IndieWire's The 101 Best Rom-Coms of All Time
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BY ALISON FOREMAN
FEBRUARY 14, 2024 5:15 PM
There’s something uniquely cinematic about romantic comedies — something that makes them a natural fit for the movies and vice-versa. There’s an intoxicating alchemy that allows us to believe in the magic of meet-cutes, happily-ever-afters, and all the agonizing contrivances that tend to pop up between the two. Love it seems gives storytellers permission to transpose the stuff of operas and fables into the fabric of real (or at least overly glossed but still recognizable) life.
On paper, a film like “Pretty Woman” might be a retrograde fairy tale about a sex worker with a heart of gold and the rich businessman who can afford it, but the chemistry between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere is so explosive that you surrender to the sentiment of it all. Literally nothing in Richard Curtis’ “Love Actually” makes sense if you stop and think about it for even a few seconds. The same could be said of Robert Iscove’s “She’s All That,” or Blake Edwards’ “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” And yet, love always seems to add up in that magical movie moment.
Richard Curtis’ holiday-themed magnum opus was a British production (in case you couldn’t tell), but many of its storylines find something naggingly American about the aspirational nature of the rom-com genre. The genre seems to (incorrectly) suggest no other country is populated by such radically different strangers, nor so enriched by the unexpected collisions between them; from “Bringing Up Baby” to “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” Hollywood has always been eager to sell the idea that, in the United States, we’re all just one chance encounter away from happiness.
That might help to explain — if only in part — why the rom-com canon is as white and heteronormative as the history of the American film business, and why that canon is ripe for re-evaluation now that Hollywood is reassessing the marketability of diverse love stories in the streaming age. In 2022, Nicholas Stoller’s “Bros” starring Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane made history as the first gay rom-com produced and distributed by a major movie studio. What’s more, the romantic comedy is a universal language. Other film industries — Bollywood most of all — have been churning these stories out for local audiences faster than Americans can hope to keep up.
In that light, IndieWire’s list of the Best Romantic Comedies of All Time is more of a start than a final statement; it’s a living document that we’ll change up and add to as time goes by. One thing that will stay the same, however, is that rom-coms have a recognizable grammar all their own; meet-cutes, montages, banter, a weird preponderance of journalists, sex scenes that always indicate a dark turn at the end of the second act. These aren’t just love stories that happen to be funny, they’re a sacred art unto themselves. And these are the masterpieces that prove it.
In honor of Valentine’s Day 2024, here are the 101 best romantic comedies ever made.
Wilson Chapman, Anne Thompson, Chris O’Falt, Zack Sharf, Jude Dry, Ryan Lattanzio, Tambay Obenson, Tom Brueggemann, David Ehrlich, Eric Kohn, Kate Erbland, Samantha Bergeson, Proma Khosla, Mark Peikert, and Marcus Jones also contributed to this list. [Editor’s note: The following was originally published in February 2020. It has been updated multiple times since.]
Old Source By David Ehrlich, Eric Kohn, Kate Erbland, Anne Thompson, Chris O'Falt, Zack Sharf, Jude Dry, Ryan Lattanzio, Tambay Obenson, Tom Brueggemann
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1 new
City Lights
1931, in 34 top lists Check -
2 +3
It Happened One Night
1934, in 29 top lists Check -
3 -1
Broadcast News
1987, in 10 top lists Check -
4 +2
When Harry Met Sally...
1989, in 16 top lists Check -
5 -4
The Philadelphia Story
1940, in 22 top lists Check -
6 new
The Apartment
1960, in 28 top lists Check -
7 +15
The Shop Around the Corner
1940, in 14 top lists Check -
8 new
Love & Basketball
2000, in 6 top lists Check -
9 +2
Moonstruck
1987, in 10 top lists Check -
10 +18
But I'm a Cheerleader
1999, in 3 top lists Check -
11 -4
Bringing Up Baby
1938, in 23 top lists Check -
12 -3
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
2008, in 1 top list Check -
13 +5
The Lady Eve
1941, in 20 top lists Check -
14 new
Some Like It Hot
1959, in 35 top lists Check -
15 -
Clueless
1995, in 8 top lists Check -
16 +4
Punch-Drunk Love
2002, in 12 top lists Check -
17 new
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
1995, in 5 top lists Check -
18 +12
Harold and Maude
1971, in 22 top lists Check -
19 -11
Roman Holiday
1953, in 14 top lists Check -
20 -6
Groundhog Day
1993, in 22 top lists Check -
21 new
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
1998 — a.k.a. Something Is Happening, in 2 top lists Check -
22 new
The Palm Beach Story
1942, in 14 top lists Check -
23 new
Trouble in Paradise
1932, in 17 top lists Check -
24 +21
Bend It Like Beckham
2002, in 2 top lists Check -
25 -
Muriel's Wedding
1994, in 3 top lists Check -
26 new
You've Got Mail
1998, in 4 top lists Check -
27 new
The Awful Truth
1937, in 15 top lists Check -
28 -7
Notting Hill
1999, in 6 top lists Check -
29 new
What's Up, Doc?
1972, in 9 top lists Check -
30 +12
High Fidelity
2000, in 3 top lists Check -
31 new
The Princess Bride
1987, in 19 top lists Check -
32 new
Mamma Mia!
2008, in 3 top lists Check -
33 new
Pillow Talk
1959, in 6 top lists Check -
34 new
The Heartbreak Kid
1972, in 6 top lists Check -
35 -8
Boomerang
1992, in 1 top list Check -
36 new
My Best Friend's Wedding
1997, in 3 top lists Check -
37 new
Trust
1990, in 5 top lists Check -
38 +1
The Big Sick
2017, in 2 top lists -
39 new
WALL·E
2008, in 26 top lists Check -
40 new
Down with Love
2003, in 1 top list Check -
41 -29
His Girl Friday
1940, in 21 top lists Check -
42 new
Masculin féminin
1966 — a.k.a. Masculine-Feminine, in 7 top lists Check -
43 -40
Modern Times
1936, in 30 top lists Check -
44 new
Sleepless in Seattle
1993, in 8 top lists Check -
45 -26
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain
2001 — a.k.a. Amélie, in 27 top lists Check -
46 -29
Jerry Maguire
1996, in 8 top lists Check -
47 new
Holiday
1938, in 8 top lists Check -
48 -22
Sabrina
1954, in 5 top lists Check -
49 -39
Pretty Woman
1990, in 12 top lists Check -
50 new
Design for Living
1933, in 6 top lists Check
Last updated on May 11, 2024 by Fergenaprido; source