Top 10 Romantic Movies That Will Make You Believe in Love Again
The top 10 most romantic movies include Princess Bride, Casablanca, When Harry Met Sally, and Titanic.
We know there are plenty of you out there who love good romantic movies. You love to see the give and take, the laughter and the heartbreak, and endings that sometimes don’t fall within the typical Hollywood fare. There are so many great romantic films we thought we’d put together the Top 10 Romantic Movies that will make you believe in love again.
The films on this list are classics when it comes to romance. Big-name actors fill the list and the one thing you will notice with each film is that love can happen anywhere. It doesn’t matter the setting, the time period, or even the players, these are the Top 10 Romantic Movies in no particular order.
TOP 10 ROMANTIC MOVIES THAT WILL MAKE YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE AGAIN
1. The Princess Bride (1987)
GFR Score
You may be asking yourself, just how is Rob Reiner’s The Princess Bride one of the Top 10 Romantic Movies that will make you believe in love again? Well, if you think about it, love is the driving force that carries this swashbuckling fairy tale that stars Cary Elwes as Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts and Robin Wright as Buttercup.
Elwes is perfect as farmhand Westley, who has fallen for Buttercup and now must traverse the countryside in order to rescue her from three outlaws, who have kidnapped her right before she was to wed the horrible Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon).
While the film focuses much on action and sword fighting, along with amazing performances by Mandy Patinkin and Wallace Shawn, the romance between Wesley and Buttercup makes the adventure worth it.
2. Casablanca (1942)
GFR Score
Casablanca is a classic film that finds itself on many “lists,” so ending up as one of the Top 10 Romantic Movies that will make you believe in love again should come as no shock.
This classic love story has more to it than just romance as it stars screen legends Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in a tale of love and the decisions one must make to keep love while World War II I is all around them.
Bogart is Rick Blaine, expatriate and owner of Rick’s Café Americain in Casablanca. Although Rick tries to remain neutral in all things war, things change for him when his former lover, Ilsa Lund, enters his bar. “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine”
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
GFR Score
When one brings up the name Jim Carrey, romantic movies are not the first thing that comes to mind. Ace Ventura, the Mask, heck, even Fire Marshall Bill easily jumps to the forefront when it comes to Carrey’s career. But his performance in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind defies his comedy career and somehow, it was one that is part of a Top 10 Romantic Movie that will make you believe in love again.
To make this love story believable, Carrey needed a partner who performs. He got that in Kate Winslet (she has a way with romantic films). This story has a science fiction bent to it as Carrey’s Joel Barish discovers after having a fight with his girlfriend Clementine Kruczynski that she has had her memories of their relationship erased.
Heartbroken, Joel decides to have his memories erased as well.
As he begins the procedure, he begins to see earlier, happier ones, which causes him to stop the procedure. Unfortunately, the procedure begins again, causing all of Joel’s memories to go away, the last being him and Clementine as she tells him to meet him in Montauk. Is that what happens in the end?
It’s just one question that makes this a heartbreakingly romantic movie.
4. Titanic (1987)
GFR Score
Rose, we all know there was plenty of room on the wooden board for both you and Jack but that’s neither here nor there. Titanic is another James Cameron epic masterpiece starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as ill-fated lovers, Jack and Rose, on the doomed first, last, and final voyage of the R.M.S Titanic. When it comes to romantic movies, this is close to the top.
The film, with a running time longer than it took the Titanic to actually sink, has been called one of the more romantic films on record. It showed the forbidden love between social classes. The story of Jack and Rose, who most definitely came from different societal standings, is just one of the reasons the move became so endearing and beloved.
Billy Zane co-stars in the film, making himself the perfect heel as he insinuates himself in between true love. The debate will never end about Jack’s fate and how it could have been different, but ill-fated love sometimes is the best of all when it can be seen on the big screen.
5. Gone with the Wind (1939)
GFR Score
“Frankly, my dear…” Gone with the Wind is a classic romantic movie in every sense of the idea. The love story is real and sweeping in this epic film that stars Clark Gable as Rhett Butler and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara.
The film is set in the American South during the Civil War and tells the story of the daughter of a Georgia plantation owner (Leigh) as she navigates her way through her pursuit of Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), even though he is married.
Although Wilkes briefly returns her affection, he cannot leave his wife. Enter Rhett Butler, who eventually proposes to Scarlett. It’s a tumultuous relationship that ends the only way it should, with Rhett walking out into the morning fog. “…I don’t give a damn.”
6. It Happened One Night (1935)
GFR Score
It Happened One Night could be considered the beginning of romantic comedy movies, but it also gave the name to the screwball comedy. The film was directed by Hollywood legend Frank Capra, who sat behind the camera for other classic films such as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
This romantic movie stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert as two people who meet by chance on a bus ride from Florida to New York City.
Gable plays a newspaper reporter who just lost his job and Colbert is an heiress who, against her wealthy father’s wishes, has eloped. She finds herself on the bus in hopes of getting to New York to reunite with her husband, who really has married her for her vast wealth.
Both Gable and Colbert are in top form as their rapid-fire dialogue is fun. Its combination of romance and comedy allowed it to be recognized as one of the greatest films ever made. The proof was in the pudding as It Happened One Night became the first of only three films to win the top five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay).
7. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
GFR Score
Like Jim Carrey, comedian Billy Crystal’s name doesn’t carry much weight when it comes to romance movies. Even in this film, When Harry Met Sally, the romance was met with laughs to make the pairing of Crystal with Meg Ryan a winning combination.
The story follows Harry (Crystal) and Sally (Ryan) as they find each other at five-year intervals trying to determine if men and women can be friends or if sex will get in the way. Each time they meet, they are both in various relationships. During one of their last meetings, Sally finds herself calling Harry because she and her boyfriend broke up. Sally goes to Harry’s apartment and, well, sex gets in the way. Or does it?
8. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
GFR Score
Romance, as it is, comes in all shapes and sizes, and Ang Lee’s 2005 western, Brokeback Mountain, is proof positive. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger as sheep herders who find love in their relationship in 1963 Wyoming. Their love is forbidden, but one they can’t control. A brawl between the two causes them to separate.
Living different lives, Ennis (Ledger) marries his longtime fiancé, and they eventually have two children. Jack (Gyllenhaal) also marries and has a son. It is another four years before Ennis and Jack run into each other again and they pick up where they left off. They continue their forbidden love as their respective marriages fall apart around them.
9. Moonstruck (1987)
GFR Score
Moonstruck is one of the Top 10 Romantic Movies that will make you believe in love again for two simple reasons – Cher and Nicolas Cage. Both shine in this 1987 romantic comedy about widowed Loretta Castorini (Cher), who is engaged to be married but falls for her finance’s younger, very temperamental brother Ronny (Cage).
The film expertly tackles infidelity and whether it is better to be in love with your partner and chance major heartbreak or to simply just like them and save your heart pain. Cher is fantastic as Loretta, evidenced by her Best Supporting Actress Oscar win and Nic Cage is simply brilliant as Ronny.
10. Love Actually (2003)
GFR Score
Although critics were a little lukewarm with Love Actually, the film truly has a romantic heart at its core as it tells a number of interconnected love stories with laughs. The film, set during Christmas time, was written and directed by Richard Curtis, who is also known for his romantic comedies such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Love Actually boasts a big cast that includes Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Bill Nighy, and Andrew Lincoln. There are nine stories that all relate, some that will leave audiences smiling, while others are heartbreaking. Don’t listen to the critics.
- GFR Score calculated using averages of audience and critical reactions across multiple platforms.