The one thing all romantic comedies have in common? They celebrate the two things everyone wants in life—rom and com, of course. To honor that, we’re devoting a whole week to the genre. More on the rom-coms we love, past and present, here.
Romantic comedies are all about finding the perfect match in love. But when it comes to finding which rom-com is the perfect match to watch, why is it so hard to decide? For some reason, trying to pick between a new Netflix original and the classic you’ve seen a million times over feels needlessly overwhelming. So when there are hundreds of worthy options at your disposal, there’s only one thing left to do: Look to the stars for guidance.
We asked Astro All-Starz—yes, the same astrology expert who brings you *Glamour*’s weekly horoscopes—to break down what movies appeal to each sign. See the best romantic comedy for your astrological sign, below.
We certainly don’t need a holiday to relive some of the most romantic scenes in TV and movie history. It’s always a good day to celebrate love, as far as we’re concerned—especially lately when everything you see on the news or social media can be less than cheerful.
We’ve chosen some of the mushiest, sweetest, and most romantic scenes ever to hit the big or small screen. Remember when Derek and Meredith had that “perfect for them” marriage proposal in the elevator on Grey’s Anatomy? Or how the first 15 minutes of Up gave you all the feelings on the emotional spectrum? Plus, slow dancing in the street, first kisses you could never forget, and a pick-up basketball game for all the stakes.
These 25 romantic scenes will make you believe in love (and want someone to cuddle up with, stat). Fall in love with love again.
It’s Valentine’s Day, which means you’re about to be inundated with mushy love content. Movies like Isn’t It Romantic are in theaters; drug stores are flooded with heart-shaped candy; and your best friend no-doubt sent you a shoebox Valentine for a third straight year. L-O-V-E Fever is inescapable, so you can either fight it or embrace it.
Netflix will help you do the latter in the least painful way possible. The streaming giant has some of the best romantic movies, ones that fit this month’s theme but aren’t completely annoying. In fact, most of the films in Netflix’s love repertoire are actually pretty great.
Take A Cinderella Story, the seminal classic from your childhood in which a tiny mask somehow disguises Hilary Duff’s whole identity. Or Set It Up, the Netflix original romantic comedy that features a legend, Lucy Liu, and your boyfriend Glen Powell. Movies like these will help you get through this month with sanity and humor in tact. And even better: Staying in and watching them means you can also drink wine. Maybe Valentine’s Day isn’t so bad, after all.
Below, the best romantic movies on Netflix available for streaming right now.
Isn’t It Romantic, the highly anticipated rom-com parody starring Rebel Wilson, Priyanka Chopra, and Liam Hemsworth, hits theaters today. It centers on Natalie (Wilson), a woman who finds herself trapped inside a romantic comedy—and all the cringe-y tropes that come with it. You know exactly what we’re talking about: In this alternate universe, Natalie has an apartment far too expensive for a twenty-something, a gay best friend who is there just to help move the plot along, and a love interest so hot nothing else matters.
But don’t mistake Isn’t It Romantic for the rom-coms of 2003. The brains behind this movie are acutely aware these tropes exist—that’s why they included them. The director (Todd Strauss-Schulson) and screenwriters (Erin Cardillo, Dana Fox, and Katie Silberman) actually subvert stereotypes in Isn’t It Romantic and, as a result, bring the genre into 2019.
Of course, this required some research, but Strauss-Schulson, Cardillo, Fox, and Silberman soon became experts in romantic-comedy tropes. Below, they tell us which ones they enjoy—and which ones they were most excited to poke fun at—in Isn’t It Romantic.
Todd Strauss-Schulson, director:
Before I got on set to direct Isn’t it Romantic, I watched 80 romantic comedies in a row. I went a little insane, but my heart grew more and more tender by the day. Obviously, I’d seen romantic comedies before, but I wanted to become an expert. The idea was to crack the code and see what story and visual tropes were used over and over again.
I wanted to break the rom-com genome and isolate the textures and tropes so I could rebuild them into something modern and fresh for our movie. I found a lot of weird stuff beyond the well-known “gay best friend who has no purpose in life but to care for the main character” and “trying on clothes montage” tropes. For instance, did you know there is a lot of shellfish eaten in romantic comedies? It’s true, but why? Maybe because shellfish is an aphrodisiac? Who knows, but it’s in a lot of ’em.
One of the most consistent visual tropes—and when I say consistent, I mean I was straight up spooked when I kept seeing it repeat in every movie—was half-moon windows. Like this:
So I did a little deep dive, and I found two interesting potential answers. First, half-moon windows are also referred to as lunettes, and Merriam-Webster says there is some evidence of the word being used for a “little moon.” (Though that meaning is now obsolete.) The moon is often associated with having a deep connection with women, and so it makes sense they would be subliminally placed all over this particular genre.
In tarot, arches symbolize beginnings, initiations, and ceremonies of renewal. Walking through an archway represents the sloughing off of the old and moving into a new phase of life. That sounds a lot like a rom-com plot to me! These characters are opening up to love, getting out of their comfort zone…and maybe even getting married.
Moons have cycles—and so do genres. Rom-coms are coming back, and we hope Isn’t It Romantic becomes one of your new favorites.
Erin Cardillo, screenwriter:
My favorite rom-com trope is The Realize and Run. As in, when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. (Thank you, Harry. See: Nora Ephron.) Back before cell phones existed, this trope made sense. You suddenly realize you’re in love with somebody—after being a dingbat about it for the better part of the movie—but you can’t call them to tell them because landlines are stupid. Plus, they aren’t home. In fact, your somebody is probably at the airport having just passed through security, ready to board that flight to “I’m never coming back, and you can’t track me down.” Or, in most cases, they are in a nondenominational church about to marry the wrong person and they’re totally against annulment.
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So you must run. Fast! Cars are just as stupid as phones. Luckily, you don’t have a bad back—or if you do, it was designed that way for comedic effect. Nevertheless, you can run, and you are capable of traversing whatever absurd obstacles are in your path. You have to do this! This is the closest thing to an action sequence the audience is going to get in most rom-coms, and it’s essential to get them reinvested in your happy ending before your big, perfect “I love you” speech. A speech that, while often flawed and totally clichéd, is, after your epic run, still pretty freakin’ satisfying.
Whether you’re single, in a new relationship, divorced, or something in between, there’s a perfect movie to watch during every stage of your love life. While we can’t promise that watching these romantic movies will help you solve any relationship (or lack thereof) problems you might have, we can tell you that you’ll be able to relate to at least one of these love stories. So see our picks for the best romantic movies, below, and enjoy.
PS: Of course, not all romantic movies are winners. See our list of 15 rom-coms that probably never should have been made right here.
You’ve probably heard that Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas are getting married this weekend in India. I mean, we haven’t seen wedding hype quite this loud since Chopra’s BFF Meghan Markle was about to walk down the aisle with Prince Harry.
Sure, Meghan and Harry had a literal royal wedding, but Chopra and Jonas do have a lot in common with them: Both of their weddings include a celebrity-filled guest list, international travel, and a very romantic proposal story at the start. In a new interview with Vogue, Chopra and Jonas open up for the first time publicly about how it all went down.
It happened this July, when Chopra and Jonas took a vacation to the Greek island of Crete. She thought it was simply a birthday trip, but he had other plans in mind—in fact, Jonas had already shut down a Tiffany & Co. store in London weeks prior (with his brothers) to pick out a ring.
“I got down on one knee, again, and I said: Will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?” Jonas says of the moment. “No joke—she took about 45 seconds. Forty-five seconds of silence.” Chopra says she was speechless, hence the silence. But Jonas would not be deterred, saying, “I’m going to put this ring on your finger now unless you have any objections.”
As for how Chopra knew he was the one…she says it was a moment on a date in Los Angeles when he told her, “I love the way you look at the world. I love the drive you have.” She explains, “As a girl, I’ve never had a guy tell me, ‘I like your ambition.’ It’s always been the opposite.”
Once they were engaged, the couple continued the celebration with a traditional Hindu engagement ceremony called a roka in Mumbai in August. “It was such an incredible coming-together of two really ancient cultures and religions,” Chopra says. “Nick did the Hindu prayers. The prayers are in Sanskrit. Even I can’t say them. But he did it in Sanskrit. The Indians were so impressed with their National Jiju [Jonas’ nickname in the Indian press, meaning ‘brother-in-law’ or ‘sister’s husband’].”
Next up? Not one but two ceremonies this week honoring both their religious backgrounds. We can’t wait.
