For Valentine's Day Weekend, my wife and I went to go see Isn't It Romantic. The sheer plethora of Rom Com movies referenced got me thinking about the best examples of the genre.
Now there are many romantic movies that have comedy and many comedies that have romance. So in order to be on this list the movie's main theme must be romantic love and it must be primarily comedic. So, for example, An Affair to Remember is romantic and it has some comedy, but it is primarily drama. Can't Hardly Wait is comedic and has some strong romantic moments, but it is more an ensemble piece about graduation. But a movie like Isn't It Romantic is a comedy whose central idea is romance, so it could be on the list (it is not).
So here are the ten best Romantic Comedies of All Time:
10. Serendipity
This movie works well for the same reason Sleepless in Seattle works: we feel the link between fate and romance. When we find "the one" it feels as though the whole universe has placed everything where it should be so that this love could be found. I love Cusack's performance when he opens the gift from his fiance and even before he opens the book, you can see that he knows because the hands of fate have led him to this moment.
9. You've Got Mail
While this movie's greatest fault is that it goes on just a little long, the chemistry between Hanks and Ryan is fantastic. Their rivalry/romance crackles to life on the screen so that you love watching them fight while hoping for them to stop to realize how much they love each other. A fantastically romantic last scene.
8. Coming to America
Eddie Murphy was the king of the R-Rated comedy, so this Rom Com diversion was surprising but it so well done. Murphy's ability as an actor has always been overlooked in my opinion. His Prince Akeem exudes wisdom, goodness, and stately dignity. I love watching him win over the woman he loves not by putting on airs, but by simply being a good man. All this is happening while at the same time having some of the funniest lines of any Eddie Murphy movie.
7. Three to Tango
This is probably the most controversial one on the list as it was a box office bomb and most people think little of it. But I saw this 3 times in the theater because I found it so incredibly funny and charming. Matthew Perry should have gotten more work as movie star. The movie was light and it popped and it made you really care about the attraction between the two characters. Watching Perry try to fight his way out of the ultimate friend zone was hysterical.
6. When Harry met Sally
This is actually a much darker movie than most people remember. There is a pall of depression that hovers over most of the film as Harry deals with his divorce and Sally her breakup with Joe. There are also plenty of heavy dramatic parts for the actors to chew on. Finally, the movie does not have a solid, forward-driven narrative, but it ambles around the lives of the characters in these little vignettes. Despite all of that, the movie works because the actors make us laugh and the dialogue is witty and we just want them to see what everyone else around them sees: they are made for each other. I love the scene at the end as Harry runs through the city. It perfectly captures the desperation of romance.
5. Much Ado About Nothing
While you can't go wrong with Shakespeare's words, it doesn't always translate well onto the stage or screen. But Kenneth Branagh creates a lush, light, and luminous romantic comedy that does the Bard justice. The all-star cast is at the top of their game and the romantic hi-jinks are expertly staged. The Benedick/Beatrice scenes are classic.
4. The Wedding Singer
Adam Sandler's previous two films (Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore) made him a movie star. But this movie earned him a lifetime of goodwill from audiences. I will always give an Adam Sandler movie a chance because he gave us one of the truly great romantic comedies. The music, the costumes, and the jokes all work in harmony as Sandler and Barrymore fall deeper in love on screen. The filmmakers knew how to create obstacles of character and circumstance to the point where you are almost screaming at the screen for the characters to realize that they love each other. And everything builds to that final, classic song that is a beautiful anthem to marriage and life-long fidelity.
3. Sleepless in Seattle
Like the movie Up, this movie breaks your heart in the beginning so that it can fill it with delight for the rest of the time. The older I've gotten, the more I've come to appreciate listening to Hanks's Sam talk about his wife and what life was like with her and then without her. It is also a marvel of screenwriting that Hanks and Ryan have an amazing chemistry while only appearing in two scenes together. Writer/Director Nora Ephron (who wrote When Harry Met Sally and was writer/director for You've Got Mail) made her best film here.
2. While You Were Sleeping
This movie is just pure enjoyment. While it has a great deal of heart it never feels heavy. Everything about this film is irresistible, especially the performances of the two leads. Pullman and Bullock are perfect in their roles as two incredibly affable people who fall in love with each other despite themselves. One of things that makes this film so good is that it taps into the reality that when you enter a relationship with someone, you enter into a relationship with their family. Watching the family bring Bullock's character deeper and deeper into their wonderful dysfunction makes the build up to the ending scene even more wonderful.
1. Love Actually
This movie is a comedic meditation on love in so many of its forms. I have seen people try to duplicate this formula of having an all-star cast with interweaving stories around a central holiday, but all of them have failed miserably. Each story-line could have been its own feature, but instead of feeling like you are getting 5 or six small movies, you feel like you are getting several full-blown movies in one sitting. The film does delve into some surprisingly mature and darker sides of romantic love where it earns its R-rating. For that reason I can understand some people not wanting to engage with this film, which is perfectly reasonable there is also a distinctly negative view of America and Amerianism whenever it is portrayed (I would hardly call the women of Milwaukee portrayed in the movie as good examples of our best). However, I think that the movie nails the romantic comedy genre so well that its detriments do not drag it down.
Thoughts?
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