A great romance can fuel any great film. Look at cinematic classics and time and time again you’ll find true love at the heart of the story. Love comes up in all different kinds of ways, and as you’re feeling the love this Valentine’s Day by gorging on chocolate, flowers, and all the rest of that good stuff, we wanted to bring some films to your attention to enjoy on this pleasant day.
Below, you’ll find movies ranging from comedies to adventures to dramas that will be great for throwing on to enjoy with your special someone this Valentine’s Day. They all feature love stories that will win you over, and they run the gamut from the classic to the bizarre. Love is inclusive, and we tried to make this list follow suit. So with that in mind, get a box of chocolates and a bowl of popcorn to watch some of these films.
For more recommendations, check out our list of the bestrom-coms on Netflix,anti-Valentine’s Day movies on Netflix, andromance movies on Hulu.
RELATED:Best Movies on Netflix
Love & Basketball (2000)
Run Time: 2 hr |Genre: Romance Sport |Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Cast: Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan, Alfre Woodard, Dennis Haysbert
Before she took on the music industry and its tendencies toward contaminating intimate, personal matters and relationships, the directorGina Prince-Bythewoodinvestigated similar matters under the rubric of professional sports, and did a far more remarkable job. At 11, Monica and Quincy meet and a competition is quickly born between the two athletes, both of whom end up being tremendously talented on the court and in the paint. Bythewood charts their friendship and eventual romance with a preternatural attention towards matters of athletic fame: physical wellbeing and injuries, business opportunities and decisions, family planning, etc. More than that, as played byOmar EppsandSanaa Lathan, Monica and Quincy’s on-again-off-again relationship has the unmistakable timbre of complicated, imperfect love and problematic monogamy that have been fully experienced, warts and all. That the film also portrays a progressive household where the woman is finally accepted in the workplace with just as much respect as the man is just icing on the rough-grained passion of Monica and Quincy’s decades-long love affair. -Chris Cabin
Watch on BET+
Let the Right One In (2004)
Run Time: 1 hr 54 min |Genre: Romance Horror |Director: Tomas Alfredson
Cast: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar
If it’s atypical love stories, “bullied boy meets girl-next-door” romances, or straight-up bloody horror that you prefer to watch this Valentine’s Day, look no further thanTomas Alfredson’s2008 Swedish picture,Let the Right One In. AuthorJohn Ajvide Lindqvistadapted his own novel for the screenplay, which focused on the relationship between the shy and disturbed 12-year-old Oskar and a pale, mysterious new neighbor girl, Eli. They soon form a bond over their similar shared oddities: Oskar is fascinated with grisly murders and Eli has an unnatural thirst for blood. That bond grows ever deeper as their true natures are revealed to each other. Oskar and Eli learn to trust each other with their very lives, a trust that is put to the test before the movie’s horrifying yet uncomfortably heart-warming conclusion.Let the Right One Inmay just be the truest expression of “unconditional love” you watch this Valentine’s Day.- Dave Trumbore
Watch on Prime Video
WALL-E (2008)
Run Time: 1 hr 38 min |Genre: Family Adventure |Director: Andrew Stanton
Cast: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin
Is it possible that the most romantic movie of the 21st century is an animated film? Call me crazy, but the love between two robots in Pixar’s masterpieceWALL-Eis as true, passionate, and heartfelt as the love between any two human actors I’ve seen in the last 15 years. The brilliance of directorAndrew Stanton’s sci-fi film is not in its environmental themes or stunning visuals, but in the choice to ground the characters with the most fundamental emotion of all: love. WALL-E’s infatuation starts as cute, morphs to endearing, and ends as heartbreaking. It’s a tale as old as time, but told 800 years in the future with two non-human entities.WALL-Eis pure magic. –Adam Chitwood
Watch on Disney+
The Apartment (1960)
Run Time: 2 hr 5 min |Genre: Romance Comedy |Director: Billy Wilder
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
If you want to go classic with your Valentine’s Day viewing pick, but are also looking for something with a bit of substance, you may’t go wrong withThe Apartment.Billy Wilder’s classic starsJack Lemmonas a lonely office drudge who falls for an elevator operator (Shirley MacLaine) that just so happens to be having an affair with his boss. MacLaine is irresistible as the spunky, damaged Fran, and Lemmon is on fire as the lovelorn Bud. While the film tackles some serious issues such as depression and suicide, Wilder’s handle of tone is, unsurprisingly, masterful, and the film overall is an incredibly charming, heartwarming watch. If your relationship is one that began as friends, or if you and your significant other are just in the mood to watch a classic,The Apartmentis a fine choice. –Adam Chitwood
Watch on Kanopy
Carol (2015)
Run Time: 1 hr 58 min |Genre: Romance Drama |Director: Todd Haynes
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson
Todd Haynes(The Velvet Goldmine, Far from Heaven) is perhaps the most undervalued American auteur of the last 20 years. I am not sure ifCarolis his best film, but it is officially the one that I love the most. What I love aboutCarolis how Haynes captures the visual cues of falling in love; how, most often, two people don’t fall in love simultaneously. Initially, one has a little more power over the other, and for that love to be maintained, the one who is being pulled will also eventually have to hold equal power.
Carolis about two women falling in love in 1950s New York. One of them, Carol (Cate Blanchett), has privately partnered with a woman before and is more steadfast and confident in her choice to no longer live in secret. The other, Therese (Rooney Mara), is unsure, over-powered, but more observant. I love that Haynes presents the catalyst of their meeting—Therese returning the leather gloves that Carol left at a department store—unpronounced as to whether the gloves were left by Carol on purpose or whether their meeting had become happenstance. I love that there is a noir element to their road trip that parallels Therese’s internal detective work of her sexual identity. I love the score (byCarter Burwell). I love the camerawork (byEd Lachman) and how droplets of rain on a taxicab cling to the window as tightly as your chest feels as it drives away. I love that Blanchett’s lipstick line looks so similar to Joan Crawford’s and that a character in the film studiesBilly Wilder’sSunset Boulevardso closely. I love the acting that Mara does with her eyes and that Blanchett does with her lips and how both those parts inform the final glorious shot of the film. If your cinematic heart is up for grabs, you too will fall in love withCarol. — Brian Formo
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Run Time: 1 hr 54 min |Genre: Romance Comedy |Director: Mike Newell
Cast: Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell, Kristin Scott Thomas
You may have expected to see a differentRichard Curtisfilm on here—Love Actuallyis a stone-cold new classic in terms of romantic comedies—but Curtis’ screenwriting debutFour Weddings and a Funeral, directed byMike Newell, arguably makes for even better Valentine’s Day viewing. For one, it’s the film that launchedHugh Grant’s career, and his bumbling Brit charm is on full display in this hilarious and heartbreaking romance, which tracks the lives of a group of friends and one object of affection over the course of four separate weddings and one funeral (hence the title, obviously). The radiantAndie MacDowellis an excellent American foil to the heavy Britishness of the overall film, but Curtis’ script relies on humanity more than cultural specificity for its humor, making the jokes land that much harder. But be warned: this one’s also a bit of a tearjerker, so tissues should also be at the ready.Four Weddingsis also notably bold for 1994, featuring a same-sex couple as one of its central relationships in a Hollywood landscape that was becoming more progressive by the day. So if you’re looking for something of a 90s trip that’s funny, romantic, and a little sad, look no further. –Adam Chitwood
Watch on HBO
The Five-Year Engagement (2012)
Run Time: 2 hr 4 min |Genre: Romance Comedy |Director: Nicholas Stoller
Cast: Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Rhys Ifans
Modern partnerships require more equal sacrifice; moving for your partner’s study or career, and being prepared to do so for each person, not just one. Societal breakdown: We’re in the first time period where people’s careers or jobs are likely to change frequently, and partnerships need to weather more location and vocation change, but also put marriage and baby-making on hold while attempting to navigate all of this. If you’ve ever been in a pairing that has moved, or survived big change,Jason Segel-Nicholas Stoller’sThe Five-Year Engagementwill be a great watch. Segel is a hotshot chef in San Francisco when he proposes toEmily Blunt. Blunt then is accepted to grad school in Michigan and he goes to support her but cannot find a similar prestige job. Meanwhile, his restaurant understudy in the Bay (Chris Pratt) ascends to the position he left behind, and goes on the fast track to marriage and babies (withAlison Brie). Egos are wrestled, fights are had, beards are grown, new hobbies arise to take the place of previous careers, temptation creeps in for both—all these are familiar for anyone who’s had a long term commitment tested; but what makesThe Five-Year Engagementgreat (and enter the discussion as this decade’s best romantic comedy) is that you really want these two characters to work it out. You see how they’re great together, but also know that their stressors are very difficult to overcome (as is an arrow to the leg).- Brian Formo
Watch on Starz
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Run Time: 2 hr 16 min |Genre: Romance Drama |Director: Ang Lee
Cast: Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant
When looking for great tales romance in literature or film, one should naturally gravitate towardsJane Austen. Her heroines are smart and complicated, yet often get in the way of their own happiness before realizing, at last, their heart’s desire is standing right in front of them. But which Austen work do you choose?Ang Lee’sSense and Sensibilityis a visually lush production that stands out among all Austen adaptations, thanks also to a witty and deeply emotional script written byEmma Thompson. Thompson stars, too, as the staid Elinor Dashwood, alongsideKate Winsletas her whimsical sister Marianne, both of whom require different kinds of balance in their approaches to love. The fantastic supporting cast, including the lateAlan Rickman,Hugh Grant,Greg Wise,Hugh Laurieand more, add so much light and life to this already wonderful story. Lee’s adaptation, given a sweeping score byPatrick Doyle, is an extended stay in a world you won’t want to leave, and a study of romance that will leave you in tears of joy. —Allison Keene
Watch on Showtime
The Man from Snowy River (1982)
Run Time: 1 hr 44 min |Genre: Western Drama |Director: George T. Miller
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Jack Thompson, Tom Burlinson
George T. Miller’s sprawling Australian epic,The Man from Snowy River, is a coming of age tale and a romantic drama, with the aesthetic of an American Western. Taking place in the 1880s, and based on the Banjo Peterson poem of the same name, the instantly-engaging film starsTom Burlinsonas Jim Craig, a young man who wants to capture a black stallion (and his mob of mares) that caused his father’s death. As part of his journey, he meets a rich rancher, Harrison, played byKirk Douglas(in a dual role — he also plays the rancher’s down-and-out twin, Spur), as well as his beautiful daughter Jessica (Sigrid Thornton). Jim is torn between his affection for Jessica and his mission to capture the stallion, and the film builds to a fever pitch when a mob of riders all head out to capture the nearly-mythical horse in one of the most exciting and awe-inspiring sequences ever put to film. But the stallion also plays a key role in a secret history that slowly unravels throughout, betraying the film’s many layers of romance, pain, and long-lost loves that make it such a rich cinematic experience (thanks in no small part toBruce Rowland’s acclaimed score). The wide-open expanses, big sky country, and jagged cliffs allow the Australian landscape to add its own romance to the story and its legends as well. —Allison Keene
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Run Time: 1 hr 48 min |Genre: Romance Sci-Fi Drama |Director: Michel Gondry
Cast: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst
Love transcends logic or reason. It can lead to devastating and disastrous results, but would you ever take it back if you could? Beautifully scripted byCharlie Kaufmanand fearlessly directed byMichel Gondry,Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mindasks that very question.Jim Carreyproves himself a dramatic actor superior to the comedic facial gymnastics that earned him his fame oppositeKate Winslet(in what might me her most radiant role to date). As an odd couple so uniquely suited to their own courtship and demise, their performances adeptly articulate that whatever the combination of chemicals and magic love is, it can’t be copied and it can’t be reasoned with. -Haleigh Foutch
