12 films · The Lovvy team
Romantic movies to watch with your boyfriend or girlfriend
Twelve romantic films that work for both of you: funny enough for the skeptic, sweet enough for the romantic.
In most couples there is one person who wants a romantic film and one who needs convincing. These twelve are the compromise: love stories with enough humour, adventure or bite that nobody feels dragged along.
Romantic, and actually funny
- 1
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Directed by Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
A newly separated man gets dating lessons from a smooth stranger, and several love stories turn out to be tied together.
Also in: The 30 best movies to watch as a couple, Movies for a first date at home
- 2
The Proposal (2009)
Directed by Anne Fletcher
A demanding boss facing deportation forces her assistant into a fake engagement, and then they have to visit his family in Alaska.
- 3
Anyone But You (2023)
Directed by Will Gluck
Two people who cannot stand each other pretend to be a couple at a destination wedding in Australia. A modern romcom that knows exactly what it is.
- 4
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Directed by Gil Junger
Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew moved to a Seattle high school. Funny, sharp and the reason a generation knows Heath Ledger can sing.
- 5
Notting Hill (1999)
Directed by Roger Michell
The owner of a small London bookshop and the most famous actress in the world. Warm, funny and full of friends you would want over for dinner.
Also in: The 30 best movies to watch as a couple, Movies to watch cuddled up: 20 picks for a quiet night
- 6
Pretty Woman (1990)
Directed by Garry Marshall
A buttoned-up businessman and a woman he meets on Hollywood Boulevard spend a week together that changes both of them.
Romantic, with an adventure
- 7
Stardust (2007)
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
A young man crosses into a magical kingdom to bring back a fallen star, who turns out to be a woman. A fairy tale with jokes and pirates in the sky.
Also in: Movies to watch cuddled up: 20 picks for a quiet night
- 8
About Time (2013)
Directed by Richard Curtis
A young man learns he can travel back to moments of his own life, and slowly works out that the point is not to fix every day but to live it properly.
Also in: The 30 best movies to watch as a couple, Movies for a first date at home, Movies to watch cuddled up: 20 picks for a quiet night
- 9
Say Anything... (1989)
Directed by Cameron Crowe
An easygoing kickboxer asks out the class valedictorian the summer after high school. Home of the boombox held over the head.
Romantic, bring tissues
- 10
The Notebook (2004)
Directed by Nick Cassavetes
A man reads a love story from an old notebook to a woman in a care home. The rain scene alone has kept this film on lists for twenty years.
Also in: The 30 best movies to watch as a couple, Movies for a rainy night in, as a couple
- 11
Me Before You (2016)
Directed by Thea Sharrock
A cheerful young woman becomes the carer of a man left paralysed after an accident. Have tissues ready.
- 12
Love, Rosie (2014)
Directed by Christian Ditter
Two best friends spend years just missing their chance, often an ocean apart.
Want more? There are twenty more romantic films here, and a quieter selection in movies to watch cuddled up.