Netflix and chill: Watch these romcom movies – perfect for date night
When you think “date night”, the first scenario is usually going out to dinner & a movie – and the movie’s usually a romcom. These days, thanks to the miracle of technology (and the restraints of mandatory quarantines), you don’t even have to leave your home to enjoy a classic date night. Tip your Grubhub delivery driver a little extra for the dinner part, and pick one of Netflix’s gazillion movies for the romcom part.
Of course, you don’t want to spend half your date night browsing through Netflix’s catalogue and arguing about every one of its movies, romcom or not. That’s why we’ve done the homework in advance for you. We have some solid romcom recommendations that will help you narrow the field and come to your significant other prepared: “Honey, choose from these movies!”
Two Weeks Notice
Let’s start with a modern classic. (Can you believe Two Weeks Notice is almost twenty years old?) The presence of Sandra Bullock & Hugh Grant in the poster should be enough to sway anyone into picking this one for date night. The two stars were at the peak of their romcom powers here, before fully trying their luck with other types of movies.
The plot is brilliant in its simplicity: Sandy plays a talented lawyer who feels underappreciated & overworked by her needy hunk of a boss, played by Hugh Grant. She puts in her two weeks notice (titular line!) but, as her replacement starts transitioning in, Sandy realizes she has developed feelings for Hugh. Girl, we could’ve told you that from the beginning.
Crazy Stupid Love
Perhaps more than any other genre, a romcom lives & dies on the strength of its cast. Check out this team of all-stars: Julianne Moore, Steve Carell, Emma Stone, and Ryan Gosling. Are you in? We’re in. This is what we go to the movies for! (And this is also what we fire up Netflix for.)
Crazy Stupid Love starts with heartbreak, as Moore & Carell’s marriage falls apart. However, what follows is a hilarious and bittersweet examination of what it’s like to be back in the dating world when you’re a grown-@ss adult who’s used to having a spouse. Gosling trying to teach Carell how to be a ladies man is worth the price of admission alone.
Silver Linings Playbook
The standard formula for a romcom includes two people meeting cute, going through a will-they won’t-they phase, having a falling out, then finally realizing they’re perfect for each other. Many successful movies stick to that formula while adding their own quirks to be memorable on their own. You could put Silver Linings Playbook in that category.
The cast, as expected, is aces: Bradley Cooper & Jennifer Lawrence in their first cinematic team-up, supported by veterans Robert DeNiro & Jacki Weaver – all four of them getting Academy Awards nominations! B-Coop plays a heartbroken man dealing with bipolar disorder who reluctantly falls for J-Law’s aggressive loner. It all builds up to an amazing dance competition, so, you know, be ready for that.
Jumping the Broom
It’s surprising that Paula Patton isn’t more of a romcom star, although that may be because she just enjoys being part of so many different types of movies. We’ve seen her take part in a spy blockbuster like Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and in a hardcore indie like Precious. She was in the fantasy bomb Warcraft and in the Denzel vehicle 2 Guns. What we’re saying is: Paula Patton has range.
So, of course Paula Patton also has some romcoms under her belt. In Jumping the Broom, Patton’s classy, multi-cultured Sabrina is set to marry a homeboy whose family is the complete opposite of hers. Sparks fly and hilarity ensues when the matriarchs leading each family – wonderfully played by Angela Bassett & Loretta Devine – clash on the night before the wedding.
My Best Friend’s Wedding
Forget Pretty Woman, this is the ultimate Julia Roberts romcom, even if it doesn’t get as much love as some of her other movies. Roberts plays a deliciously self-involved psychopath determined to ruin her best friend’s wedding to Cameron Diaz. Why would anyone do that to their best friend? Okay, sure, Julia wants to marry the doofus – played with extreme doofiness by Dermot Mulroney – but still, that’s despicable.
The thing is, as twisted as Julia’s scheming is, it’s also very funny and, by the time it’s all over, very endearing. Helping us see Julia as a human being is her other best friend, played by Rupert Everett in such a charming way, he got a full solid fifteen minutes of fame out of that. Also, there’s a scene where Cameron Diaz performs the best worst karaoke song ever. How could anyone not love this movie?
