Published on August 18th, 2018
There is no “best” romantic comedy. Something is funny when someone laughs, or romantic when their heart swells, for better or for worse, and we have no right to say why one of these should top another. Comedy is subjective. So is romance.
The romantic comedy is alive and well, particularly in the indie sphere, where ambitious new filmmakers are carving out their space in the industry by placing fresh spins on the well-worn genre. It’s for this reason that we had such a good time making this list, at least initially. And lots of help. People keep a special place in their heart for romantic comedies.
We bring for you the exclusive list of 20 best romantic comedy titles of all times. These are people’s favorite what we have listed here…
1. Friends
Storyline :-
Rachel Green, Ross Geller, Monica Geller, Joey Tribbiani, Chandler Bing and Phoebe Buffay are six 20 something year-olds, living off of one another in the heart of New York City.
Over the course of ten years, this average group of buddies goes through massive mayhem, family trouble, past and future romances, fights, laughs, tears and surprises as they learn what it really means to be a friend.
Review: James Hunt
Aka The One Where It All Began or The One Where Monica Gets A Roommate, this is the very first episode of the series.
Rachel arrives in Central Perk after leaving Barry at the alter, meets the rest of the gang, moves in with Monica, and joins the real world. Read Full Review…
2. Two and a Half Men
Storyline :-
The Harper brothers Charlie and Alan are almost opposites but form a great team. They have little in common except their dislike for their mundane, maternally cold and domineering mother, Evelyn.
Alan, a compulsively neat chiropractor, and control-freak are thrown out by his manipulative wife Judith who nevertheless gets him to pay for everything and do most jobs in the house. Read Full…
Review: Ken Tucker
In the end, it all came down to Charlie. Two and a Half Men wrapped up its 12-season run Thursday night with an hour that cantered on the idea that Charlie Sheen’s Charlie Harper was still alive — even though Sheen himself never actually turned up in the flesh. Angus T. Jones as Jake did, though.
The finale began with Jon Cryer’s Alan getting a letter saying Charlie was owed a lot of money in composer royalties: Two and a half (get it?) million bucks. Read Full Review…
3. Sex and the City
Storyline :-
Four female New Yorkers gossip about their sex lives (or lack thereof) and find new ways to deal with being a woman in the ’90s.
Review: Eric Mink
I know I’m too tired. HBO’s new 12-episode, half-hour drama series asks viewers to accept the notion that its main characters are vital, competitive, successful, professional females who spend night after a night drinking, dancing, flirting and, whenever possible, having sex with strangers until the sun comes up.
I’ve heard that such people exist in New York although it’s hard to imagine how they maintain such a routine and stay competitive and successful for very long. Read Full Review…
4. Pretty Woman (1990)
Storyline :-
Because of his extreme wealth and suave good looks, Edward Lewis could seemingly have any woman he wants, that committed significant other which he needs on his arm at social events to further how he makes his money as a corporate raider.
However, he focuses more on his corporate raiding pursuits with his partner in crime, Philip Stuckey, his lawyer of ten years, than those women, with every significant other he’s had in his life feeling neglected and eventually leaving him, this fact about which he is just coming to the realization. Read Full…
Review: Owen Gleiberman
In Pretty Woman, she plays a Hollywood prostitute who agrees to spend an entire week with a corporate raider (Richard Gere). The two tease, taunt, and circle each other, trying to decide whether they have a relationship or a business transaction.
By the end, she has taught the cold-hearted takeover king that some things — like, you know, feelings — just can’t be bought. And he has shown her a thing or two about ”class.” Read Full Review…
5. The Princess Diaries (2001)
Storyline :-
Mia Thermopolis is the average teenager – sweet, a little geeky and pretty much invisible to everyone with the exception of her mother, best friend Lilly and Lilly’s older brother Michael.
Making it through high school without throwing up is a challenge in itself for Mia, so it doesn’t come as welcome news when her estranged grandmother shows up out of the blue and calmly informs her that she is, in fact, the heir to the throne of a European country called Genovia. Suddenly Mia’s life is thrown into complete overload.
Review: Mick LaSalle
Garry Marshall’s “The Princess Diaries” is a little like his movie “Beaches” in that it’s about a friendship between two girls.
And it’s more than a little like his big hit “Pretty Woman”: It’s about a young lady, rough around the edges, who takes lessons in decorum to be transformed into a princess. Read Full Review…
6. Sherlock Gnomes (2018)
Storyline :-
Garden gnomes, Gnomeo & Juliet, recruit renowned detective Sherlock Gnomes to investigate the mysterious disappearance of other garden ornaments.
Review: William Bibbiani
The original “Gnomeo and Juliet,” in case you missed it, was a rigorously inoffensive voyage straight down the middle of the road.
Gnomeo (voiced by James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) were mismatched lovers racing through a simplified version of William Shakespeare’s classic play, but with a happier ending because children presumably can’t handle death. Read Full Review…
7. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Storyline :-
Set on an island off the coast of New England in the 1960s, as a young boy and girl fall in love they are moved to run away together. Various factions of the town mobilize to search for them and the town is turned upside down – which might not be such a bad thing.
Review: Rafer Guzman
“Moonrise Kingdom,” the story of two 12-year-old lovers who run away from their New England homes during the summer of 1965, maybe Wes Anderson’s most Andersonian movie yet.
It’s his clearest realization of an idealized adolescence made up of Mike Nichols’ “The Graduate,” Hal Ashby’s “Harold and Maude” and J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye.” Read Full Review…
8. Teen Wolf
Storyline :-
Scott McCall was just another kid in high school. Until, one night his best friend Stiles brings him to the woods, to look for a dead body, and Scott is bitten by a werewolf. Being a werewolf came with its perks- stronger, faster, a new star on the lacrosse team, popularity- but also made it hard to control his anger.
Scott has also fallen for the new girl in town, Allison, whose dad is trying to hunt and kill Scott. Scott now has to try and balance his out of control life, figure out how to control his new powers, try not to be killed by the alpha that bit him, and protect Allison- and keep her from finding out his big secret.
Review: Kaitlin Thomas
It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of Teen Wolf, which passed away Sunday, Sept. 24 of natural causes. The supernatural drama series was 6, living one season beyond what was initially expected by series creator Jeff Davis.
Adapted from the Michael J. Fox movie of the same name, Teen Wolf was MTV’s first truly successful original scripted series. Read Full Review…
9. Hart of Dixie
Storyline :-
Fast-talking New Yorker and brand new doctor Zoe Hart have it all figured out – after graduating top of her class from medical school, she’ll follow in her father’s footsteps and become a cardio-thoracic surgeon.
But when her dreams fall apart, Zoe decides to accept an offer from a stranger, Dr. Harley Wilkes, to work with him at his small practice in Bluebell, Alabama. Zoe arrives in this small Gulf Coast town only to find that Harley has passed away and left his half of the medical practice to her in his will.
Review: David Hinckley
Starting Monday night at 9, the CW’s “Hart of Dixie” gives us small-town America jokes, South jokes, arrogant New Yorker jokes, a weekly medical drama and the fixings for a surprisingly traditional rom-com when Dr. Hart (Rachel Bilson) meets handsome lawyer George Tucker (Scott Porter).
The setup sometimes feels as airy as an Alabama breeze, but most of us will like the characters, and that provides some grits, er, grit, as well as a decent set of legs. Read Full Review…
10. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Storyline :-
Scott Pilgrim plays in a band which aspires to success. He dates Knives Chau, a high-school girl five years younger, and he hasn’t recovered from being dumped by his former girlfriend, now a success with her own band. When Scott falls for Ramona Flowers, he has trouble breaking up with Knives and tries to romance Ramona. Read Full…
Review: Robert Koehler
Scott Pilgrim is probably the most crucial English-language movie most people chose to ignore in 2010—a curious irony given the borderline-insane passion of O’Malley’s fanbase, who were not only primed for the film but linked up to the Adult Swim series Scott Pilgrim vs. The Animation, Ubisoft Montreal’s tie-in video game and the comic book version adapted for mobile device download. Read Full Review…
11. Bones
Storyline :-
From a screenplay by Sebastián Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz, the film follows a woman as she returns to her Orthodox Jewish community that shunned her decades earlier for an attraction to a female childhood friend.
Once back, their passions reignite as they explore the boundaries of faith and sexuality. Based on Naomi Alderman’s book, the film stars Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola.
Review: Jeff Simon
It was part of Hart Hanson’s game plan from the beginning that “Bones” was going to be unafraid of going dark. And, in one sense, the show’s success in doing just that was admirable. Read Full Review…
12. Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
Storyline :-
Cal (Steve Carell) and Emily (Julianne Moore) have a perfect life together living the American dream… until Emily asks for a divorce. Now Cal, Mr. Husband, has to navigate the single scene with a little help from his professional bachelor friend Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling).
Review: Tom Huddleston
Can a film be worth seeing for a single scene? There’s a moment midway through ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’ – a seduction scene between brash but likeable ladies’ man Ryan Gosling (in his second film this week after ‘Drive’) and nervy, alcohol-fuelled Emma Stone – which is one of the most witty, truthful, beautifully acted scenes in any film so far this year. It’s an out-of-nowhere heart-grabber in which script, performance, and tone find a truly perfect balance. Read Full Review…
13. Easy A (2010)
Storyline :-
After a little white lie about losing her virginity gets out, a clean cut high school girl sees her life paralleling Hester Prynne’s in “The Scarlet Letter,” which she is currently studying in school – until she decides to use the rumor mill to advance her social and financial standing.
Review: Richard Corliss
The biggest joke in Easy A — the new comedy about a high-school girl who goes from a nottie to a hottie when her classmates think she’s had sex with a college guy — is that Emma Stone could ever be a nonentity. Read Full Review…
14. It’s Complicated (2009)
Storyline :-
When brought together at a family event, two exes find themselves oddly attracted to each other after ten years of divorce. Although the couple thinks that this affair will stay in a different state, it brings itself back to their own city and disrupts their personal lives. While the couple still maintains other romances, they cannot help but continue with their affair.
Review: Ed Koch
It’s Complicated is similar to a television sitcom. Regrettably, while amusing and worth seeing, the film doesn’t approach the cleverness in dialogue or situations that the Seinfeld series did or the current Curb Your Enthusiasm show does, both co-created and produced by Larry David.
The situation involves Jane (Meryl Streep), a famous chef and restaurateur, who lives in a beautiful Santa Barbara home which she is expanding. Adam (Steve Martin), the architect hired by Jane to oversee the renovation, is very attracted to her. Read Full Review…
15. Overboard (I) (2018)
Storyline :-
A spoiled, wealthy yacht owner is thrown overboard and becomes the target of revenge from his mistreated employee.
Review: Peter Travers
What we have here is a Latin-infused remake of the 1987 romcom that starred Goldie Hawn as a bitchy heiress who takes a spill off her yacht, suffers amnesia and falls for a poor carpenter (Kurt Russell) and his three kids.
Who better than Anna Faris to take on the Hawn role for an update, right? Except, you see, she doesn’t. This time, The House Bunny star is the one playing the carpenter – or in this case, a nurse in training. Read Full Review…
16. About Time (2013)
Storyline :-
At the age of 21, Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) discovers he can travel in time… The night after another unsatisfactory New Year party, Tim’s father (Bill Nighy) tells his son that the men in his family have always had the ability to travel through time.
Tim can’t change history, but he can change what happens and has happened in his own life-so he decides to make his world a better place…by getting a girlfriend. Read Full…
Review: Anthony Lane
When the hero of “About Time,” the hapless Tim (Domhnall Gleeson), comes of age, his father (Bill Nighy) reveals the secret of their clan. “The men in the family can travel in time,” he says. Or, rather, “The men in the family can”—long pause, brief wince—“travel in time.”
Why the pause? Partly because Nighy, whose delivery is as unmistakable as Mick Jagger’s, likes to bite his dialogue into small pieces and chew them in his slow, patrician drawl; but also because he is telling us, as politely as possible, that what we are about to hear is bull. Read Full Review…
17. Younger (2015)
Storyline :-
Follows 40-year-old Liza (Foster), a suddenly single mother who tries to get back into the working world, only to find out it’s nearly impossible to start at the bottom at her age.
When a chance encounter with a 20-something guy at a bar convinces her she looks younger than she is, Liza tries to pass herself off as 26 — with the help of a makeover, courtesy of her best friend Maggie (Mazar). Read Full…
Review: Karl Quinn
Most of us grow up learning that it’s wrong to lie. But is it possible that in some situations, and for some people, lying is not only acceptable but quite possibly a rather good thing? Younger (Stan, now streaming) would have us think so.
This comedy-drama is a playful take on a serious theme: age discrimination. After her marriage ends, Liza Miller (Sutton Foster) discovers her ex-was a gambling addict who triple-mortgaged their home to fund his habit. Read Full Review…
18. Modern Family (2009)
Storyline :-
Told from the perspective of an unseen documentary filmmaker, the series offers an honest, often-hilarious perspective of family life. Parents Phil and Claire yearn for an honest, open relationship with their three kids.
But a daughter who is trying to grow up too fast, another who is too smart for her own good, and a rambunctious young son make it challenging. Read Full…
Review: Kyle Fowle
The seventh season of Modern Family was the worst of the show’s run so far, a steep decline in quality from previous seasons.
While the show has been steadily growing more and more complacent as the seasons pile up—along with, it should be said, the Emmy nominations—there was at least the sense that the seventh season would see the show find a new direction. Read Full Review…
19. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Storyline :-
Adapted from William Shakespeare’s play “The Taming of the Shrew,” 10 Things I Hate About You starts off with Cameron, a new student at Padua High, sitting in the office of the quirky guidance counselor Ms. Perky.
He is then shown around the school by Michael, who will become his best friend. During his tour is when Cameron first sees Bianca Stratford, a beautiful sophomore with one problem: she isn’t allowed to date. Full Read…
Review: Mick LaSalle
The movie “10 Things I Hate About You” is a teen-romance version of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.” Here are two ways it could have worked:
1. They could have thrown caution to the wind and told the story as Shakespeare told it, with the boy smacking the girl upside the head every other scene. Everyone would have been offended, but such is the life of the artist.
2. They could have reversed the sexes. No one minds girls smacking boys upside the head, and it might have been fun. Read Full Review…
20. Clueless (1995)
Storyline :-
Cher, a high school student in Beverly Hills, must survive the ups and downs of adolescent life. Her external demeanor at first seems superficial, but rather it hides her wit, charm, and intelligence which help her to deal with relationships, friends, family, school, and the all-important teenage social life.
Review: Owen Gleiberman
The Southern California teenagers of Clueless were in diapers the year Ronald Reagan was elected President.
Cher (Alicia Silverstone), the beautiful and vacuous young heroine, is a preternaturally spoiled Beverly Hills princess who lives in a thick haze of charge accounts and pop-culture references, most of which date back no further than the late ’80s. Read Full Review…
