20 best romantic comedies to stream on Valentine’s Day 2023

If any style has an all-too-recognizable system, it’s the romantic comedy (aka rom-com). There’s often a lie concerned, or one thing supernatural that occurs, after which every part works out simply high-quality, oftentimes with a marriage or a child on the best way. Generally these tropes are utilized in recent methods, and generally they’re not used in any respect, as demonstrated in our roundup of 20 stream-worthy romantic comedies, hailing from the Thirties all the best way as much as final yr.

We’ve included a variety of romances right here, because it’s all too clear that almost all motion pictures remodeled the previous century or so have been centered on white, heteronormative relationships. Fortunately, that has begun to be corrected. There’s room for everyone. All these motion pictures have two issues in widespread: love and laughs. Blissful Valentine’s Day!

Hassle in Paradise

Stream it on Criterion Channel

Criterion

This pre-code masterpiece was directed by Ernst Lubitsch, a filmmaker largely unknown at this time however well-known throughout his time for his “Lubitsch Contact.” This was a means of describing his immediately recognizable, however impossible-to-describe type, a singular rhythm, and a deft deflection. In Hassle in Paradise (1932), the primary character, a grasp thief named Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) spends many moments working up and down a flight of stairs. These moments may not have something to do with the story, however they modify the timing of the scene, stretching issues and making the laughs larger and cleverer.

The romantic story has Gaston assembly and falling for one more thief, Lily (Miriam Hopkins). They resolve to group up and rob a handbag from fragrance magnate Madame Colet (Kay Francis), then return it and acquire the reward cash. However Gaston sees a possibility for an excellent larger haul and talks his means right into a job as her assistant. Sadly, she falls for him, and he could also be falling for her, too. And there are two different suitors (Charlie Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton), the latter of which was considered one of Gaston’s former victims. Many take into account this to be essentially the most polished and crystalline of Lubitsch’s movies, with Hopkins giving considered one of historical past’s nice comedy performances.

Bringing Up Child

Stream it on HBO Max

Criterion

Bringing Up Child (1938) is an early instance of the free-soul-meets-uptight-schlub film, however as directed by the masterful Howard Hawks, it is perhaps essentially the most completely constructed—and fastest-moving—of all screwball comedies. Cary Grant—completed as much as appear to be silent comedian Harold Lloyd—performs paleontologist Dr. David Huxley, who solely wants yet one more bone (the “intercostal clavicle”) to finish his Brontosaurus skeleton. He’s additionally about to be married to the boring and loveless Alice (Virginia Walker). He heads out to a rustic membership to coax cash from a rich socialite, and he runs into the kooky and delightful Susan (Katharine Hepburn), who ruins every part.

Earlier than lengthy, Susan’s canine (Asta, from the Skinny Man motion pictures) has stolen the clavicle and buried it. In the meantime, Susan has adopted a tame leopard known as “Child,” which, after all, will get confused with a wild one. Hawks spins this story at lightning velocity, retaining us off-balance sufficient that each one the jokes land with massive laughs; however someway, it’s consistently recent and by no means tiresome.

The Girl Eve

Stream it on Criterion Channel

Criterion

Preston Sturges talked his means into changing into one of many uncommon author/administrators of his time, making an unbelievable batch of eight nice comedies in simply 5 years. Of those, The Girl Eve (1941) had the most important stars and essentially the most romantic story, however it’s additionally one of many flat-out funniest. Charles Poncefort Pike (Henry Fonda) is the rich inheritor to an ale firm, however is extra centered on finding out snakes, and is just too shy to hassle with ladies. Returning after a yr within the Amazon, Charles is focused by con artist Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck), who subsequently falls in love with him.

Due to meddling by Jean’s card shark father (Charles Coburn) and Charles’ protector Muggsy (William Demarest), Charles breaks up together with her. She returns in disguise, as “The Girl Eve,” to get her revenge. Peppered with an incredible crew of character actors, together with the frog-voiced Eugene Pallette, all studying Sturges’s sharp, snappy dialogue, that is a type of motion pictures that ensures you’ll miss the following joke in case you snigger too lengthy on the final one. Maybe better of all is the intelligent means Sturges was in a position to slip in every kind of sly innuendo and complicated humor so sensible it slipped proper by the censors within the Hays workplace.

Roman Vacation

Stream it on Paramount+, PlutoTV, or Kanopy

Paramount

Audrey Hepburn had been in just a few bit elements earlier than she landed this starring position, probably the most luminous and romantic characters in cinema historical past. She was an enormous hit and received an Academy Award for her efficiency. Roman Vacation (1953) was directed by the celebrated William Wyler, however even he appeared to sense the lightness and romance of the fabric, and it’s considered one of his breeziest efforts. Gregory Peck performs a down-on-his-luck American reporter in Rome. He finds a younger girl (Hepburn) sleeping on a bench and, not figuring out what to do together with her, takes her to his condo.

When he realizes that she’s Princess Ann, who has run away from her boring royal duties to see a little bit of the world, he bets his editor that he can get an unique interview together with her. He convinces her to let him present her round, and they’re finally joined by Joe’s photographer pal Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert). After some time, Joe begins to really feel dangerous about his scheme, and, after all, falls in love. With a screenplay by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo (his title was digitally added to the credit within the early 2000s), and Wyler’s travelogue-style black-and-white filmmaking, the film has a freshness that by no means feels dated.

The Princess Bride

Stream it on Disney+

Twentieth Century Fox

Everybody is aware of it and loves it, however on the time, it wasn’t an enormous success; some opined that the sluggish field workplace was because of the “girly”-sounding title. Directed by Rob Reiner throughout a sizzling streak, The Princess Bride (1987) is a type of motion pictures that simply feels good; each beat, each joke, each reduce, and each shot appears completely proper. In a wraparound sequence, a kindly grandpa (Peter Falk) visits his sick grandson (Fred Savage) and affords to learn him a narrative. (“Is that this a kissing e book?” he asks.) Then we get the rousing journey of a Farm Boy (Cary Elwes) who turns into a dashing pirate, his love for the attractive Buttercup (Robin Wright), and his efforts to rescue her from the sneering Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon).

The good solid consists of Mandy Patinkin as vengeance-seeking swordsman Inigo Montoya, Christopher Visitor because the six-fingered Depend Rugen, Wallace Shawn as Vizzini (“Inconceivable!”), André the Big as Fezzik, Billy Crystal as Miracle Max, and Carol Kane as Max’s spouse Valerie. William Goldman tailored the screenplay from his personal 1973 novel, and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits supplied the mild, string-based music. Reiner went on to direct one other romantic comedy, the seminal When Harry Met Sally….

Moonstruck

Stream it on Showtime

MGM

Though it was directed by Oscar favourite Norman Jewison—who often specialised in severe, nominatable motion pictures—the brisk romantic comedy Moonstruck (1987) nonetheless holds up remarkably nicely at this time, because of its snappy patter, heat, and lovable misfit characters. Cher, who received a Finest Actress Oscar, performs Loretta Castorini, a widow residing together with her loud, Italian household in Brooklyn. She believes she is cursed (her husbands hold dying), however she reluctantly accepts a wedding proposal from a brand new man, Johnny Cammareri (Danny Aiello). He asks her to search out his estranged brother and invite him to the marriage.

That seems to be the passionate, sad-eyed Ronny (Nicolas Cage), who wears a prosthetic hand and who immediately strikes sparks with Loretta. It accommodates all the same old rom-com moments, together with a “makeover” scene, however it’s unusually sensible and full of life. It feels real. Olympia Dukakis received an Oscar and Vincent Gardenia was nominated for his or her performances as Loretta’s very humorous, grousing dad and mom. Playwright John Patrick Shanley received an Oscar for his screenplay.

Coming to America

Stream it on HBO Max

Paramount

In hindsight, it might have been good to rent a Black individual to direct this hit comedy, however because it stands, John Landis does a bang-up job, making use of his singular type and rhythm—sitting someplace between Ernst Lubitsch and Chuck Jones—to the story. Coming to America (1988) begins within the African nation of Zamunda, the place, on his twenty first birthday, Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) has grown uninterested in the fixed pampering he receives. He additionally objects to the organized marriage his father, the king (James Earl Jones), has compelled upon him. So, he arranges a visit to New York, accompanied by his loyal sidekick Semmi (Arsenio Corridor), in hopes of discovering his personal companion.

Akeem can’t let on that he’s royalty, after all, so he will get a job in a neighborhood hamburger joint, the place he meets the supervisor’s fairly daughter, Lisa (Shari Headley). It’s actually all about love and honesty triumphing over superficiality (one thing the Eighties specialised in), and it’s very humorous moreover. The barbershop sequences, that includes Murphy in heavy make-up as an outdated Jewish man and a Black barber, plus Corridor and Clint Smith (Murphy’s childhood pal) as two different barbers, are nonetheless traditional. Many notable character actors seem in both cameos or early roles (Cuba Gooding, Jr., for instance, performs “boy getting haircut”).

4 Weddings and a Funeral

Stream it on HBO Max

Grammercy Photos

A large hit and an Oscar-nominee for Finest Image and Screenplay, 4 Weddings and a Funeral (1994) distinguishes itself with its opening scene, as our hero Charles (Hugh Grant) and his sister Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman) get up and notice that they’re late for a marriage. Reasonably than the anticipated well mannered English comedy, the siblings begin dropping F-bombs as they unexpectedly costume after which break visitors legal guidelines to make it on time.

Set throughout the course of, sure, 4 weddings and a funeral, the film follows the exploits of Charles and his hopeful romance with American Carrie (Andie MacDowell), in addition to varied romances of the colourful supporting solid. The film was surprisingly various for its time, as nicely, with a homosexual couple and a deaf character among the many buddies. Kristin Scott Thomas co-stars as sharp-tongued Fiona, and with John Hannah, Simon Callow, and Rowan Atkinson as “Father Gerald,” who hilariously mangles his wedding ceremony sermon. Richard Curtis wrote the milestone screenplay and have become the go-to man for a lot of extra romantic comedies to come back.

Clueless

Stream it on Paramount+ or PlutoTV

Paramount

Within the Nineteen Nineties, Hollywood was Jane Austen loopy. A number of well mannered, English-style diversifications had been launched one-by-one, however essentially the most entertaining one was arguably Amy Heckerling’s Clueless (1995), which took the plot define from Austen’s Emma and transferred it completely to a Beverly Hills highschool, with class struggles intact. The heroine is now Cher (an ideal Alicia Silverstone), who, alongside together with her pal Dionne (Stacey Sprint), was “named after nice singers of the previous.” She decides to provide a makeover to a tragically unhip new woman, Tai (Brittany Murphy), however then her troubles begin when her matchmaking makes an attempt go within the flawed route. Extra awkwardly, she finds herself falling in love together with her ex-stepbrother Josh (Paul Rudd).

Director Heckerling (Quick Occasions at Ridgemont Excessive) retains the film vivid and sunny, with ornamental main colours, and invests completely in Cher’s confidence in her personal misguided choices; it’s a extremely interesting, consistently hilarious mixture. Breckin Meyer could be very humorous as a skakeboarder who exhibits curiosity in Tai, Donald Faison performs Dionne’s braces-wearing boyfriend, Wallace Shawn is a trainer, and Dan Hedaya is brilliantly deadpan and grumpy as Cher’s dad.

Notting Hill

Stream it on Netflix

Common

An argument could possibly be made that Julia Roberts has by no means been higher than she is in Notting Hill (1999), the place she performs a luminous film star; it’s the one place her onscreen character matches her appreciable presence. Perhaps the story of a romance between Anna Scott (Roberts) and Will, a humble English bookshop proprietor is far-fetched, however screenwriter Richard Curtis (4 Weddings and a Funeral) and star Hugh Grant handle to make it work, counting on life like romantic obstacles having to do with fame. And Roberts and Grant do have a pleasant onscreen chemistry.

As with Curtis’s different screenplays, there’s an enormous solid of colourful greatest buddies, together with the hilarious Rhys Ifans as Will’s really horrible housemate Spike. An amazing sequence happens at a surprisingly genuine press junket, the place Will finds himself masquerading as a reporter from Horse and Hound journal and pretending to interview Anna. However simply as memorable is the “I’m additionally only a woman, standing in entrance of a boy” line, which nonetheless melts hearts.

50 First Dates

Stream it on Peacock Premium

Columbia

Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore have thus far made three motion pictures collectively; many favor The Wedding ceremony Singer (1998), however 50 First Dates (2004) is surprisingly disarming, and never simple to overlook. It’s removed from an ideal film, because of dumb gross-out gags and Rob Schneider in darkish make-up (enjoying a Hawaiian native), however when it will get to the guts of the matter, the remaining falls away.

Sandler performs Henry, a veterinarian at a Hawaiian aquatic park, who avoids romantic attachments and sticks to seducing vacationers. Sooner or later he meets Lucy (Barrymore), they usually make an immediate connection, however the subsequent day, she can not bear in mind him. It seems she has amnesia, on account of a automobile accident, and each time she sleeps at night time, she forgets the day. However Henry retains attempting, preventing by way of many painful/humorous setbacks to win her coronary heart.

Memorably, Sean Astin and Blake Clark play Lucy’s brother and father, who dutifully faux that it’s her birthday each night time, gifting her with a video of The Sixth Sense, watching it each night time, and pretending to be shocked by its twist. It’s a candy, touching film, through which Barrymore radiates adorableness, and Sandler offers considered one of his gentler performances.

Bridesmaids

Stream it on Amazon Prime Video

Common

Though it facilities round a marriage, Bridesmaids (2011) is much from a typical rom-com. It’s largely centered on that uncommon factor in motion pictures: feminine friendships. Kristen Wiig—who co-wrote the screenplay with Annie Mumolo—stars as Annie Walker, whose life is within the pits after the recession killed her bakery enterprise and worn out her financial savings. Her greatest pal Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is getting married, and has turn out to be shut with considered one of her bridesmaids, Helen (Rose Byrne), a pal of her fiancé. Annie and Helen discover themselves in fierce competitors for Lillian’s friendship, with Annie ceaselessly shedding, both because of dangerous luck, or to Helen’s sinister crafty.

One sequence has your complete wedding ceremony get together exploding with diarrhea whereas looking for clothes after consuming Brazilian meals at a restaurant Annie advised. Annie does meet a pleasant man, a police officer (Chris O’Dowd), who pulls her over, however that’s hardly the purpose of the story. Melissa McCarthy acquired her first Oscar nomination for her hilarious supporting efficiency as Megan, a girl with a foul mouth and a supernatural stage of confidence. Wiig and Mumolo’s screenplay additionally acquired a nomination.

All the time Be My Perhaps

Stream it on Netflix

Netflix

Co-written by and starring Randall Park and Ali Wong, the pleasant All the time Be My Perhaps (2019) follows a fairly commonplace romantic comedy system, however it’s so consistently, surprisingly recent and bracing alongside the best way that it appears like one thing new; it’s crazier and richer than even Loopy Wealthy Asians. Park and Wong play childhood buddies who’ve a falling out after an ungainly try at teenage intercourse. As adults, Wong has turn out to be an formidable superstar chef and Park is content material performing his foolish, catchy hip hop songs in no matter small, native San Francisco venues can have him. Wong arrives on the town to open a brand new restaurant, and all of the outdated emotions tumble out once more.

With Park’s unhurried supply and Wong’s frantic depth, the 2 stars have a superbly complementary chemistry, and Keanu Reeves’s hilarious much-memed cameo is the icing on high. Daniel Dae Kim and Vivian Bang play the romantic rivals, and Contemporary Off the Boat creator Nahnatchka Khan directs.

Palm Springs

Stream it on Hulu

Neon, Hulu

Hulu’s second “time loop” film after Boss Degree, the romantic comedy Palm Springs (2020), is so unfastened, cheerful, humorous, intelligent, cute, and totally entertaining, that many movie critics named it top-of-the-line movies of the yr. (In line with Metacritic’s roundup of lists, it was ranked the twelfth greatest movie of 2020.) It’s a type of movies that was sorely wanted throughout the pandemic yr, a tonic for jangled nerves.

Andy Samberg performs Nyles, caught in a time loop on the day of a pal’s wedding ceremony. The film cleverly lets us get by way of at some point earlier than letting us know that Nyles has been on this loop for a while, and has discovered to simply get pleasure from himself the most effective he can. On this specific day, nevertheless, he by accident brings Sarah (Cristin Milioti) together with him, and he or she turns into caught too. Because the couple offers with their emotions for one another, and Nyles’s previous throughout the loop, they have to resolve whether or not to loosen up and revel in, or attempt to escape. J.Okay. Simmons co-stars in an ideal efficiency as one more time-looper with a unique agenda.

The Lovebirds

Stream it on Netflix

Netflix

The Netflix unique The Lovebirds (2020) is one thing of an motion/romantic/comedy, however brisk and foolish in addition to persistently hilarious and really romantic. We meet Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani) and Leilani (Issa Rae), who’ve a spectacular first date, after which we reduce to 4 years later, as they stay collectively and struggle repeatedly. One night time, whereas on their means to a cocktail party, they by accident hit a bicyclist with their automobile. A person claiming to be a police officer commandeers the automobile, chases the frightened bicycle owner, and makes use of the couple’s automobile to complete the job, working over and killing the poor sufferer, and leaving Jibran and Leilani trying like murderers.

Unable to go to the police because of the coloration of their pores and skin, they seize the bicycle owner’s cellphone and head out into the night time to clear their names. Director Michael Showalter (Nanjiani’s The Large Sick) retains issues properly balanced between characters, jokes, and foolish conditions, and brings all of it in in simply 86 minutes, whereas Nanjiani and Rae share an exquisite onscreen chemistry, in addition to an irresistibly snappy banter.

The Half of It

Stream it on Netflix

Netflix

Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac has been tailored into many motion pictures—together with variations starring José Ferrer, Gérard Depardieu, Steve Martin, and Peter Dinklage—however none are fairly like The Half of It (2020). This time the Cyrano character—an outcast who has an unrequited romantic longing and a means with phrases—is Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), a shy, unhappy high-school pupil within the city of Squahamish. She covers her grieving father’s job as a railroad station grasp and makes cash writing papers for different college students. She’s approached by soccer participant and secret sausage chef Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) and employed to jot down a letter to the gorgeous Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire). In fact, Ellie falls for Aster as nicely, and their written exchanges are as passionate as Aster’s verbal exchanges with Paul are awkward.

Remarkably, the film avoids a lot of the cliches involving the “lie plot,” because the characters and their interactions develop subtler and extra advanced. It even manages a reasonably life like and satisfying ending with out feeling tacked-on or phony. This one is an actual treasure.

On the Rocks

Stream it on Apple TV+

A24, Apple TV+

Sofia Coppola’s screwball comedy may seem to be a light-weight throwaway, however graced together with her masterful, mild contact, On the Rocks (2021) turns into one thing particular. It tells the straightforward story of a New York girl, Laura (Rashida Jones), who begins to suspect that her marriage to Dean (Marlon Wayans) is in bother. Whereas eating out to rejoice Laura’s birthday, a server brings out a dessert topped with lit candles, to, after which previous, their desk. Their faces inform the entire story; Laura is crestfallen and Dean realizes that he ought to have considered that.

In any case, Invoice Murray performs Laura’s well-meaning however largely irresponsible father Felix—it’s a most Murray-like position—who tries to assist his daughter save her marriage, by way of some very unorthodox strategies. There are such a lot of moments that deftly evade cliché, whereas bringing the laughs, and sometimes changing into unexpectedly stunning, reminiscent of a sequence through which Felix and Laura attempt to sneak out of a celebration (“stroll backwards, so it doesn’t appear to be we’re leaving”) and cease to admire a Monet hanging in an empty hallway. It’s a easy, pleasant film, completely constructed, but with time to breathe.

Something’s Doable

Stream it on Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Studios

A Broadway star and Emmy winner for the TV sequence Pose, Billy Porter makes his directing debut with Something’s Doable (2022), an inclusive, progressive, high-school comedy-romance that goes a great distance towards rectifying the social and cultural errors of flicks of comparable motion pictures from the Eighties and 90s. Kelsa (Eva Reign) is a proud Black trans woman, and Muslim Khal (Abubakr Ali) has a crush on her. She likes him again they usually start relationship, however their relationship causes chaos with Kelsa’s pal Em (Courtnee Carter), who additionally appreciated Khal, and with Khal’s greatest pal Otis (Grant Reynolds), who’s trans-phobic.

The dialogue is open and exploratory, with characters expressing sturdy opinions, listening to at least one one other, and adjusting concepts. It’s remarkably direct and mature for a high-school film, even when it shies away from exploring the bodily facet of the connection (apart from numerous smooching). Kelly Lamor Wilson performs Kelsa’s different greatest pal, the “honey badger” Chris.

Bros

Stream it on Peacock Premium

Common

Coming from the group of author/actor Billy Eichner, author/director Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), and producer Judd Apatow, Bros (2022) is—about time—the very first gay-themed romantic comedy ever launched by a significant studio. It traces the outdated bones of rom-com formulation, however stays clever about them, twisting and subverting them at each step. The result’s hilarious and unexpectedly poignant, each acquainted and groundbreaking. Bobby (Eichner) is struggling to open the primary LGBTQ+ museum in Los Angeles. At a membership, he meets good-looking Aaron (Luke Macfarlane), an sad lawyer who desires of opening a chocolate store.

Bobby and Aaron each favor informal hookups to relationships, however as they spend time collectively, they uncover—to their horror—that they’re superb for one another. However earlier than lengthy, they face actual relationship challenges (household, jealousy, and so on.). There’s an affectionate parody of Hallmark Christmas motion pictures (of which Macfarlane is a frequent star), and Bowen Yang is hilarious as a bonkers millionaire whom Bobby hopes to hit up for a donation.

The Misplaced Metropolis

Stream it on Amazon Prime Video

Paramount

One of many nice rom-com queens, Sandra Bullock, stars on this Romancing the Stone-like journey. It’s acquainted, sure, however with sufficient enjoyable, candy stuff inside to earn it a closing spot on our Valentine’s Day record. Bullock performs Loretta Sage, a profitable romance novelist who’s widowed and usually sad together with her life. Her writer (Da’Vine Pleasure Randolph) forces her to go on tour together with her cowl mannequin, Alan (Channing Tatum), whom followers repeatedly confuse with Loretta’s fictional character “Sprint McMahon.” Loretta is kidnapped by billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) and compelled to assist him discover a priceless treasure, based mostly on clues written in her books. Earlier than lengthy, Alan and Loretta discover themselves escaping by way of the jungle, although neither of them are precisely specialists at survival.

The Misplaced Metropolis (2022) will get most of its vitality from the snappy byplay of its two stars; the jokes slowly flip into confessions that really feel natural, though Randolph, Radcliffe, and Brad Pitt—who performs an uber-cool man-of-action—get loads of laughs as nicely. Plus, it’s refreshing to see Bullock, now in her late 50s, nonetheless at her greatest.