13 February 2021

2021 VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL: Our 10 Favourite Romantic Comedies



Sure, this has nothing to do with books, but it's Valentine's Day and the only plans we're even allowed to have involve sitting at home watching copious amounts of movies and television. We both have a 'thing' for romcoms and despite a lot of overlap (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), we each have our own favourites too (Hitch). Apologies to your boyfriend for this amazing list. 

This will always be the romcom of my lifetime. We used to rent this at the corner store, and I've probably seen it a hundred times. I also maintain that it is extremely good, and when I got Ben to watch it with me a few Valentine's ago, he also enjoyed it (there are some New York Knicks plot points). Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey have AMAZING chemistry, and the supporting cast is also great (Kathryn Hahn, Adam Goldberg). 

This has been my favourite movie for as long as I can remember. I love every single scene but the karaoke scene is my absolute favourite. It's got the perfect mix of happy and sad, it doesn't have a cookie cutter or predictable ending, and I could literally stare at a young Dermot Mulroney forever. The scene where she sees him in the crowd at the airport UGH. I saw him at TIFF a few years back and actually almost died. 

There is just nothing in this movie not to love. Every character is magic, I love a wedding, I love a sing-along done in a non-cheesy way. My mom had this soundtrack on CD which I stole from her and listened to for years because it's fantastic. Meg had me into "The Rewatchables" podcast but they said some not so nice things about this movie and I haven't listened to them since. I can't possibly trust a thing they have to say.



This was a recent hole I filled in my romcom blindspots. Nora Ephron movies are my ultimate comfort food, and my favourite podcast "Blank Check" went through her filmography recently. After watching this movie I completely got why people were obsessed with Meg Ryan. She is so cute, funny, and charming - truly America's sweetheart. Nora Ephron movies are the only time I feel attracted to Tom Hanks ... mostly because she lets him be a bit of an asshole (You've Got Mail). I need to also mention Heartburn (Ephron script) which I have become obsessed with and have watched many times. Sometimes I consider putting it in my top four on Letterboxd ...



Speaking of loving a wedding, this rom com is highly underrated. I feel like the humour in it has Bridesmaids vibes which is a big statement but I literally cried laughing at the scene where Emily Blunt and Jason Segel are driving home from Alison Brie & Chris Pratt's wedding. There's also the amazing montage of Segel's past girlfriends, the scene where Blunt & Brie are talking in cookie monster & elmo voices... the list goes on. This is also an incredible cast in my opinion. Dakota Johnson and Mindy Kaling both have supporting roles in it. 

Nobody I talk to likes this movie as much as me and I just don't understand why?????



This was another on-loop rental from the corner store. I have watched this with my mom and sister MANY times. Ben did not enjoy this movie at all, but I think it is still core romcom. Matthew McConaughey is obviously the king of this genre, but lets not forget how important Jennifer Lopez was to the picture. I literally cannot eat M&Ms or Smarties without thinking about the brown ones. 


This was one of the few movies at an ex-boyfriend's cottage when we were up there one time and I didn't want to watch it because it looked "old" but it's now one of my all-time favourites. It's timeless in the way that Sex and the City is. I fell in love with the chemistry between Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal which is in large part due to an amazing Nora Ephron script. The rom com Queen. 

There's also something so romantic about the cinematography and the setting in this. New York in fall has an almost sepia tone to it that filters the whole movie. 



I LOVE HITCH!! For one of the February movie clubs we did romcoms by the decade, and picked this one for 2000s. I went to see this in theatres when it first came out (2005) and still love it. I was appalled at how Ben, Stefan and Ashley all hated it. I think that's because they are all similar to Will Smith's character pre-him meeting Eva Mendez's character ... too cool and COLD. Unlike myself, who would be Smith IN LOVE. 



This is another completely underrated rom com but apparently it didn't stand the test of time. If you're a 90's girl like me, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jessica Biel are your people.

Prinze has been called up to the Cape Cod summer baseball league and cuts rich people's lawns for extra cash. One of the lawns belongs to Biel's family and the two begin a summer romance which Biel's family obviously disapproves of because he's their gardener and will distract her from her college plans blah blah. It's got a very Notebook plot to it in that sense but it is FUNNY and steamy and nostalgic for me in the best ways.

Matthew Lillard, Brittany Murphy (RIP), and Wilmer Valderrama all have roles in it and it also has a fantastic soundtrack. Biel's name is Tenley in the movie and I was embarrassingly obsessed with changing my own name to Tenley well into my early teens.



This is my favourite "new" romcom! This came out in 2015 and I feel was criminally overlooked. Alison Brie and Jason Sudeikis are so charming as friends with sexual chemistry. I think this is going to be one of my picks for Valentine's Day with Ben this year. Valentine's falls on a Sunday so I will get to pick three romcoms, instead of our usual two.



I only just watched this movie for the first time at the end of 2019 which feels like an actual crime for someone born in '91, but I've since watched it twice more to make up for lost time. It is SO good - I love anything that plays on Shakespeare in a fun way. I didn't understand the hype with either Julia Stiles OR Heath Ledger my whole life but it's clearly because I hadn't watched this movie until I was 28. 

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