Our Favorite Romantic Comedies
You don't have to give up eating for a month or mortgage your house to enjoy
a memorable romantic date. Fill the bill with a good romantic movie...
... along with low lighting, candles or a crackling fire (or both), a comfortable couch, a bottle of medium-priced bubbly, and a generous box of chocolates (perfect for watching Forrest Gump, one of the great romantic movies of all time). Or hot buttered popcorn and cider. Or hot buttered rum and skip the popcorn. You get the idea. Easy, fun, a few laughs, a few tears, and some good cuddling.
You might want to stretch out the evening with a home-cooked, candlelight dinner - try chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert (how romantic is that?). Or eat something sexy with your hands, a la Tom Jones, and gaze and giggle into each other's eyes. Follow up with an aromatic bath, a pair of relaxing massages (one for each of you), and then snuggle down in front of a romantic movie. What's stopping you?
Imagine the possibilities, from the frothy and funny romantic comedy (When Harry Met Sally, Notting Hill) to the seriously dramatic romantic movie (Romeo and Juliet, Gone with the Wind), and every romantic movie in between (Sliding Doors, City of Angels - both versions, Shakespeare in Love).
A crucial issue is whether your definition of a romantic movie meshes with your sweetheart's. If three-hanky tearjerkers are your style, and action adventure is his, choosing becomes a challenge - but for starters, try Romancing the Stone, Ghost, or Titanic.
To help you out, we give you thumbnail sketches of a variety of our favorite romantic films, in no particular order. Look them over, go to your local video store or public library or click on the movie link to order it in Amazon.Com, and plan a great Friday-night romantic movie in the privacy and comfort of home - with some extra-special fixings.
When Harry Met Sally...
Our favorite romantic comedy. This is one of the few movies we can watch over and over and never tire of seeing it.
Sally faking an orgasm in the restaurant scene is unforgettable.
VIDEO DVD
Four Weddings and a Funeral
This touching and funny film with a mischievous sense of humor and some truly heartbreaking moments is, in our eyes, one of the classic romantic comedies of all time.
VIDEO DVD
Don Juan de Marco
An unusual romantic comedy about a mental patient (Johnny Depp) who claims to be Don Juan, the world's greatest lover and he gets quite a few women and maybe even his psychiatrist (Marlon Brando) to believe it's true...
VIDEO DVD
There's Something About Mary
A hilarious romantic comedy that made us laugh from beginning to end.
VIDEO DVD
For Roseanna
A romantic comedy about husband and wife so madly in love with each other that they would do anything to make the other happy when all they really want is each other.
VIDEO
As Good As it Gets
This romantic comedy is about the human heart and its ability to transform even the heartless romance novelist (Jack Nicholson). One of our top lift up films.
VIDEO DVD
L.A. Story
Steve Martin doesn't know what to do with his life, both professionally and romantically. His problems are over when he discovers a L.A. freeway sign that gives him romantic advice.
VIDEO DVD
Shakespeare in Love
The Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love is a great love story and a great comedy, filled with such good will, sunny romance, snappy one-liners, and devilish cleverness that it's absolutely irresistible.
VIDEO DVD
The Whole Nine Yards
A fun movie about a poor dentist (Matthew Perry) who falls in love with his neighbor's wife. Since his neighbor (Bruce Willis) is a contract killer for the mafia, the situation gets into a very nice tangle. In the end the dentist gets the babe and they live happily ever after. Who can ask for more?
VIDEO DVD
Keeping Up the Faith
A rabbi and a priest who've been best friends since childhood fall for their childhood friend - now a stunning woman who is married to her career and her vibrating cell phone.
VIDEO DVD
A Fish Called Wanda
One of the best comedies ever... the plot twists and turns; you never know who's going to end up in bed with sexy Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) or with the fortune until the very, very end.
VIDEO DVD
A life Less Ordinary
A quirky romance for those who are tired of trite recycled plots. It is about a bumbling kidnapper with a romantic heart and big dreams. Cameron Diaz is a spoiled brat who tries to be a lot tougher than she really is.
VIDEO DVD
Sliding Doors
Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow), who's just been fired from her job, misses a train. And then, rewind, she catches the train. It's basically a what-if scenario with Helen at the center of two slightly but significantly different romantic paths, one involving her disloyal boyfriend and the other with a good guy she meets on the train.
VIDEO DVD
Serendipity
Two people brought together while fighting over the last pair of gloves at Bloomingdale's, which leads to a quick falling-in-love and finally a parting where she won't reveal her name because she believes in fate. Will the two would-be lovers find each other before they both marry other people?
VIDEO DVD
Moonstruck
Extremely funny romantic comedy, where Cher is a widow who feels she should marry an older fellow (Danny Aiello), but then falls for his black-sheep brother (Nicolas Cage).
VIDEO DVD
Bridget Jones's Diary
This romantic comedy follows the misadventures of its disaster prone heroine over the course of a year. Things start off badly at Christmas when Bridget's mother tries to set her up with seemingly standoffish lawyer. Instead she embarks on a disastrous liaison with her raffish boss...
VIDEO DVD
Pretty Woman
Julia Roberts is a streetwise and somewhat innocent prostitute, and Richard Gere, a tough talking, and sincerely loving billionaire, who hires her services for a week - a Cinderella story set in Hollywood Boulevard.
VIDEO DVD
Much Ado about Nothing
One of the best romantic comedies ever written (William Shakespeare), about two couples in love. One couple has their love threatened by the nasty meddling of others. The other couple is brought together through the deception of others, but their love is more threatened by their own personalities and neuroses.
VIDEO DVD
The American President
Michael Douglas stars as the president, who after three years in office starts thinking about the possibility of dating. When he luckily encounters aggressive environmental lobbyist Annette Bening, sparks begin to sizzle and the two begin a cautious but heartfelt romance.
VIDEO DVD
Notting Hill
This pure fairytale romantic comedy, ponders what would happen if a beautiful, the world's most famous actress were to suddenly drop into your life unannounced and promptly fall in love with you.
VIDEO DVD
The Mask
Jim Carrey plays a bank officer, a 'nice guy' who always finishes last. At the lowest point of his desperation, he gets hold of a Mask that allows him to a whirlwind of mischief and still get the girl (Cameroon Diaz).
VIDEO DVD
City Of Angels
Meg Ryan stars as a heart surgeon who is grieving over a lost patient when an angel (Nicolas Cage) appears to comfort her. She can see him despite the "rule" that angels are invisible, and his love for her forces him to choose between angelic immortality and a normal human existence on earth with her.
VIDEO DVD
Runaway Bride
A romantic comedy about big-city reporter (Richard Gere) who falls for a small-town handywoman (Julia Roberts), with a nasty habit of running away from the altar in a chronic state of premarital panic.
VIDEO DVD
Before Sunrise
This is a romantic, witty and ultimately touching romantic comedy that offers a glimpse at two strangers who share thoughts, affections, and past experiences during one 14-hour rendezvous in Vienna.
VIDEO DVD
Frankie & Johnny
Al Pacino plays Johnny, an ex-con who just happens to have gotten out of jail. He applies for the short-order cook position at a diner, where he drives the waitress (Michelle Pfeiffer) crazy with his adamant courtship and mixed messages.
VIDEO DVD
Message in a Bottle
Well, this is NOT a romantic comedy, but it is one of the better films about relationships and true never ending love.
VIDEO DVD
The Bridges of Madison County
Meryl Streep is a lonely Iowa farmer's wife who is instantly attracted to Clint Eastwood, the photographer from National Geographic who is in the area to photograph the bridges of Madison County. They fall in love while her husband and children are away but after just a few brief days of intimate connection they decide to part forever...
VIDEO DVD
Romancing the Stone
Kathleen Turner is a romance novelist, who goes to Colombia to ransom her sister with a map that leads to a jewel. There, she meets Michael Douglas, an adventurer and free spirit. He helps her get to her sister and, naturally, they fall in love, and run into all sorts of trouble.
VIDEO DVD
Sweet November
Keanu Reeves plays a hard-driven workaholic adman without a life outside of his work. Charlize Theron plays a beautiful free spirit who takes him into her life for one month (November) and slowly changes the way he sees the world - including the very important differences between sex and love and between taking and giving.
VIDEO DVD
Ghost
Patrick Swayze is a banker who is suddenly murdered by an armed thug, thus leaving his poor girlfriend (Demi Moore) behind. Patrick is now a ghost who must solve the true reason to why he was murdered. By doing so, he uses the aid of a psychic (Whoopie Goldberg) to help him warn his sweetheart of a similar fate.
VIDEO DVD
The Princess Bride
A lowly stable boy, Westley, pledges his love to the beautiful Buttercup, only to be kidnapped and reportedly killed by pirates while Buttercup is engaged to the evil Prince Humperdinck. Even as Buttercup herself is kidnapped by a giant, a devious criminal mastermind, and a master Spanish swordsman, a mysterious masked pirate follows in pursuit...
VIDEO DVD
Annie Hall
Woody Allen's Annie Hall remains one of the truest, most bittersweet romantic comedies of all time. Allen plays a successful - if neurotic - television comedian living in Manhattan. Annie (Dianne Keaton) is experimenting with photography and sings in small clubs. When the two meet, the sparks are immediate...
VIDEO DVD
Mickey Blue Eyes
Hugh Grant is an art auctioneer who falls in love with schoolteacher, who just happens to be the daughter of a mobster. To protect Grant, she tries to fend off his proposal of marriage, but some miscommunications lead to Grant being embraced by the "family."
VIDEO DVD
Harold and Maude
One of the sweetest and most unconventional love stories ever made about the romance between Harold, a suicidal 19-year-old and Maude, a life-loving 79-year-old widow.
VIDEO DVD
Sleepless In Seattle
Meg Ryan listens to the radio one late night and hears a recently widowed man (Tom Hanks) talking about the loss of his wife and his subsequent loneliness. Obsessed with this story that has touched her so, Ryan becomes one of the millions of women around the country who write to him in hopes of making a connection...
VIDEO DVD
Love Story
A law student who defies his rich and powerful father on every issue, including his love for a music student. The two marry, start life together... and then the death turns up at the door.
VIDEO DVD
You've Got Mail
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan first meet anonymously, online, where they gradually nurture a warm, even intimate correspondence. As they begin to wonder whether this e-mail flirtation might lead them to be soul mates, however, they meet and clash over their colliding business fortunes.
VIDEO DVD
Gone With The Wind
Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh create two of the most famous screen characters in Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara. Rhett is a stylish rascal whose allegiance is not to the South, but to lining his own pockets. Scarlett is the classic, self-absorbed Southern belle, who thinks that the world revolves around her...
VIDEO DVD
Titanic
A starving artist and soon-to-be-married socialite won the hearts of viewers around the world in their brief but never-forgotten love affair.
VIDEO DVD