In a recent episode of the podcast, we shared our fav romantic comedies. I hadn’t prepared anything as the ep is meant to interview Becca and Rachael about RomComPods, but then they asked me MY FAVS and I froze up a little. Romantic comedies aren’t my usual genre (for both movies and books, you know this – I generally prefer thrillers and mysteries) but I have definitely been watching them more and more lately… sometimes you just want something happy to watch, where the plot winds up tied into a neat little bow and everyone runs off into the sunset together!
My 3 Favorite Romantic Comedies
Something’s Gotta Give
This is my comfort movie. It may be in my top 5 favorite movies altogether… I’m not sure! When life feels stressful and hard, I always put this on. There’s Diane Keaton’s wardrobe (the turtlenecks!) and her stunning Hamptons home (that kitchen is peak Nancy Meyers!)… there’s her romance with young Keanu… and of COURSE, there’s Jack Nicholson who I will always have a major crush on (even if he’s over 80 now!!!). I also have such a thing for an “old person” romance. (It’s Complicated, below, is another notable favorite.) Becca teases me about my love for old people romances and right now I think maybe it’s because I’m going to be very very old by the time it’s okay to date again. 😉
How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days
This is another old fav. I just love Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey together. I’m still forever looking for a satin yellow dress like the one she wore to the diamond party. And the fact that she worked for a magazine, you know I love anything about someone working in magazines.
Home Again
Home Again is highly underrated. And it’s a bit newer, proving Nancy Meyers most definitely still has it! Reese Witherspoon has moved home to Los Angeles (Candice Bergen is a delight as her mother) and bonds with three younger twenty something men (there’s a romance in there, of course). This movie just warms my heart. I love it so much.
Honorable mentions + other favorites: It’s Complicated, Hitch, Sleepless in Seattle, ANY of the Bridget Jones movies, and The Holiday! And for a more recent fun one (on Netflix), I loved Always Be My Maybe with Ali Wong.
But please: the purpose of this post is to hear from you! Tell me your favorites in the comments. I need some good recs for the weekend. Bonus points for underrated favs!
I love Home Again – so underrated! It’s Complicated is my other go-to. And though it’s not really a romantic-love love story, I love The Intern! There is something so special about coworker relationships, and somehow I find myself relating to both Jules and Ben’s character.
I loved Crazy, Rich Asians..the fashion + decor was gorgeous!!
Also, is Pretty Woman considered a rom com? Love that one too!!
I’m a big Meg Ryan rom com girl. Love When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail (F-o-x, fox ).
The original 1959 Gidget with Sandra Dee is such a cute summertime romance with great mid-century style.
Oh man, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a romcom! I haven’t even watched any on your list – I need to! 🙂
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Hands down what I can watch over and over is The Wedding Date
Seriously, so good Rach! I just watched this recently for the first time in FOREVER and forgot how amazing it is! Love the English aspects to it as well.
Yes, LOVE the Wedding Date! Also, love 27 Dresses!!
Ohhhh another fun old person romance that I just watched is Book Club. It has Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen. I mean can you get a better cast of women?? I thought it was so cute.
Pretty Woman and It’s Complicated are my favorites of all time!
Dana | It’s Casual Blog
cool plot twist, home again was actually written and directed by nancy meyer’s DAUGHTER, hallie!!! nancy was a producer, but it was really her daughter’s film. i guess it proves it runs in the family <3
Crazy, Stupid, Love and Silver Linings Playbook!
Both are so so so good!!!
Even though I see it as so much more than a romcom, Legally Blonde will forever be one of my favorite movies! I also love 13 Going on 30, 27 Dresses, and Crazy Stupid Love!
YES Bridget Jones. But other faves: The Wedding Singer, What If…and now I’m blanking.
My favorite romcom of all time is My Best Friend’s Wedding. I also love Notting Hill, About Time, Love Actually, The Holiday, Last Holiday… I *love* a romcom!
Love Hitch! Will Smith and Eva Mendes are so cute, and Kevin James is hilarious!
My Big Fat Greek Wedding is my go-to when I am having a hard time. It’s so funny and sweet, totally underrated!
Sense & Sensibility w/Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson. Forever and always.
It’s Complicated! Over, and over, and over again.. never gets old!
In addition to something’s gotta give and its complicated, When Harry met Sally is one of my all time faves. It’s a classic and the katz deli scene is epic.
It’s Complicated is one of my absolute favorites!! Also The Family Stone. I love your picks as well!
Griffin and Phoenix is sooooo underrated and is Amanda Pete and guy off My best friends wedding! I just saw that it’s either on Hulu or Prime but such a heart warmer.
I just saw that Griffin and Phoenix is on Amazon Prime and it’s been showing on my recommended movies list the past couple of weeks. I was hesitant to watch but now I am definitely watching it this weekend!
Rom coms are my FAVORITE!
My favorites are: sweet home Alabama, legally blonde, the holiday, family stone, the other woman (more about female friendship than romance, but SO good), just go with it, 13 going on 30, she’s the man, and enough said.
I’m one of those people that watches the same movies and shows over and over again. I just can’t get enough of them! Drives my husband crazy LOL!!
Oh my god. She’s the Man. My HS movie I saw in theaters three times. Then I had the DVD and watched over and over with friends. So many comedic moments in that…
Rom Coms are my favorite as well! I just cannot stop watching them! I think I just love knowing that there will always be a happy ending. Just watched The Other Woman last night and boy is it just so good!
Sweet Home Alabama! And every holiday season it’s The Family Stone.
A lot Like Love with Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet! I don’t love him but this movie is so good. Also just googled it to see the year it was made (2005) and saw Meghan Markle has a tiny roll in it! I need to rewatch ASAP
Defending Your Life is one of my favs that most people haven’t seen. Meryl Streep and Albert Brooks.
The Family Stone! It’s a Christmas movie but good year round. A little known SJP movie!
I like to describe home again as the movie version of a hug. It’s so good! I would add 27 dresses and bride wars to this.
Oof, I don’t know that I could narrow it down to just 3! Something’s Gotta Give is definitely up there, and When Harry Met Sally is my all time favorite. I love that Netflix seems to be bringing Romcoms back with Lovebirds (I couldn’t stop laughing), Always be My Maybe, and others! One of my slightly more obscure favorites is A Lot Like Love with Amanda Peet. I watched it on repeat for a stretch there in my 20s.
I love love love You’ve Got Mail! Also The Women isn’t totally a Rom Com but fits in this bucket of feel good movies for sure.
Yes! I couldn’t believe it took this long for someone to mention You’ve Got Mail! Definitely my comfort movie when I’m sick or feeling down. The Women is also great. Just love me some Meg Ryan.
-Alex
I really like About Time, Crazy Stupid Love, The Proposal, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. The Holiday, Hitch, 27 Dresses, Set it up are great too!
The Holiday, Crazy Stupid Love, You’ve Got Mail, and The Proposal!
omg so much yes to all of the above — for me it’s anything Nancy Meyers or Nora Ephron.
The Holiday is a comfort movie for me, I’ve definitely watched it twice in a row when I get deep into a cozy mood! Some other favorites- Definitely Maybe, 27 Dresses, PS I Love You, Leap Year, and for an old school choice- Barefoot in the Park. It takes place in the 60s in NYC and stars Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. Underrated and WONDERFUL.
Something Borrowed, How to be Single, The Intern You’ve Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally!
Crazy, Stupid Love; Morning Glory (maybe not fully a rom com but there’s romance and it’s funny/always inspires me!); The Other Woman
Hands down, You’ve Got Mail!
I LOVE The Holiday (Cameron Diaz’s cashmere alone!).
Non-traditional but I also really liked Obvious Child.
For a rom com-esque / feel-good tv show, I rec Never Have I Ever (Netflix)!
The Holiday holds my number one spot followed by You’ve Got Mail, and then probably Bridget Jones’ Diary. Honorable mention goes to Elizabethtown; not really a romantic comedy but one I return to over and over.
Any Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers movie!! When Harry met sally, Heartburn (jack nicholson and Meryl Streep), sleepless in Seattle, you’ve got mail!!
Oh and even tho it’s more of a comedy- Private Benjamin with Goldie Hawn! One of the best!!!
I feel like I’m a terrible movie person and rarely watch them. How to lose a guy in 10 days i favorite for sure. I didn’t hate Trainwreck with Amy Schumar. Need to check out what everyone’s recommending!
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Ok this is THE BEST comments section ever. Why is It’s Complicated so good? I have always been obsessed with it in spite of the fact that none of us can relate to being in our 50s with adult children and having an affair with our ex husband, lol.
All the Bridget Jones movies, obviously. A Lot Like Love I definitely made my own mix CD of the soundtrack in college along with Closer and that Zach Braff movie The Last Kiss.
If I have to pick a set of 3 that not everyone has mentioned together…I like to call it the Rachel McAdams trifecta – aka The Notebook, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and About Time. Literally will never get sick of any of these!
One more a bit more obscure but I was weirdly obsessed with…Charlie St. Cloud!
Say Anything, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (I am saying this at age 31…), Failure to Launch, My Best Friend’s Wedding
The Family Stone is my favorite fall to holiday romantic comedy!
I *only* watch rom-coms and without a doubt, no matter the time of year, love actually always wins. A lot of my faves have been said but some ones I haven’t seen posted: because I said so, just like heaven, she’s the man, raising Helen, this means war, life as we know it, the other woman, how to be single, something borrowed, he’s just not that into you.
*also la-la-land I haven’t seen anyone say* AND only one mention for Sweet Home Alabama?! It’s a classic.
Oh I used to love Because I Said So! A great one, thanks for the reminder!! Loved the cast – Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Lauren graham!
Great picks! When Harry Met Sally is my favorite movie of all time! I also love My Best Friend’s Wedding.
Notting Hill is my go to rom com comfort movie. I put it on on every flight
Love this post! Nothing beats a classic romcom: my best friend’s wedding, runaway bride, when harry met sally, the proposal, 2 weeks notice (LOVE a Sandra Bullock film), definitely maybe….the 90s and early 2000s set the bar high. And honestly, I really fangirled over Crazy Rich Asians. I watched it on a plane and when it was done, immediately started it over lol
I share much love for your top favs! Austenland with Keri Russell is SO underrated!! It’s a must watch for any Jane Austen fan. Other favs – 27 Dresses, He’s just not that into you, Runaway Bride, Two Weeks Notice and the Other Woman.
Oh yes Austenland! “It’s getting hot in here…” so funny and sweet!
You’ve got mail, when Harry Met Sally, the holiday, parent trap, it’s complicated, a lot like love, about time, never been kissed, Runaway bride. Home again was actually written by Hallie Meyers Shyer. Her mother is inaccurately credited with that a lot.
Father of the bride part 1 and part 2.
So many!
The Wedding Date
That Awkward Moment
Country Strong
When Harry Met Sally
How to Be Single
Uptown Girls
All About Steve
Probably many others I can’t think of right now!
Omg I love Uptown Girls and Country Strong!! Such good ones
So fun! I will always fall back on When Harry Met Sally!
There are several great rom com’s that I have enjoyed: how to loose a guy in 10 days;stupid crazy love;…. but my favorite is “Something borrowed “. I understand that the movie didn’t do well & didn’t do justice to the novel. It was poor scripted but it is my favorite
Always pick you’ve got mail!!! I watch every time I fly delta!!
One I always LOVE – ‘Robin Hood; Prince of Thieves’ – the music, as much as the love story.
I loved and would love to watch again, fever pitch with jimmy fallon, drew barrymore and the Red Sox!
I love About Time with Rachel McAdams. I could watch it over and over. It’s directed by Richard Curtis who did Love Actually and I usually like his movies.
I would definitely say My Best Friend’s Wedding and You’ve Got Mail are my two favorites. I love really anything with either Julia Roberts or Meg Ryan. Tom Hanks is also a gem.
And speaking of Nancy Meyers – I feel like both of the Father of the Brides movies are also so fun!
While You Were Sleeping starring ’90s Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman will always be my favorite. Parts of it (at the family’s house) were filmed in the Chicago suburb I grew up in! My parents walked me in my stroller past the block when they were filming.
You’ve Got Mail also always makes my inner literary nerd’s heart flutter.
Other honorable mentions:
Sleepless in Seattle
Sabrina (’90s version with Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford)
My Best Friend’s Wedding (can you tell I’m a sucker for a 90’s rom-com?)
Bridesmaids
Isn’t it Romantic? (a recent release…2019, I think? starring Rebel Wilson & underappreciated)
Dirty Dancing
Chasing Liberty
Love Actually
It Happened One Night is my favorite Romantic Comedy. Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert star and after almost a hundred years it is still very sexy and very funny.
Colbert is running away to reunite with her husband whom she eloped with. She boards a bus to NYC and meets Gable who recognizes her as Colbert’s father is extremely rich and has alerted the press his daughter is missing. Gable is a reporter and she promises him a scoop if he helps her get to her husband. Screwball hijinks ensue as they get closer to the destination and as their feelings for each other blossom.
Truly one of the best movies ever.
In addition to How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days & The Holiday, I will never pass up 13 Going on 30, You’ve Got Mail, Sweet Home Alabama, and The Wedding Date. Those are some of my comfort movies. Oh and Father of the Bride. Not totally a romantic comedy, but still a comfort.
Love the ones you chose but my daughter and my favorite is Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. Oh and My Best Friend’s Wedding with Julia Roberts and also Wedding Planner with JLo . You will LOVE ❤️
Last night with Keira Nightly. Ok, it is not really a comedy…
27 Dresses and 13 Going on 30 are my go to favorite romcom movies!
Hitch is so underrated! But when Harry met sally is the best of the best.
I can’t believe this one hasn’t been mentioned yet! My all-time favorite is Pride & Prejudice with Keira Knightley. Who doesn’t love Mr. Darcy?!?
I can’t believe no one has mentioned the J’Lo classics– The Wedding Planner and Maid in Manhattan! Love her in those.
Other favorites not mentioned yet:
For YA/teen rom-coms– The Kissing Booth (Netflix) and Monte Carlo
Hallmark-style Christmas movies– Chalet Girl, Holiday in Handcuffs, and The Princess Switch (all terrible but awesome!)
Ooooh love a good rom com! About Time is a favorite, loved loved Home Again! Also love Set It Up on Netflix and Love, Rosie with Lily Collins!
Brainstorming more recs! I also love Definitely, Maybe (a Ryan Reynolds throwback!! So cute), and The first time is high school/college-y but cute! Has familiar faces.
Another good recent one is Sleeping With Other People – Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie are great together!
Omg Definitely maybe and Sleeping with other people are two of my favorites. I love rom coms that have a little “reality” in them. I also like 500 days of summer, how to lose a guy in ten days, and two can play that game. Boomerang is hands down one of the most underrated romantic comedies of all time. Great ensemble cast, wardrobe, quotable lines, and downright hilarious.
Already so many great movie on here!! I can never get enough of It’s Complicated, Morning Glory and the Family Stone. A few lesser known rom coms I love are The Big Sick (is that considered romcom?), What if (with Daniel Radcliff), I give it a year (Rose Byrne and Simon Baker) and Someone Great (Gina Rodriguez).
Isn’t It Romantic with Rebel Wilson is an amazing feel-good Rom Com movie!!
It’s complicated! I also love sliding doors and sense and sensibility (with kate winslet). I finally rented It’s complicated as a birthday gift to myself and I realllllly didn’t like it! I loved Meryl and Jim halpert but woof Alex Baldwin was just not likeable at all.
French Kiss, definitely. Meg Ryan at her most winsome, Kevin Kline with a ridiculous French accent, the Côte d’Azur— how can you go wrong?
Wedding themed: Made of Honor, The Wedding Date and The Wedding Planner
Julia Roberts: My Best Friend’a Wedding, Runaway Bride, NOTTING HILL, Steel Magnolias
(Ok it’s a lot of weddings…So Four Weddings and a Funeral)
Also My Big Fat Greek Wedding!
Also About Time – I think it was a sleeper but so sweet
Oh! And Friends with Benefits – Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis – v fun romp.
Because I Said So with Diane Keaton!!!
Good one. I loved this and watch it any time it’s on.
Fools Rush In. About Time. Under the Tuscan Sun. Top 10 comfort movies for sure.
A fave rom com/girl power movie (since I was a kid!) is Baby Boom. It’s an oldie but a goodie. Classic Diane Keaton, gorgeous VT country home, sweet romantic story line. I made my husband watch it with me a few months ago and it holds up! Definitely worth a watch!
I love all of these on your list! My favorites: Something Borrowed, About Time (maybe not a true RomCom but there’s romance and some funny moments and I just love it so much), 27 Dresses, Sweet Home Alabama, She’ the Man, Made of Honor, and Letters to Juliet. Ahh I wish they could come out with more RomComs!
hello,
What about Love actually ?
You’ve Got Mail is my absolute favorite followed by The Holiday and It’s Complicated. Also love The Wedding Date!
So many favs listed already, but a few others that are great:
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
The Five Year Engagement
The Wedding Singer
And while not quite in genre… The Audrey classics: Breakfast at Tiffanys, Roman Holiday, Funny Face, and Sabrina
Lastly, for a less comedy more romance feel good… The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Fool’s Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.. highly underrated in my opinion!
Also, What Happens in Vegas with Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz always makes me laugh!
Love your post! Will definitely be watching some of those over the weekend.
Failure to Launch
You’ve Got Mail
Sweet Home Alabama
Fool’s Gold
Mystic Pizza, Sabrina, Under the Tuscan Sun, Intolerable Cruelty, America’s Sweethearts, Runaway Bride, Bewitched (the movie with Nicole Kidman- I can’t get enough of her house)
“You’ve Got Mail” is my comfort watch—I recently bought it so I can stream it any time.
For a classic, “Young at Heart” with Frank Sinatra is so good, with three sisters all falling in love the same summer. I grew up watching it.
“When Harry Met Sally” and “About Time”—and “Moonstruck” are three favs that are excellent movies, beyond the label of a romcom. (The real love story in About Time is between a father and son imo)
Finally, with my kids, we’ve enjoyed While You Were Sleeping and Hitch. Super fun and sweet!
The Family Stone!
The Zoe Kazan quirk quadrilogy:. What If, The Pretty One, In Your Eyes, Ruby Sparks.
Roxanne!!!
Splash
You’ve Got Mail
Some faves that you may not have seen–How to be single, and an oldie–The Lady Eve
Grace, always love your taste. Agree that Home Again is highly underrated. It subverts rom-com cliches in a subtle and great way. I love how the “big dash across town gesture” at the end is to get to a school play to support the daughter instead of a big declaration of love. My two overall favorites used to be You’ve Got Mail and While You Were Sleeping. But we watched WYWS* at Xmas with my two sons, ages 20 and 14. They loved it so much — especially the 14-year-old. I think the message about family, the humor, and characters really sold it for them. The teen has already watched it again and it has the makings of becoming a Xmas tradition in our home. Surprised only one other person has mentioned it — it’s sooo funny and touching. *there’s a debate about whether it’s a Christmas movie. I vote yes, but you can watch it any time.
Me again — recent favorite — Plus One. Hysterical!!!!
WAIT, one more :). I watched Laggies this weekend, with Keira Knightley, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Sam Rockwell. Made by the late Lynn Shelton. It’s like an indie version of a rom-com. Also, I have a crush on Sam Rockwell now.
Yes to While You Were Sleeping! I always watch it at Christmas as well, but would watch it anytime =) I grew up in Chicago in the 90’s and it brings back amazing memories.
Love the Nancy Meyers movies! And I also swoon over that Hamptons kitchen (as well as the one in It’s Complicated). A few movies I enjoy and go back to:
Serendipity with Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack (I HAVE to watch this every December at least!),
The Holiday (I also have to watch every December)
The Cutting Edge with Moira Kelly and D.B. Sweeney (an oldie but goodie!),
You’ve Got Mail,
Definitely Maybe (also a sweet father-daughter story in addition to the rom-com story line),
Hitch (OMG that dorky dance scene when Hitch was coaching Albert… I still die laughing),
Notting Hill,
any of the 80’s movies with Molly Ringwald and co. (e.g., Sixteen Candles), Say Anything — I’m a child of the 80’s!
Boomerang is hands down one of the most underrated romantic comedies of all time. Great ensemble cast, wardrobe, quotable lines, and downright hilarious. Some of my other favs:
500 days of Summer
Definitely, Maybe
Two can play that game
Hitch
Sleeping with other people
How to lose a guy in ten days
I LOVE: Notting Hill, Pride & Prejudice (2005), About Time, When Harry Met Sally, While You Were Sleeping, and You’ve Got Mail.
I also really like Crazy Stupid Love and Emma (2020).
You’ve Got Mail is an all time favorite!
Serendipity- one of my all time favorites movies.
One that I haven’t seen anyone mention is The Five Year Engagement with Jason Segal, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt and Alison Brie. Mostly just hilarious but also sweet. Maybe I’m the only person who likes it. Haha!
But otherwise (like the rest of you) I look for anything with Meg Ryan, Cameron Diaz, Kate Hudson, Diane Keaton…
I absolutely love The Wedding Date and also Jerry Maguire! Along with the Holiday, which I watch over and over again at Christmastime.
I love so many of the movies listed… all the Nancy Meyers and Notting Hill but one I didn’t see which I love and its so silly is Fever Pitch with Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore. I have always loved this quirky little movie and I think Jimmy and Drew are adorable in it ….plus baseball!
I LOVE: Love, Rosie!!! it hurts but in a good way 🙂
Loved reading all the comments, so many good movies!
My list includes:
Dan in Real Life
Something’s Gotta Give
The Wedding Date
The Holiday
The Family Stone
For everyone but especially anyone who has lived and worked in NYC – must watch Working Girl! It has a hilarious all-star cast (Melanie Griffiths, Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Joan Cusack, Alec Baldwin), incredible 80s fashion, a protagonist you want to cheer for, and lots of footage of NYC-past.
omg yes i so agree – my aunt was actually in working girl! (She was just an extra, but it was so cool!) one of my favs as well.
Something’s gotta give is one of my all time favorites as well! It’s classic, iconic and just soo cozy, totally a feel good vibe movie! I also love My Best Friends Wedding, Pretty Woman and 10 Things I Hate About You. For some good laughter, I put on Bridesmaids or Pitch Perfect! 🙂