The best romantic movies on Netflix have been updated. You can put the spark back in movie night by grabbing your crush or your bff and picking from one of these lovey-dovey offerings. Expect romance of all varieties from this list: star-crossed, forbidden, historical, and so on. We're talking a range from sexy heists to strait-laced dramas to teenage romances set in the first blush of young love. If you're coupled up, these movies will make you grateful you're off the market, and if you're looking for love, they'll remind you that real love is not dead. It is out there... somewhere.
In present-day London, a journalist (Felicity Jones) uncovers a trove of secret letters from the 1960s, exchanged between forbidden lovers (Shailene Woodley and Callum Turner). When the journalist learns that these star-crossed lovers are still alive, her quest to reunite them ignites her own love life. This tender story, told across decades, illuminates that even time is no obstacle to true love.
Are we trolling you with this one? A little bit. But hear us out: when Twilight hit Netflix this summer, even hard-hearted viewers were stoked about walking down tween memory lane. The story of Bella Swan's tortured romance with teen vampire Edward Cullen was a cultural phenomenon that made vampires cool again and launched the careers of two movie stars (Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson). If you call yourself culturally literate and you haven't seen Twilight, it 's downright incumbent on you to watch it.
Based on the true story of an explosive Mexican scandal, this tragic romance dramatizes the events leading up to the Dance of the Forty One, a lavish 1901 party attended by gay men and raided by police. Though the government was eager to bury the incident, as the party's attendees were members of society's upper crust, the press was determined to break the story, as the incumbent president of Mexico's son-in-law was in attendance. Ornate and erotic, Dance of the Forty One locates the human story within this important chapter of Mexico's queer history.
Chances are, your mom has loved Richard Gere for years—Nights in Rodanthe might be the reason. Gere reunites with Diane Lane for their third on-screen pairing in this tender Nicholas Sparks romance about second chances. Lane plays Adrienne Willis, a troubled woman swept into a North Carolina beach town to watch over her friend's inn, where the only guest is gruff Dr. Paul Flanner (Gere). When a hurricane approaches the coast, sparks fly.
Whether you've seen Ang Lee's tragic romance a thousand times or you completely missed the phenomenon back in 2005, Brokeback Mountain never gets old. Based on a gritty short story by Annie Proulx, the film stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two cowboys in the conservative American West, who carry out a furtive affair over decades. Epic and heartbreaking, Brokeback Mountain explores the psychic toll taken by a world where lovers can't live authentically.
Netflix's remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca can't hold a candle to the original's spookiness, but what it can do is offer steamier romance. Daphne Du Maurier's eerie psychological thriller about a woman driven mad by her new husband's late wife is faithfully rendered here, with the dial on the twisted romance turned all the way up.
It's easy to forget that Eurovision is a bit of a romantic comedy. Starring Rachel McAdams and Will Ferrell as Icelandic singers who have hopes of becoming famous via the infamous Eurovision Song Contest, the story is a slow burn about two people realizing that the greatest victory is finding the love that's been next to them the whole time.
It's also a PSA to not cross elves. Watch. You'll understand.
Gina Rodriguez stars in this charming romantic comedy as Jenny, a music journalist bracing for a new beginning on the West Coast after a devastating break-up with her longtime boyfriend Nate (Lakeith Stanfield). Jenny's last night out in New York with her best friends leads to some startling realizations about the love story she's mythologized, making for a bittersweet story about heartbreak and self-love.
In this Best Picture winner directed by Barry Jenkins, we meet an unforgettable young man named Chiron, who grew up Black, poor, and queer in a rough Miami neighborhood. Chiron's tumultuous journey to manhood is underpinned by a slow-burning romance with a classmate, who comes back into his adult life years later in a sweeping story of love and longing.
Crazy Stupid Love is like three rom coms in one. There's a bit of a divorce comedy, paired with a coming of age story that will make your toes curl from embarrassment, and of course, a prequel to La La Land that has all the charm your heart could handle. And Ryan Gosling naked in a locker room. It's a thing.
It's less of a rom com and more of a com(e get your degree and leave your loser boyfriend in the past). Reese Witherspoon stars in the comedy staple about a prototypical dumb blonde who is anything but when she throws her California life out the window for a law degree at Harvard. While it may start with her chasing a man, it ends with her realizing her own potential to be a legal powerhouse.
Listen. Julia Roberts is queen of rom coms. There is simply no other competition. And we have Mystic Pizza to thank for that. Based off a real pizzeria in Mystic, Connecticut, the film follows three teenage girls whose lives take all types of turns in pursuit of growing up, getting out, and finding love.
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