Valentine’s Day is here and love is in the air. We hope you can take the day to celebrate love in all of its forms – with a partner, a friend, a family member, and, of course, with a movie. Show yourself a little love today – you’ve earned it! We love watching (and rewatching) our favorite big-screen romances during this time of year, and while there will always be classic rom-coms like Notting Hill (1999), When Harry Met Sally… (1989), and While You Were Sleeping (1995) – and really classic rom-coms like It Happened One Night (1934), His Girl Friday (1940), and Roman Holiday (1953) – there has been a recent revival of the romantic comedy and romance genres in recent years.

The formula for the romantic comedy genre goes back quite a ways in cinema history, and it’s full of conventions that many rom-coms continue to utilize to this day. Start with two lovable characters – or maybe one of them makes you want to pull your hair out, but there’s still a charm to them – and drop in a meet-cute. Now make sure those characters have a confidant to rely on, because things are about to get bumpy for the lovebirds. After all, relationships are far from perfect, even on the big screen. At the climax of our story, things might look absolutely hopeless, but our two characters realize they simply have to be with the other, and we finish it all off with a grand gesture or a memorable, quotable confession.

Now which of your favorite romantic comedies did that make you think of? Maybe rom-coms are a little formulaic at times, but it’s tried and true, and that’s why we love them. But, we also like when they can subvert those genre expectations and surprise us. So, if you need a perfect way to spend a night out at the theater or curled up on the couch, these modern romantic comedies (and some not-so-comedies) have you covered!

Love Me (2025)

If you’re looking for a date night out at the movie theater, might we suggest a bit of a different kind of romance starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun? This science fiction romance takes place long after humanity has gone extinct. Smart devices, such as smartphones and smartwatches, gaining sentience isn’t a new concept, but the smart device in question being a weather buoy is certainly a new twist.

The weather buoy, Me (voiced by Kristen Stewart), learns of humanity by tapping into the data stored in a passing satellite, Iam (voiced by Steven Yeun), and tries to imitate the romantic relationship of humans Deja and Liam with the satellite through the creation of artificial avatars. Despite being inanimate objects in their true form, Me and Iam’s relationship spans the course of a billion years, and has just as much miscommunication as any human relationship would. The two struggle with their identities in the context of one another, but ultimately, this science-fiction love story focuses on one of our basic human desires: the desire for connection.

Love Hurts (2025)

Valentine’s Day serves as the backdrop for this action comedy starring Ke Huy Quan, who plays the successful real estate agent Marvin Gable. Marvin has a secret past as a former assassin that he’s trying to run from, but try as he might, he can’t get far away from it. One of Marvin’s favorite things about Valentine’s Day is the feeling in the air that anything might happen, with love sprouting up in the most surprising of places.

Love Hurts might not have a strong focus on the different romantic relationships that come to fruition, but it still makes for a hilarious date night film with plenty of martial arts action throughout. And even better, it’s a Goonies reunion for Ke Huy Quan and Sean Astin, who plays the cowboy hat-obsessed Cliff in the film, Marvin’s boss, friend, and mentor who couldn’t be more like a brother to him. Aside from perhaps Marvin’s actual brother, Knuckles (Daniel Wu), who is determined to be a huge thorn in Marvin’s side.

We Live in Time (2024)

Make sure you bring the tissues for this one, because neither Florence Pugh nor Andrew Garfield hold back. One of the most touching films of 2024, We Live in Time chronicles the relationship between Tobias and Almut over a decade, presented in a non-linear format. Tobias and Almut are both fairly everyday, average people, with Tobias working for the breakfast company Weetabix, and Almut a Bavarian-fusion chef, although she also loves figure skating.

Their relationship is by no means perfect, with the two having plenty of fights, including about the fear of falling in love with one another, and if both of them could end up being vulnerable enough to let that happen. Life is hardly ever perfect – actually, it can be quite disheartening at times, as Tobias and Almut struggle with recurring health complications – but We Live in Time proposes that what makes life beautiful is not only who we choose to spend it with, but what sort of masterpieces, big or small, we as an individual choose to create with the very precious and finite amount of time that we are each given.

Challengers (2024)

For the sports fan, we’ve got the romance movie just for you. In case you missed it during its initial release – or just want to watch it again, and we’ll raise our hands there, because we’re already itching for a rewatch – this romantic sports drama is back in theaters.

Tashi Duncan (Zendaya) was an elite tennis star until she sustained an injury that sidelined her into a coaching role. Her whole life, Tashi is unapologetic in everything that she does – including stringing along two different guys for over thirteen years. Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) are best friends turned frenemies turned tennis rivals turned…maybe something else over the course of the constant back-and-forth love triangle with Tashi, who has since married Art and now serves as his tennis coach. Even with Art sustaining an injury, all Tashi wants is more and more good tennis. Not retirement. And maybe part of her still wants Patrick too.

Anyone But You (2023)

The 2020s have definitely been the years of Glen Powell, so of course it was time for him to be the leading man in a rom-com. Anyone But You isn’t Powell’s first rom-com, but we always love a modern retelling of a Shakespeare classic. We have to hand it to him, because Shakespeare’s comedies have made for some of the best modern rom-coms, including 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) and She’s The Man (2006). And that’s not even including all of his tragedies.

Inspired by Much Ado About Nothing, Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney star as analogs of the Benedick and Beatrice characters – now going by Ben and Bea, and set in modern Australia instead of Italy – and their chemistry together was pure box office magic, with many calling the film a revival for romantic comedies. It’s a classic case of misunderstandings followed by forced proximity and a splash of fake reconciliations and set-ups. But who knows, those fake reconciliations might just have some very real feelings behind them. Perhaps the greatest love stories have already been written, but could just use the dust blown off of them.

Past Lives (2023)

It takes remarkable talent to make history with your very first film, but that’s exactly what Korean writer and director Celine Song did. Song had written stage plays previously, but she made her feature film debut with the highly successful Past Lives, which was nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, making her the first Asian woman to be nominated in the latter category.

The film is semi-autobiographical in nature and stars Greta Lee as Nora Moon and Teo Yoo as Hae Sung, both of whom had feelings for one another while growing up in South Korea before Nora’s family moved out of the country. Twelve years pass by before the two are able to reconnect through video calls, but the unfortunate timing of their individual lives prevent the two from meeting in person again. Years continue to pass before the two do eventually meet again, but timing is once again not on their side. But perhaps in another life, it might be.

Ticket to Paradise (2022)

George Clooney and Julia Roberts together again? Absolutely sign us up! The pair have been beloved by many across the Ocean’s Eleven franchise, and it’s about time Hollywood put them in a romantic comedy together! David and Georgia Cotton have been happily divorced for twenty years and are content to live their lives despising the other. There’s just nothing that could possibly put them in the same room together again. Or, almost nothing. Except for their fresh out of college daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), deciding to give up her career before it even starts and marry a man that she just met in Bali. It’s up to David and Georgia to form a truce to come together on the one thing they can agree on: stopping their daughter’s impulsive wedding. Clooney and Roberts are absolutely hilarious together, and we’re already hoping for another rom-com with them in the future.

Bros (2022)

One of the more groundbreaking Hollywood rom-coms of recent years would have to be Bros. Starring Billy Eichner and Luke Macfarlane, Bros made history as the first major studio LGBTQ rom-com starring an out and proud LGBTQ cast. Oftentimes, LGBTQ storylines are sidelined to streaming services, and more often than not, LGBTQ characters are written simply as either joke side characters, or given tragic backgrounds simply because of their identity.

But LGBTQ love stories don’t have to be doomed by the narrative to end in tragedy. Bobby (Eichner) and Aaron (Macfarlane) operate in different parts of the LGBTQ community in New York City, but ultimately decide to give each other a chance. After all, what’s the worst that can happen? Sparks don’t fly immediately, and while Bros has all of the beats of a traditional rom-com, with both characters needing to first find themselves before they can begin to reconcile, it still spotlights important moments in the LGBTQ experience around acceptance as a whole.

The Lovebirds (2020)

Putting two incredibly talented comedians together makes for an absolute delight, especially when those comedians are Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani. After being in a relationship for years, Jibran (Nanjiani) and Leilani (Rae) decide in the car that they’ve had enough of the arguing and that breaking up would be for the best. Things can’t get worse, right? Wrong.

Their car is immediately hijacked by a criminal, who proceeds to hit and run over a bicyclist before fleeing the scene at the sound of police sirens. Understandably shocked and terrified by the swift turn that their night has taken, Jibran and Leilani have to quickly decide what to do next: turn themselves in, or run. Quickly, they decide to run off with the dead bicyclist’s phone, hoping to use it to solve the mystery of the identity of both the bicyclist (going by the name Bicycle for now) and the murderer (affectionately known as Mustache). With a murder mystery case to solve now at the forefront of their minds, Jibran and Leilani just might forget why they had even broken up in the first place.