18 of the Most Romantic Movies You Can Stream for Valentine’s Day

The candy hearts and schmaltzy cards are everywhere right now, getting passed around classrooms and maybe even offices in the name of love. No one has made more money off the heartbreak and romantic dreams of people than Hollywood, but there’s no obvious streaming service for people who just want to watch a movie about breakups and reunions this Hallmark holiday. If you are one of those people, let us help. Here are 16 great romantic movies of all different breeds — some comedies, some dramas, and some even international cinema — across six of the best streamers. Have a Valentine’s Day movie marathon, whether you’re spending it alone or with your special someone.

Netflix

The Half of It

Year: 2020
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Alice Wu

An unexpected coming-of-age dramedy, this one became something of a smash when it dropped on Netflix in 2020, spinning the classic Cyrano de Bergerac tale in a modern way. Leah Lewis gives a truly charismatic performance as Ellie Chu, a teenager who is hired by a local jock (Daniel Diemer) to write love letters to the popular girl at school. Ellie doesn’t expect to fall for her too. It’s a tender, genuine piece of romantic storytelling.

The Holiday

Year: 2006
Run time: 2h 15m
Director: Nancy Meyers

It got kind of a mixed response when it was released, but this has quietly become an annual holiday favorite for millennials — teenagers who probably first watched it on DVD or cable with their friends when they were young. It’s not Nancy Meyers’s best movie, but it’s an example of the power of casting in romantic flicks, a likable story anchored by the charm of Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, and Jude Law. Come back, Cameron, we miss you!

It Could Happen to You

Year: 1994
Run time: 1h 41m
Director: Andrew Bergman

Long before Nicolas Cage became the king of the internet meme, the Oscar winner was in a series of ’90s romances like Honeymoon in Vegas and City of Angels. This one came just before his big comeback as an action star and Academy Award winner, and co-stars Bridget Fonda in a loose retelling of an allegedly true story about an NYPD cop who agrees to share the winnings from his lottery ticket if it hits. Cage and Fonda are charming enough, and it’s probably the only film you might watch this Valentine’s Day narrated by Isaac Hayes.

Mamma Mia!

Year: 2008
Run time: 1h 48m
Director: Phyllida Lloyd

It’s hard to overstate what a massive phenomenon both this play and film were when they were released. The 1999 stage musical played to sold-out audiences around the world, and Universal smartly saw the blockbuster potential in it, convincing an incredible cast to bring ABBA’s music to life. Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper, and Colin Firth may star, but it’s the undeniable earworms of ABBA that made this the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2008. (The sequel is also on Netflix — double feature!)

Amazon Prime Video

Cyrano

Year: 2022
Run time: 2h 3m
Director: Joe Wright

Here’s one to break your heart. And it’s a little off the well-trod path of Valentine’s Day movies. They can’t all be rom-coms. Joe Wright (Atonement) directed this underrated musical starring Peter Dinklage as the legendary Cyrano de Bergerac, a man whose unrequited love comes out through the words he gives to another man. Also through song, the music of the 2018 stage musical that includes tunes written by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of the National. People need to find this movie. Maybe you.

The Lost City

Year: 2022
Run time: 1h 51m
Directors: Adam Nee, Aaron Nee

One of the big movie stories around the turn of the year has been the unexpected success of Anyone But You, reportedly proving that the rom-com is back. Didn’t this movie do that 18 months earlier? Making almost $200 million worldwide, The Lost City proved that people still want movies about charming people being charming together. In this case, those people are Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum (with a notable assist from Brad Pitt). It’ll make for an easygoing watch after a big Valentine’s Day dinner.

Notting Hill

Year: 1999
Run time: 2h 4m
Director: Roger Mitchell

When Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant were at the top of their rom-com superpowers, they joined forces in this likable flick from the writer of Four Weddings and a Funeral. Grant plays an average British bookseller who stumbles into something life-changing when a famous actress (Roberts) happens to cross his path. It’s just a good love story, well told, which feels like an increasing rarity a quarter century later.

Max

Casablanca

Year: 1942
Run time: 1h 43m
Director: Michael Curtiz

It’s on the Mount Rushmore of romantic dramas for a reason. One of the best movies ever made, Casablanca is also a deeply felt film that works for couples too. After all, who isn’t moved by Rick’s (Humphrey Bogart) impossible love for Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman)? People have been watching this movie for generations now, and they will for generations to come. Play it again this Valentine’s Day. (Or any day, really.)

Ghost

Year: 1990
Run time: 2h 7m
Director: Jerry Zucker

The rare romantic movie to become a cultural phenomenon and Oscar winner, Ghost is the powerful story of a murdered man (Patrick Swayze) who returns from the afterlife to save his girlfriend (Demi Moore) from the same fate. Deeply moving, it was a worldwide smash, making almost half a billion dollars and changing the way couples do pottery forever more.

The Notebook

Year: 2004
Run time: 2h 4m
Director: Nick Cassavetes

Arguably the film on this list with the most ardent fan base, The Notebook is a movie that people absolutely love, watching its doomed romance on repeat whenever it lands on a streaming service enough that it regularly pops up into the top-ten films on Netflix and elsewhere. This is the ultimate Nicholas Sparks entry, for sure, but it’s also a film that works because of the insane chemistry between leads Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, both of whom became huge stars after its release.

Hulu

Dirty Dancing

Year: 1987
Run time: 1h 43m
Director: Emile Ardolino

No one puts Baby in a corner. More than just a movie that gave fans the time of their life, this 1987 romantic drama became an obsession for fans, some of whom are so attached to it they still visit the shooting locations to find their own Baby and Johnny. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey star in the tale of a young woman who falls for a dance instructor from the other side of the tracks. But you probably knew that already; just go watch it again. It’s a little dated, but it still works.

Love, Simon

Year: 2018
Run time: 1h 50m
Director: Greg Berlanti

This movie is so sweet that it will give you a cavity. An audience favorite from the minute it was released — earning a rare A+ CinemaScore — it stars Nick Robinson as Simon Spier, an average high-schooler trying to navigate the social and romantic channels of his school while staying in the closet. It’s a well-made film that feels like a modern riff on the John Hughes model of character-driven coming-of-age storytelling, with a truly engaging performance from Robinson.

Pretty Woman

Year: 1990
Run time: 1h 54m
Director: Garry Marshall

This movie was so big it turned a 1964 Roy Orbison song into a hit again, turned Julia Roberts into a household name, and revitalized Richard Gere’s career. The latter plays a businessman who hires Roberts’s escort to be his partner for a week. Undeniably dated and arguably even a bit problematic now in its portrayal of escort work, it’s best watched for a nostalgic kick, a reminder of a time when rom-coms like this could shift the pop-culture landscape.

Rye Lane

Year: 2023
Run time: 1h 22m
Director: Raine Allen Miller

This is probably the movie on this list that you haven’t seen but you absolutely should. The best rom-com of 2023 was this charming debut from a British director who has made her own variation on the walk-and-talk romance of something like Before Sunrise, but with the flair of the Rye Lane neighborhood. David Jonsson and the incredible Vivian Oparah star as people who meet as strangers but almost instantly become something more. It’s charming, funny, and surprising.

Peacock

Sliding Doors

Year: 1998
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Peter Howitt

A bit more drama than comedy, this flick has become a comparison point for any story that tells alternate realities: In a sense, it’s the ultimate romantic multiverse movie. Gwyneth Paltrow stars as a woman whom we watch through two very different paths through life, both of them containing just enough romantic subplots to make this list. It may not be the most Valentine’s-y movie, but it could give you an interesting alternate reality of your own this year.

A Walk to Remember

Year: 2002
Run time: 1h 42m
Director: Adam Shankman

Listen, no one thinks this is a classic, as its 29 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes makes clear. Why put it on the list? Sometimes you don’t want a classic. Sometimes you want something you enjoyed when you were young and want to enjoy again, and this one is old enough now to fit that nostalgic base for people who remember when Shane West and Mandy Moore could headline a movie. It’s another Nicholas Sparks one which, of course, means a weepie. If you want to cry this Valentine’s Day and you have Peacock, this could get the job done.

The Criterion Channel

In the Mood for Love

Year: 2000
Run time: 1h 39m
Director: Wong Kar-wai
And now, the prestige contingent. Two of the best films ever made that could qualify as “romantic” are exclusively on the Criterion Channel. When you’re done with Nicholas Sparks and ABBA, start with Wong Kar-wai’s masterpiece of unrequited love, the story of two people (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung) who can’t act on their undeniable chemistry. It’s a perfect movie.

Wings of Desire

Year: 1987
Run time: 2h 10m
Director: Wim Wenders

This movie, also perfect, is another variation on unrequited admiration. Wenders’s best film was remade as City of Angels but sticks to the heartbreaking original tale of an angel (Bruno Ganz) who longs to experience the ups and downs of what it means to be human. When he becomes enraptured with a trapeze artist (Solveig Dommartin), he is forced into making an impossible decision. They don’t get much better made than this one, any time of year.

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Brian Tallerico , 2024-02-09 19:30:00

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