Everyone knows the best part of romantic comedies is the “win-back”, it’s the reason we watch them. Sure the “meet-cute” is fun to watch, but there’s nothing like watching one profess their love to another person on screen in the most romantic grand gesture there is. Here are the top 10 “win-backs” or declarations of love.
1. Trainwreck: Can you think of a better way to win back your love interest than learning a whole choreographed routine with the New York Knicks cheerleaders?! Yeah me neither. After pushing Aaron away, the sweet, nerdy sports doctor played by Bill Hader, Amy realizes her mistake. The moment Uptown Girl comes on, the song that Amy mercilessly teased him for liking, you know she’s got him. The best part though: watching Amy attempt to dunk a basketball and do a flip in the air.
2. When Harry Met Sally: This is the original Friends with Benefits and No Strings Attached. Harry and Sally have continuously run into each other throughout their lives; what started out as mutual disdain for each other turns into romance over their years of living in New York City. After realizing their feelings for each other and the fear of losing each other as friends, Harry understands that it doesn’t matter, he loves this girl and runs through the streets of NYC on New Year’s Eve to tell Sally he loves her.
3. The Wedding Singer: One of Adam Sandler’s best romantic comedies, he is of course paired with Drew Barrymore. After Robbie falls in love with Julia and some confusion which leads to Julia moving up her wedding date. Robbie races after her and catches the plane that Julia is on to get hitched in Vegas. Singing over the plane’s PA system, Robbie the wedding singer performs a song he wrote for Julia “Grow Old with You” to win her back.
4. 10 Things I Hate About You: Based on the Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare, this movie has one of the greatest declarations of love ever. Patrick the bad boy, bribed to win Kat over so that her younger sister can date, professes his love by singing The Four Seasons “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You”. In addition, the win-back is equally as sweet and sentimental when Kat rewrites Shakespeare’s Sonnet 41 as 10 Things I Hate About You professing that she still loves Patrick.
5. Serendipity: This movie has a decided twist on the normal declaration of love as the whole movie can be thought of as the singular action. Jonathan and Sara meet one night and Jonathan falls in love but Sara believes in destiny and fate…serendipity. So they exchange numbers but instead of giving them to each other they put them out in the universe, if they’re meant to be they’ll find each other. Jonathan writes his on a five-dollar bill and Sara writes hers in a book. Fast forward and both are about to marry other people and desperately try and find each other at the same time. Serendipity indeed.
6. The Princess Bride: Wesley the farm boy’s simple declaration of love of “As you wish” is literally the most genius declaration of love ever. Screenwriter William Goldman literally turned three simple words into an infamous phrase that now means “I love you”.
7. Bridget Jones Diary: One of three Richard Curtis films that make this list; let’s face it this list could just be Richard Curtis films (Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, etc.) Lovable Bridget has finally won over Mark Darcy but as she changes into tiny knickers he sees her diary and the bad things she wrote about him before she fell for Mark. Bridget realizes this and in a bathrobe, lingerie, and tennis shoes she races out in the snow to find Mark and explain. The result an epic, life altering kiss in the snow.
8. About Time: The second Richard Curtis film. Tim a young man with the power to time travel meets Mary the love of his life. The night Tim meets Mary he is instantly in love but loses her number when he goes back and time travels changing the future. So what does he do? He remembers that Mary mentioned she loves Kate Moss, so he goes to an exhibition of photos of her and waits every day until he finally sees her. If that’s not a romantic gesture of love I don’t know what is.
9. Love Actually: This movie gives us not one but five different declarations of love. Among them there’s Sam’s race through the airport, Jamie’s effort to learn Portugese and propose to Aurelia in a restaurant in front of everyone, rocker Billy Mack’s realization he loves his manager Joe, John and Judy the stand ins for a film set, the Prime Minister’s search for Natalie, and of course Mark’s declaration of unrequited love to Keira Knightly. Let’s face it Mark is all of us who doesn’t love Kiera Knightly?
10. Moulin Rouge: Ewan McGregor sings Elton John’s “Your Song” to Nicole Kidman. That’s really all you really need to know. It’s the sweetest thing and it’s set in Paris in 1900 and he sings it on a roof in a tuxedo. It’s of course spontaneous and beautiful.