With a blustery and wintery Valentine’s weather outside, why not cancel those plans and stay in with the sappiest stories ever committed to celluloid?
Pretty much the greatest love story ever. Period. “IT’S GONNA BE YOU. AND ME. FOREVER. EVERYDAY”. Okay Ryan Gosling, you don’t have to twist my arm. But seriously, is there anything more romantic than Noah and Allie’s reunion in the rain? Please, if such a thing exists, I’d like to see proof of it.
One day my boyfriend will realize that the only way to truly woo me is to blast Peter Gabriel outside my window and he has John Cusack to thank. Cusack’s high school loser character pines for the beautiful class valedictorian played by Ione Skye. Her father disapproves, and he’s got some ugly secrets in his past. But in the end, it doesn’t matter. “In Your Eyes” can solve most of your romantic dilemmas fellas, take note.
It’s a tale as old as time… who do you choose? The popular guy or your nerdy best friend? Well, spoiler alert: Molly Ringwald’s Andie chooses popular and preppy Blane (Andrew McCarthy) over Duckie, despite their inability to mesh in each other’s different worlds. Maybe Blane is what Andie wanted, but I promise you, you’ll be rooting for Duckie the second he belts out Otis Redding’s “Try A Little Tenderness.”
Included on this list because when I saw this in theaters, my best friend was already crying by the opening credits. That’s got to be a record in romantic movie viewing! Channing Tatum broods when his artsy amnesiac wife Rachel McAdams fails to remember they’re married after a bad car accident. Can he win her back despite her family’s disapproval of him? Well duh, of course he can. He’s Channing Tatum.
Ah Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart… we’ll always have Paris. 72 years after it’s release, Casablanca still tugs at the heart strings. A perfect romantic cocktail set in the titular city during the throes of World War II. Bogart’s suave American ex-patriate and Bergman’s beautiful Ilsa have a love that’s just not meant to last. Cue emotional turmoil and tension. Here’s looking at you kid…
Who says nice guys finish last?? Adam Sandler’s Robbie Gould saves his true love Julia (Drew Barrymore) from her quickie Vegas wedding to the dastardly Glenn, with a little help from Billy Idol. Like any good romantic comedy, our leading man woos his lady via song. “I wanna make you smile whenever you’re sad, carry you around when your arthritis is bad / Oh, all I wanna do is grow old with you.” Who could say no to that?
Really Rose, couldn’t you move over just a little?! Yeah, right you’ll never let go! Jack and Rose are the ultimate doomed lovers, second only to Romeo and Juliet. Aristocratic and wealthy Rose falls for the adventurous and charming Jack aboard the “unsinkable” Titanic. We all know how it ended. And none of us are over it. I suppose our hearts will go on…
A second appearance on this list from Mr. Ryan Gosling… coincidence? I think not. As Emma Stone says, he’s practically photoshopped! Bad boy player Jacob falls for feisty and adorable Hannah while he unknowingly helps her father win back his estranged wife. The romantic story line is great, but the real reason to watch this movie? A (mostly) naked Gosling! He looks good even while clothed, the man can wear the hell out of a suit.
Nobody puts baby in the corner! Patrick Swayze is swoon-worthy as the dance instructor from the other side of the tracks. Worth it for the choreography alone. Who hasn’t tried to recreate the iconic lift in the pool? It even made an appearance in Crazy Stupid Love!
The gaudy and gauche musical love story of the writer and the courtesan sizzles. Forbidden lovers Satine and Christian fight the odds in turn of the century Paris, including a jealous duke and tuberculosis. Nothing like a fatal infectious disease to get you going on Valentines Day! I will love you until my dying day, indeed.