What’s the best romcom? Here’s our list to make your heart swoon
Haters will say they’re corny & old-school, but romcoms are a valuable part of our cinematic libraries. They provide us an escape from the humdrum of our not-so-exciting daily routines and set us up with very unusual expectations of what love looks like. But ever-so-often, they also end up showing us that love can be a beautiful thing.
The fun part of watching a good romcom is getting to vicariously live through the characters. Here are some romcoms that will make your heart swoon.
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
Based on Jenny Han’s eponymous series of YA fiction, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before – along with the next two movies in the series – is like a warm hug & smile personified into a movie. It follows the lives of the Song Covey sisters: Margot, Lara Jean, and Kitty Song Covey as they navigate college & school respectively.
The main twist in their life occurs when Kitty mails out secret love letters that Lara Jean had been writing to her crushes. Peter Kavinsky, the popular boy in school, also gets one. To make her ex-girlfriend & Lara Jean’s ex-best-friend Gen jealous, he decides to get on board with a fake relationship designed by Lara who also wants to keep the other recipients of the letter away from her.
It’s a classic romcom trope: you fake a relationship only to fall in love for real. With its Wes-Anderson-like aesthetic & a great background score, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is guaranteed to make you smile. And while you’re at it, you can binge through the entire trilogy on Netflix.
Set It Up
What’s a romcom if not the recycling of classic tropes. In Set It Up, two overworked employees try to set up their bosses so they can have a life outside of work , and their bosses will leave them alone. In the process, they become the directors of a romcom within the movie: devising a meet-cute, arranging for their bosses to accidentally “bump into each other” at events, and the like.
However, no romance can ever go this smoothly. So when their bosses’ romance hits a bumpy road, Charlie & Harper have to wear their directorial hats again. And then the romcom template hits: the matchmakers are the real lovers here. Romcoms are made even more fun to watch by a talented cast & in this case, Zoey Deutch, Glen Powell, Taye Diggs, and Lucy Liu adorn our screens.
27 Dresses
Love her or hate her, Katherine Heigl brings Jane’s best wedding-obsessed self to life in 27 Dresses. Secretly in love with her boss, Jane is that hustler friend who hopelessly believes in weddings — and helps her friends with their wedding planning. Kevin Doyle is a cynical journalist who writes wedding announcements for the paper. Despite his cynicism, he’s so good with words that Jane keeps a diary of his pieces.
Things begin to go south when her little, spoiled sister moves back home, sparks a romance with her boss, and gets engaged. Now Jane has to plan her younger sister’s wedding to her boss — who she’s secretly in love with — and try not to lose it over Tess’s behavior. Kevin gets involved & figures out what’s up. But there’s more: Kevin & Jane, just like any romcom couple who start out as opposites, fall in love.
Palm Springs
Ten minutes into the movie very little seems to make sense. Then you realize our protagonists are stuck in the loop of the same day or as Nyles puts it, “one of those infinite time loop situations.” Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J.K. Simmons, Peter Gallagher, Camila Mendes…everyone fits into their character like pieces of a puzzle.
Gradually, Nyles & Sarah develop feelings for each other. Being stuck with the same person in a time loop can do that to you.
