shaggy hair. The American actress Andie MacDowell plays the woman who wins his heart while they’re both busy with weddings.
This is a romantic movie that will make your heart swell alongside love-related feelings and make you quote romantic love poems.
A Walk To Remember:
Do you want to cry? Want to trust love? Want to immerse yourself in a classic portrayal of the bad boy meets good girl trope with a twist from the early 2000s? Go for a walk to remember.
Despite Mandy Moore’s beauty, her chemistry with Shane West and sincere performance make this romantic tearjerker a must-see for anyone who likes love stories that are meant to break your heart.
Love & Basketball:
Lovers of basketball and love stories will love Love & Basketball, which is a sports film, a comedy, and a romance movie all in one. Another great romantic comedy about sports, this one is about two childhood friends who are both really into hoops and start to feel feelings for each other as adults.
The romance movie explores the adjustments or sacrifices that couples sometimes need to make for their relationship to work. It also asks if other interests throughout life may acquire precedence.
It does a great job of exploring these kinds of topics and combining a lot of different styles, making it a very entertaining whole.
Love Is In The Air:
Adrian Powers directs this romance comedy filled with lots of laughs. It’s about a seaplane pilot named Dana Randall who finds love in the strangest places. At first, her boyfriend, William, wants to ruin her business.
Today is all about romance, and there is a lot of it. Powers and the writing by Caera Bradshaw as well as Katharine McPhee bring the main couple’s great energy to life.
Love Is in the Air was a smooth flight with a little turbulence that checked off all the boxes for the genre. Its ensemble cast, which includes Mia Grunwald as well as Roy Billing, helps ease it into a satisfying landing.
Along For The Ride:
In this movie based on the book by Sarah Dessen, Auden, a night owl, makes her type-A mom mad by spending the summer before college with her dad, his wife, as well as their son.
Auden quickly forms her first genuine group of friends and explores the beach town in the early morning hours. She is now determined to experience all the teenage things she has missed out on.
When she does this, she meets Eli, another night-type who also has a secret past. It’s not the first time Sofia Alvarez has worked on a teen romance movie. She turned All the Boys I’ve Loved Before into a hit Netflix movie series.
Now, she’s directed her first full-length movie, Along for the Ride, which she worked on with Dessen, the queen of beach reads, and is the perfect summer relationship movie. “I have always loved those nostalgic summer movies that I watched as a kid,” Alvarez told EW.
“I think I saw right away that this movie could be one of those.” For me, it had to be a kind of summer film where you could smell the sunscreen via the screen or where everyone sings the music in the car on the way to the beach this summer.
The Apartment:
The Apartment was one of those standard black-and-white love stories that will always be charming. It won the Best Picture Oscar in 1961 for its realistic look at relationships and one of the most beautiful endings of all time.
Billy Wilder, the great director, helmed the film. Jack Lemmon, playing a junior executive, rents out his apartment to his shady boss to secure a promotion.
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before:
In 2018, Netflix started to show more romantic comedies, and this one, based on a book by Jenny Han, was one of them. Lara Jean is a naive lover who writes letters to the guys she really likes, but she doesn’t send them.
After the letters get out, she starts dating Peter Kavinsky to hide the fact that she really likes her sister’s boyfriend rather than anyone else.
You can watch To All the Boys over and over again because it has catchy pop music and a style that will make your Instagram feed jealous. It’s a comfort movie as cozy as Lara Jean’s baked goods. Is it going to get old to watch imagined people fake love until it happens? The answer is no if they’re not even half as cute as these two.
West Side Story:
Due to the fact that West Side Story was a modern take on Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, it might not be the best romantic movie for people who like their love stories to be happy.
This story is about two young people who fall in love even though they come from very different backgrounds. Each is in a different street gang, and those two gangs are fiercely competitive and sometimes violent with each other.
It’s both a great show with memorable songs as well as scenes with amazing dance routines, and it tells this big love story that has to do with crime.
Steven Spielberg’s reboot in 2021 brought it up to date very well, but the 1961 film version is still the most important and feels more like a classic. Only time will tell how future generations feel regarding the two versions of the same great story.
Greenberg:
Noah Baumbach writes and directs this realistic slice-of-life tale about a man with anxiety who needs to learn to accept the world around him. After getting out of a mental hospital, Roger Greenberg’s brother brings him to Los Angeles, and he despises everything about it.
The only thing that saves him is his unwilling link to Florence, played through Greta Gerwig. Florence sees through his rough appearance to the hurt man inside. This movie really shows off Stiller’s acting skills, as he gives a great performance as a confused and sometimes unlikable character.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall:
Many people still remember the first scene of this Judd Apatow-produced rom-com, in which Sarah Marshall breaks up with Jason Segel, who plays the helpless Peter. After ending a five-year relationship, Peter runs away to a Hawaiian island to try to make peace. By chance, Sarah and her annoying rock star boyfriend, Aldous, are also there.
Peter quickly starts dating Rachel, the resort receptionist, and the love triangle that forms makes things harder for everyone. As EW’s writer put it, “Segel as well as his co-conspirators riff upon varieties of male bewilderment.” It’s a classic screwball comedy seen through the lens of Apatow’s school of raunchy improvisation.
Bridget Jones’s Diary:
Both Colin Firth and Hugh Grant play Bridget Jones’s handsome British boyfriends, and their rivalry ends in a hilarious fight. In this rom-com about a woman who can’t find love, Renée Zellweger plays the lead character from the famous book. Prepare for a race through the snow to win the love of the right man.
Cold War:
The Cold War was a period of political tension and military rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Cold War is just under 90 minutes long, and it feels both easy and hard at the same time.
The movie moves slowly and mostly centers on a single, deeply emotional relationship between two unusual lovers. However, each scene has its own unique, sometimes confusing flow, and the movie successfully mixes genres all the way through.
Other things that make it stand out are its technical aspects. The black-and-white photography and 1.37:1 aspect ratio are both very striking. The movie is strange and even confusing, so it might not be the easiest romance movie to watch, but it’s worth a shot if you want to see a truly unique movie.
Happiness For Beginners:
Happiness for Beginners was based on Katherine Center’s famous book of the same name. It’s a story that shows us that it’s never too late to find out who we are again and change who we are.
Ellie Kemper plays the role of Helen. She is a recently divorced woman who decides to join a military hike along the Appalachian Trail to change herself from the lonely woman she sees in the mirror.
She meets up with an old friend of her brother’s on the trip, and they help her change the way she wishes to live her life. This love story movie is really cute, and Kemper as well as Luke Grimes, who plays her love interest, have such natural but electric energy that it pulls you in right away.
The Half Of It:
Ellie starts writing love letters for a jock named Paul in exchange for some much-needed cash. This is a modern take on the classic French play, Cyrano de Bergerac. But as Ellie keeps writing to Aster, Paul’s dream girl, she realizes they have a lot in common and starts to wonder if she’s really her true love.
The movie moves forward thanks to the love tension between Aster, who doesn’t know Ellie, and her bad luck. But the real heart of the story is the friendship that grows between Ellie and Paul.
Even though he can’t write to safeguard his life, Paul talks out when it matters. This creates a close-knit love triangle between three teens who are simply attempting to figure out what life is all about.
The characters’ relationship is also based on Lewis and Diemer’s real love for each other. Lewis told EW, “Daniel is now like my brother.” Lewis told EW, “Daniel is now like my brother.” On screen, his faith in me to portray Daniel was evident, just as Paul’s faith in Ellie empowers her to act.
