Last year, I ranked romance novels, so in the spirit of Valentine’s Day bringing out my hidden identity as a hopeless romantic, this year I’m ranking rom-coms. I’m kind of a rom-com nerd, and my mission over the summer was to check off every rom-com on this spreadsheet I found on TikTok. While I haven’t succeeded yet, here’s my ranking of my top 8 favorites, so, if you’re like me, alone and miserable on Valentine’s Day, at least you can develop a parasocial relationship.
8. How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days
Many non rom-com lovers have recently watched this movie as the version of “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon trending on TikTok. I’m disheartened that this is how Gen Z is introduced to Carly Simon, but I’m happy they now know her work. A man-hating journalist? Right up my alley. Reporter Andie Anderson decides to write an article about how to make a man hate you, but unbeknownst to her, sports marketer Ben makes a bet that he’ll get her to date him in 10 days. Needless to say, chaos ensues, with some scenes so cringeworthy I had to hide under my covers. The cringe does impact my ranking, but the genuinely sweet moments make up for it.
7. Sweet Home Alabama
Here’s another movie that I grew up on because Josh Lucas is my mom’s celebrity crush and one time my dad saw him with his son when we lived in NYC. I didn’t realize how much this movie captured the spirit of the South until I moved here, and that only made me love it more. Sweet Home Alabama is about NYC designer Melanie returning home to Alabama to get her ex-husband and high school sweetheart Jake to sign their divorce papers so she can get married to whatever Patrick Dempsey’s name in this is. Along the way, Jake and Melanie realize that maybe they don’t want to split up after all. Bonus points for cute hound dogs and southern gay representation all the way back in 2002!
6. 10 Things I Hate About You
To start, RIP Heath Ledger. What a tragedy. 10 Things I Hate About You is one of the best examples of a 90s movie that still holds up. A modern day adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the movie follows intelligent girlboss who’s needlessly demonized, Kat Stratford, the older sister of the beautiful Bianca. When new student Cam wants to ask Bianca out, he learns of their overprotective father’s rule: Bianca can only date once Kat does. So, he hires rebel Patrick to woo Kat so he can take out Bianca, only for Patrick to overdo it on the pretending. The paintball scene from this movie is one of my favorite scenes ever and as a fellow shrew, I identify with Kat Stratford on a spiritual level.
5. Love & Basketball
Despite my love of the genre, it’s worth noting that romcoms can fall prey to the issues of the film industry as a whole. There are very few Black-led rom-coms, yet Love & Basketball features an almost entirely Black cast. The story follows childhood neighbors and rising basketball stars Monica and Quincy as they slowly fall in love until their careers thrust them apart and eventually bring them back together. I LOVED this movie and recommend it to everyone. It gets bonus points for representation, but the real value lies in genuinely good acting and an interesting plot.
4. Grease
Is Grease a rom-com? I could be swayed either way, but for the sake of this list, I’ll include it. I grew up on Grease because it’s in my dad’s top 5 movies probably ever (the Hand Jive scene is the best in cinematic history according to him). The songs are so, so good, and I think what makes the movie so irresistible is the way it captures the zeitgeist of the ’50s. I want to make it clear that I absolutely adore this movie until the VERY end: Sandy shouldn’t have to change for any man!!! To everyone reading this, if they want you to change, they don’t really love you!!
3. Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement
Members of the speech team know my love for this piece of cinema after I forced them against their will to watch this at 11pm in our Florida AirBnB after 7 hours of competition. This movie is SO GOOD. Anne Hathaway is stunning and hilarious and totally runs the show in this movie, but I’d be remiss to not speak of the elephant in the room. YOUNG CHRIS PINE!!! He is SO fine in this movie. The two of them serve up the enemies-to-lovers goodness that I truly need while also delivering fantastic points about feminism, the power of female friendship, and that love conquers all!
2. Crazy Rich Asians
This is one of those movies that truly puts the com equally, if not above, the rom, which I appreciate. Crazy Rich Asians tells the story of Rachel Chu, NYU economics professor, and Nick Young, guy with a Y Membership and also heir to the Young family fortune back in Singapore (but Rachel doesn’t know). When Rachel and Nick return to Singapore for his best friend’s wedding, Rachel simultaneously reconnects with her Asian heritage and also learns the reality of Asian familial pressures when Nick’s family disapproves of their relationship. Standouts include Awkwafina as Peik-Lin or “Asian Ellen” (performance of the century), Ken Jeong as Peik-Lin’s disturbing father, and some of the most genuinely stunning scenes in rom-com and cinema history.
Before we reveal #1, a Hatred List (a brief description of why I hate the following romcoms):
He’s All That: Just watch it. Nothing more said.
Love Actually: B O R I N G
27 Dresses: Glorifies stalking/disrespecting boundaries!
- Just Go With It
UNDERRATED CLASSIC! My family quotes this movie more than is normal or healthy. This movie stars Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston as a rich plastic surgeon and his assistant. After being left at the altar 15 years prior, Sandler wears a wedding ring to pretend to be sad and in a loveless relationship to get girls to hook up with him. When Brooklyn Decker’s character finds his ring, he pretends he’s recently divorced and gets Aniston to play his ex-wife. He manages to pull her two young kids in, and the whole gang takes a trip to Hawaii where Aniston and Sandler realize that maybe they’re not pretending after all. It’s so, so, so good and has other stars like Nicole Kidman, Rachel Dratch, and Dave Matthews. Sydney Trivia: my dad has a mutual friend with David Spade and Courtney Cox and was out to dinner with the two of them once in the early 2000s, and they said that Sandler was, like, in love with Jen Aniston. They’re both partnered with others now, but just a fun fact!!
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