Romantic comedies are the ideal cross-section of movie styles, whether you want to be swept away in a sparkling romance or laugh at awkward pratfalls.
These films simultaneously tug at your heartstrings and make you laugh. The best part is that you can always rely on a happy ending—ideal for avoiding your own dating woes.
The Artist
The Best Picture winner for 2012 is a black-and-white love letter to the magic of silent film. It is based on a matinee idol who falls in love with an ingenue as their fortunes in Hollywood rise and fall with the arrival of talkies. The Artist has it all: a great love tale, a thought-provoking reflection on creativity. It is a hilarious puppy.
Safety Not Guaranteed
Aubrey Plaza stars as a disillusioned magazine intern. She teams up with her coworkers to locate the writer of a classified ad seeking a time travel partner in this quirky sci-fi romcom. When she meets the artist, they develop an unlikely bond. This results in a sweet story about disillusioned young people facing their long-forgotten dreams.
Tortilla Soup
Hector Elizondo plays a widowed chef who has lost his senses of taste and smell in this Mexican-American remake of Ang Lee’s Eat Drink Man Woman. He thinks his days have lost their sense when living at home with his three grown daughters—until a beguiling widow enters his life. This tale of family, food, and second chances hits all the right notes, with sumptuous meals and a succession of heady romances.
Mr. Right
The romcom genre is twisted up with action movie stereotypes in this deliciously over-the-top film. Martha McKay, played by Anna Kendrick, is a woman. She has had a string of bad luck in marriage, and she soon learns that her new beau is a rogue hitman. Mr. Right is on our list because of the electric chemistry between its two leads. It’s screwball and silly, marrying cotton candy romance with violent killings.
The Prince and me
Julia Stiles stars as a pre-med student at the University of Wisconsin. She falls for a classmate who is really the Crown Prince of Denmark posing as a regular college student in this cult classic from the early 2000s. The original film spawned three sequels, but the first is still the best: a fluffy fantasy of royalty and romance, all based on one woman’s desire to pursue her professional goals.
