Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, and it’s probably starting to settle in that you’re going it another year by yourself. But don’t fear, we have you covered with our top rom-coms to watch on this fabulous day.
Once the initial shock settles in, you should be starting to accept that you are once again going to be alone for Valentine’s Day. But it’s ok, we’re in this together. It’s time now to grab your favourite tub of ice cream and a box of tissues because, let’s face it, crying over perfect couples in movies is the best kind of therapy.
Now that you’ve got all the essentials, it’s time to get comfy. Make a spot on the lounge, or get into bed, and flick on your favourite streaming service. Now here’s where we come in – the choices for tacky rom-coms are overwhelming, but we’re here to give you our recommendations for the best movies to get you into that Valentine’s spirit.
To All The Boys (the trilogy)
This classic trilogy has everything you want in it; a cliche and sappy high school love story, good-looking actors, and a pretty decent soundtrack. The three movies follow the story of Lara Jean Covey, a 16-year-old American student who, every time she has a crush, writes a letter addressed to them explaining her feelings. She doesn’t intentionally send out these letters until her sister secretly does one day.
We don’t want to spoil the whole movie for you, but Lara Jean does end up dating one of the letter recipients, and the following films follow their relationship. It’s a great, easy series to watch, but fair warning, it’s highly addictive.
Lucky for us, the final instalment of the trilogy, To All the Boys: Always and Forever was released on Netflix yesterday – perfect timing for our imminent cry fest.
Easy A
Emma Stone. Need we say more? Easy A is another great high school love story, but not in the way you’d expect. The movie follows Stone’s character Olive Penderghast, who one day tells a little lie to her best friend that she lost her virginity over the weekend.
Well, we know how fast rumours and secrets spread in high school, so before you know it, the whole school is talking about Olive’s promiscuity. However, Olive takes full control of the situation, embracing the rumour by wearing a red ‘A’ for ‘adultery’ on all her clothing, despite her remaining a virgin.
Again, no need to spoil the whole plot, but Olive finds unexpected love, which was, in fact, under her nose the entire time. Easy A takes you on a journey through second-hand embarrassment, laughs, tears, and more.
Not to mention you’ll be singing Natasha Bedingfield’s Pocketful of Sunshine for weeks after. If you know, you know.
Love, Simon
Based on Becky Albertalli’s novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, this is a gorgeous film about – you guessed it – a young man named Simon as he attempts to balance school, family, and his closeted sexuality. All while a blackmailer threatens to out his secret.
Not to mention, Simon spends a good chunk of the film trying to figure out which of his classmates is the pen pal he’s fallen in love with online.
For a love story that doesn’t stick to the well-established but a little well-worn ‘boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl’ formula, Love, Simon is a wonderful choice for any Valentine’s Day.
Clueless
Duh! Clueless is the epitome of a classic, cliche rom-com – it’s so bad that it’s good (just like Valentine’s Day, huh). It’s the ’90s fashion and iconic catchphrases that get you hooked on the film, making it something you can watch over and over again.
Clueless follows multiple love stories as the spoilt, popular main character Cher uses her matchmaking skills to help two teachers find love in order to stop them from being uptight. She’s successful in bringing the two together and uses her newfound skills on a student, Tai.
Cher gives Tai a makeover to make her more desirable, which has the side effect of Tai surpassing Cher in terms of popularity. Then of course, after all of her matchmaking success, Cher ends up finding love herself.
He’s Just Not That Into You
Remember the days when you’d get pushed over in the playground or made fun of? You would go home crying to your parents, and they would say something along the lines of “you know they only did those things to you because he/she likes you.” Well, wouldn’t it be nice if they didn’t?
He’s Just Not That Into You is the slap in the face that we all need sometimes. With a star-studdered cast including Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, Bradley Cooper, and Drew Barrymore (just to name a few), the film follows multiple love stories as they consistently intertwine with one another.
10 Things I Hate About You
Another ’90s classic starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger – I can promise you the ending of this movie will have you in tears. The ’90s were quite iconic for producing absolutely stellar rom-coms, and this film lives up to expectations.
Set at yet another high school, the film follows Cameron, a new student infatuated with Bianca Stratford. The only problem? Bianca’s father has a rule that she is not allowed to date until her sister Kat does. Her father is fully aware that Kat does not intend to date any of the boys at school, hence the rule.
Cameron devises a plan to pay bad boy Patrick to charm Kat, so Cameron, in turn, can date Bianca. It takes a while for Kat to fall for Patrick, but when she does, she falls hard and fears he won’t be there to catch her. Get your tissues ready, we’re not kidding when we say it’s a tear-jerker.
Although unfortunately, the ending has probably already been spoiled if you’re familiar with Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.
365 Days (365 dni)
If you’re looking for something a little different, a little more seductive and sultry, 365 Days is an erotic, romantic drama that hits all the right notes.
Laura goes on holiday with her current and idiot boyfriend to Italy to celebrate her birthday. While she is holidaying, she is kidnapped by Mafia member Massimo, who is incredibly infatuated with Laura. He gives her 365 days to fall in love with him, otherwise he promises to release her when the year is up.
The plot-line, although creepy, makes for a steamy two hours of watch time. The film splits between Polish and Italian, but is primarily in English.
Friends With Benefits
Starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, this film will be sure to make you laugh with some terrific punchlines. Dylan, who takes a job at GQ Magazine in New York, is introduced to Jamie, a headhunter for GQ who tracks him down, convincing him to move to New York for this job.
The two, who start as friends, propose a ‘friends with benefits’ relationship, with a vow to keep the relationship strictly physical until one of them meets someone. But it’s never that simple and, of course, they end up catching real feelings for each other – potentially destroying their relationship entirely.
The film is a good, easy watch, something that could be thrown on in the background this Valentine’s Day.
The Notebook
If you’re really in the mood to cry your eyes out multiple times this Valentine’s Day, The Notebook couldn’t be more perfect. The movie is based upon the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name and stars the most perfect match of Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling. The majority of the film is set in the 1940s, however, it does jump forward to the present day multiple times.
It follows a poor but passionate Noah who falls in love with a beautiful and rich Allie. After Noah goes to fight in the war, it seems as though their love affair is over. However, it just goes to show that anything that is meant to be will always come back together. Although Rotten Tomatoes have only given it a dismal 53%, The Notebook is number one on everyone’s rom-com list for a reason.
