Sheena asks:
Out of curiosity, are there romantic films that you would unhesitatingly recommend, besides Sense and Sensibility? Is that a post for another day? Two of my favourite films are The Scarlet Pimpernel (the Jane Seymour, Anthony Andrews version) and Moulin Rouge.
We discussed this back in 2005 when I revealed in a multitude of ways how uncool I am in my love of movies and television shows. But I will say that for Hanukkah this past year, Hubby got me a set of the entire season of Cupid PLUS unaired episodes from some bootleg DVD vendor overseas. *le sigh* Jeremy Piven. What a lovely Hanukkah gift.
But it’s never a problem to come back to a topic – particularly almost two years later, when we have more readers with certainly more opinions – many many more opinions!
This column is going into a special folder in my Favorites list…you-all have come up with some GREAT movies. Yes, I’ve seen most of them, but that’s not going to stop me from having a mini-film festival of romantic movies!
To add my voice…The Scarlet Pimpernel with Anthony Andrews and Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth get my my top votes!
Return to Me with Minnie Driver and David Duchovny. Trite and filled to the brim with chick movie cliches, but GOD, I love it and cry every time.
Secretary Love it love it love it.
Strictly Ballroom I watched this movie 7 times in the theatre. So funny and wonderful.
I second The Princess Bride a million, gajillion times.
“This is true love – you think it happens every day?”
“MAWWAGE, bwings uth TOGETHAH!”
I also second Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! Topher Grace needs more romantic movies – even P.S., where he hit on Laura Linney, was pretty hot.
13 Going on 30 is a perennial favourite over at our house – sparkly DVD cover be damned. It’s not just Big for girls, I swear – there’s Rick Springfield! And pretty clothes! And Mark Ruffalo!
One romantic comedy that really surprised me was Fever Pitch (the Jimmy Fallon version – I have not seen the Colin Firth original). I was expecting it to be a silly take-off (and subconscious put-down) of a dude’s obsession with a baseball team, but I felt they handled it really well. The point of the movie was that he loved his girl AS MUCH AS baseball, which for him, was A LOT. Jimmy Fallon was not nearly as annoying or smarmy as I was expecting him to be – he was actually funny, sweet, and very handsome. And I’m a sucker for baseball movies too. I wish Jimmy Fallon were in more movies that weren’t Taxi.
Also, who can forget Can’t Buy Me Love? Because I can – bought the DVD for $20 and I LOVE IT. Sure, it’s 80s, but holy cow – Patrick Dempsey paved the way for skinny hot boys EVERYWHERE.
“And then…there’s copper…which is the only pipe I use.”
Sorry. I couldn’t resist. My favorite movie.
None romances specifically, but three of my favorites:
A Beautiful Mind
Pleasantville—I always cry when Jeff Daniels wipes the makeup off Joan Allen’s face and she’s in color underneath
Clerks 2—yes, the bromance, but also when Dante declares his love for Rosario Dawson in the presence of pulse-pounding interspecies erotica
I really like that no one here is jumping on each other’s choices (“That movie that holds so much emotional meaning for you? IT SUX!”), the way a bunch of guys would.
And I can’t believe I forgot some of these! THe Matchmaker, and P&P (the good one, not that abomination with Keira Bug-Eyes), and Harry & Sally, and While You Were Sleeping…oh!
I know I may take a few rotten tomatoes for this, but I found both Sommersby and Cold Mountain incredibly romantic.
Yes, they’re tragedies, but the profound passion that’s the catalyst for the tragedy in both movies (and in Cold Mountain’s case, the book) felt very real to me. I openly sobbed my way through the last ten minutes of Sommersby, and that never happens. Of course, I was preggers at the time.
Sarah:
“Ronny: You’re gonna marry my brother? Why you wanna sell your life short? Playing it safe is just about the most dangerous thing a woman like you could do. You waited for the right man the first time, why didn’t you wait for the right man again?
Loretta: He didn’t come!
Ronny: I’m here!
Loretta: You’re late!”
This is great, I just spent some quality time with my tivo and everyone’s recs. Perfect timing for me and my upcoming hormones. Can’t believe I forgot to mention Say Anything and Can’t Buy Me Love. I do own and love them though. Pleasantville, dear gods I love me some Joan Allen, she made me cry SO HARD. – and I seriously don’t know how I’ve gone my whole life never watching Notorious, I’m totally renting it tonight.
Selah: “I didn’t really think she was gonna die. I knew she was sick…. I mean, she was coughing her brains out, and still she had to keep singing!”
A Very Long Engagement was A Very Long Movie, imo. I’m not sure I’d save it for a bad day. I thought the ending just sucked. Not realistic enough to justify the sadness and not happy enough to justify the unbelieveability of it.
But Amelie, with the same actress, was so wonderful!
Also love Bend it like Beckham and Ever After.
Merchant & Ivory: Maurice
For that M/M Angst Ridden Traumance you know you want.
Of course you must be able to handle Hugh Grant as a male love interest… ehhhh
How ‘bout THE VILLAGE? I tear up every single time I watch the scene on the porch between Lucius and Ivy. So lovely.
Funny, I was thinking this morning before reading this about the “I believe” scene in Bull Durham (“I believe in long, slow, wet kisses that last for days…”) so that’s an obvious one to add to this list.
And Rebecca of course, not least because it’s inspired so many other stories.
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton started my age-inappropriate crush on Topher Grace, so I have to add In Good Company. Because even though his character didn’t get a HEA by the end of the movie, I found it quite romantic that part of his character’s transformation and growth as a person was due to falling in love.
[And yes! to Room with a View, Sliding Doors and Down with Love (Ewan’s face when Renee explains how she changed herself and manipulated him to her will is one of my favorite expressions of all time)].
Oh, gotta put my 2 cents in on movies:
Others have mentioned, but top my list:
Persuasion – maybe my favorite movie ever
Couple I’ve seen recently and loved:
A Very Long Engagement – I’m sure it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I loved it, including the ending. But not a light movie, by any means. Lots o’ war.
In the Mood for Love – beautifully filmed, achingly bittersweet
Couple I didn’t see mentioned, maybe I missed them:
Flirting – Australian teenagers in lurve – oh sooooo sweet
Le Retour de Martin Guerre – French movie Sommersby was based on, young Gérard Depardieu before he became everyone’s favorite goofy French guy, and based on a true story…
Adding:
Monsoon Wedding. The bit with the marigolds and candles and the wedding-planner and housemaid gets me every time. One of my all-time favourites.
The Remains of the Day. British repression is hot.
(foreign68—hee!)
One of my faves is Cyrano de Bergerac, the version from 1990 with Gerard Depardieu.
Thanks to everyone else for the recommendations that are filling up my netflix queue.
Selah and Sarah, you’re making me laugh so hard. I loved that movie. Well, I know what I’m watching tonight. The grandfather had the funniest lines.
“Why are you crying, pop?”
“I’m so confused.”
Also have to vote for Pride and Prejudice (Colin Firth)
And While You Were Sleeping. I’m not a huge Sandra Bullock fan, but the rest of the cast was so funny. Brain fluff.
Bride and Prejudice—I loves me some Bollywood.
I’ve read Maurice but didn’t know it was a movie. Guess what I’m renting next time the hubster is out of town?
Okay, now all I can think about is Moonstruck (and I can’t believe someone hasn’t quoted the wolf speech, or “Snap out of it!”—OMG there are so many great things about that movie!).
Some more for the master list:
My Favorite Wife
The Sure Thing
It’s A Wonderful Life
The Graduate
Map of the Human Heart
Like Water for Chocolate
Addicted to Love (one of the films in which Meg Ryan’s bitterness actually worked)
Impromptu
The Desk Set
Adam’s Rib
I haven’t seen GREEN CARD listed. Which is the movie that made me a fan of Gerard Depardieu for life. The look on his face at the end…..
The Last of the Mohicans
Love Actually
Sense and Sensibility
“Loretta: Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been two months since my last confession.
Priest: What sins have you to confess?
Loretta: Twice I took the name of the Lord in vain, once I slept with the brother of my fiancee, and once I bounced a check at the liquor store, but that was really an accident.
Priest: Then it’s not a sin. But… what was that second thing you said, Loretta?”
And for Robin…
“Ronny: A bride without a head!
Loretta: A wolf without a foot!”
(I know that’s not the whole quote, but if I don’t get some writing done today…)
Maverick – With Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson. I love, love, love, Jodie Foster’s character in this.
Casino Royale – Totally not your typical Bond film relationship, plus Daniel Craig is ten gazillion different kinds of hot.
A Very Long Engagement – Absolutely heartbreaking. In a good way.
Indochine – Also heartbreaking, and beautifully filmed.
In the Mood for Love – Extremely understated, amazing.
Intolerable Cruelty – An homage to thirties screwball comedies that works. Amazing dialogue.
High Fidelity – Romance from a guy perspective.
Rebecca
– Hitchcock does a great job with du Maurier’s novel.
Plus seconding some of the movies mentioned earlier: The Princess Bride, It Happened One Night, When Harry Met Sally, Eternal Sunshine of the of Spotless Mind, Secretary, Moulin Rouge, Shakespeare in Love
A must see period drama … BBC 2004 NORTH & SOUTH. It’s my absolute favorite now (even better than my other favorites Pride & Prejudice and Persuasion). If you don’t believe me, just check out the reviews on imdb.com (9.3/10 rating), amazon, and bn.com.
It’s impossible to watch it just one time. In fact … it’s really addictive!
Moonstruck – YES !
Monsoon Wedding – YES YES !
The Last Mohican – YES YES YES ! Oh man – the scene where the younger sister calmly steps off the mountain to follow in death the hero’s younger brother who unhesitatingly sacrificed himself for her !
Staying with the theme of self-sacrifice – how about GLADIATOR ? He almost kills himself rushing back to Spain to save wife and child (too late), then actually does get killed while making sure the child of his former love stays safe. What a man.
A very cute, funny little movie that got no publicity and deserves some:
I’M WITH LUCY – Monica Potter goes on five very different dates after being humiliatingly dumped. If that isn’t enough to tempt you, it has GAEL GARCIA BERNAL as one of the dates. Yum.
I’ll out myself as terminally unhip by saying I love FIRST KNIGHT. Julia Ormond trying so hard to resist the overpowering lure of Richard Gere…
The tragedy sublimated into enduring beautiful music in IMMORTAL BELOVED, about Beethoven.
And finally (or until I can think of some more) – not a romance movie in any sense, but the loving, trusting relationship that builds between adult assassin Jean Reno and young girl crime victim Natalie Portman in THE PROFESSIONAL packs a truly unique and powerful emotional punch.
I have to go watch some of these over again now…..
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
The Perez Family
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Fiddler on the Roof
The Sound of Music
My Fair Lady
The romantic movie I love to hate: Legends of the Fall. I was so amazed watching this movie unfold because it was just a romance novel set to film. But everyone in the audience was practically “swooning and sobbing” by the end…and this after I’d gotten so much crap for reading romance in my life. It was just weird.
Without hesitation, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, a 1945 b&w British film, screenplay by Noel Coward. Subtle, believable, and heart-wrenching. And THE GO-BETWEEN (from the 1960s or ‘70s), with Alan Bates and Julie Christie, directed by the great Joseph Losey.
Creeping closer to the present, THE PIANO (almost too wrenching for me to watch) and, continuing with my angsty preferences, PRIEST. This last one is another fairly obscure but superb British film with *gasp* a gay not-quite-a-couple struggling to be a couple.
I have butted out of the Moonstruck tennis match as long as I could, but no one has mentioned:
Johnny: ‘Someday you’ll thank me.’
Loretta: ‘Yeah, and someday you’ll drop dead and I’ll come to your funeral in a red dress !’
While You Were Sleeping is probably my favourite romantic comedy: the main characters are so sweet, and it’s just one of those rare films where everything seems to come together perfectly.
A Room With A View for the Best. Screen Kiss. Ever. Also because I heart Forster ever so much (love to Maurice too!)
Ever After and Dirty Dancing are two more … funny, sweet and the heroines are the ones who lead the way!
Finally … the BBC’s Pride & Prejudice with the definitive Lizzy & Darcy (Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth)!
Rose: “You got a love bite on your neck. Your mother’s recovered from death.”
Ronny: “Oh, great. We’re not close, so I’m not really moved.”
Nodding along, agreeing with movies already mentioned…
Last of the Mohicans
Princess Bride
Terminator (Oh, that battered photograph. Wow.)
Sommersby (The Man of the House hates me for this one. He likes his HEA.)
I cannot believe that no one has mentioned Ladyhawke.
Ignore the cheesy spots. Ignore the music.
“Did you know that wolves and hawks mate for life? He didn’t even leave us that.â€
Oh my sweet heaven, Ladyhawke! I’ve seen that in English and in Spanish simply because I wanted to look at the movie some more, even if I didn’t understand all of it.
Gosh I love that movie.
How about Chasing Amy?
Or Lady Jane with the very hawt and very young Cary Elwes.
Ooooh…First Knight. Yum.
I’m seconding The Crow, too. Deliciously dark and angst-y.
Legends of the Fall – I like to watch the Brad-Pitt-riding-across-the-rolling-hills-on-horseback scene in sloooow motion. Gads, but he was young and FINE. *drool*
Hope Floats
OH! OH! How about The Thomas Crowne Affair? Fricking hawt.
Ghost
Out of Africa
Always (Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Richard Dreyfuss) – *le sob*
For the most part, I like the tearjerkers, I guess.
Amelie – le sigh, le swoon, le laugh until I choke
Pride and Prejudice (def not Keira Knightley. She’s wafer thin and just looked spacey and her eyes were fine butglazed. Jennifer Ehle’s SHINE.)
Wings of Desire (City of Angels? Meh remake of this totally intense German flick. Get it now!)
Room with a View? Ages since I saw it, but had intense flashbacks as soon as someone mentioned it.
(and THANK YOU spinsterwitch, for dissing Legends of the Fall. You and I are the only women in the world, apparently, who didn’t like it. The best thing about it was the flowing hair. I named my son Tristan without even remembering that was Brad Pitt’s name in this movie and have to strenuously deny the link on a regular basis)
Oldie goldies: Zorba the Greek (tragedy) and Far from the Madding Crowd. Alan Bates was terrific in these.
I almost forgot a couple of my fav foreign films:
Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast; the German films Mostly Martha and The Princess and the Warrior; the Israeli film I Love You Rosa!; The Horseman on the Roof from France, and a little known but very funny Brit film from 2001, St. Ives.
And my husband insists Dave is one of the best romantic comedies he’s ever seen.
True Lies—even though the Governator’s in it. Jamie Lee is hilarious enough to make up for him.
I second the 50 First Dates recommendation—the first movie to prove to me that Adam Sandler really can act. It made me cry. Really.
Sabrina—the remake with Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. “I need her… and I don’t need anything.” Best. Line. Evah.
Shining Through—Muh. God. If you haven’t seen this, SEE IT. It’s got romance, drama, spies, betrayal, war… It. Rocks.
Ever After—I’m such a sucker for the fairy tale.
A Knight’s Tale—Heath Ledger. In armor. HOT.
Argh! I have more on the tip of my tongue and they keep floating away… I’ll catch ‘em soon and post more. This is making me want to have a movie marathon!
Darlene, Dave was one of those I was struggling to remember. I agree with your hubby!
I can’t believe I didn’t see these above!
Practical Magic
The American President
Disney’s Sleeping Beauty
I forgot 2 great Mandy Moore movies!
Chasing Liberty
A Walk to Remember (terrible ending, but doing all those things on her list was too good)