36 Best Romance Movies of All Time (2026)

How we chose these films

We organized this list by subgenre, but took into consideration the critical acclaim of each film as well as the lasting impact they’ve had on the genre. Some were dramatic trailblazers, and some just never get old. Let’s dive into the best romance movies of all time.

2. Roman Holiday (1953)

Princess Ann was Audrey Hepburn’s lead acting debut, and it won her Best Actress at the Oscars. It’s not hard to see why — her performance is charming, restless, and heartbreaking in a way that draws us in from the first moment she’s on screen. Not to mention the stunning cinematography set against a 1950s Rome is an incredible world for the love story to take place.

3. An Affair to Remember (1957)

The film, starring Cary Grant as Nickie Ferrante and Deborah Kerr as Terry McKay, follows two people in romantic relationships who fall in love aboard an ocean liner. After arriving in New York City, they agree to meet in six months at the top of the Empire State Building if they’re both free and serious.

It’s a premise that hooks you, making you wonder how this connection will go on. An Affair to Remember set the stage for later romance classics like Sleepless in Seattle and Before Sunrise by seeing the genre as a way to explore the missed connection.

4. West Side Story (1961)

West Side Story pulls directly from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and sets it against a 1960s New York City. Directed by Robert Wise with music by Leonard Bernstein and choreography by Jerome Robbins, the film won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and proved how music and movement could carry a romance story in a way dialogue cannot.

5. The Sound of Music (1965)

Another classic romance musical from Robert Wise. The film’s original soundtrack by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II is arguably some of the most collectively recognized film songs from any musical — "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," "So Long, Farewell" still remain in people’s heads to this day.

The story endures because it's not the traditional meet-cute, but a complex love story with real stakes set in a war-torn Austria of the late 1930s.

Rom-coms are often misunderstood. The best romance movies in the subgenre are ones that have just as much depth and emotion as any others on this list. Perhaps more than any other category, the rom-com has shape-shifted over time from being movies just for kicks to comedy as a protection from vulnerability. Let's have a laugh over these romantic comedies on our list. 

6. Annie Hall (1977)

If the Hollywood classics are where the genre began, Annie Hall is where it was reinvented. Woody Allen’s film broke new ground, proving that there were still formal filmmaking techniques that could allow filmmakers to elaborate on the complexities and nuances of love.

Non-linear storytelling*, breaking the fourth wall*, use of subtitles to communicate inner thoughts* during moments of small talk, and animated sequences in the middle of a scene were all innovations that made the film ahead of its time. It proved the rom-com could also be romantic, cerebral, and hilarious all at once.

7. When Harry Met Sally (1989)

"Can men and women be friends?" is the engine that drives the whole film. The dialogue style, the humor, and the characters’ perspectives make it the best collaboration between screenwriter Nora Ephron and director Rob Reiner. The film is widely considered to be the definitive modern rom-com. And for us, it's one of those romantic comedies that truly stands the test of time. 

8. Pretty Woman (1990)

A sort of modern fairy tale of a billionaire corporate leader who hires a Hollywood sex worker for a week of company, but they fall in love. On paper, this premise should fall apart or, at the very least, disappoint. But Julia Roberts and Richard Gere’s chemistry is so magnetic and believable that we can momentarily look past the fantastical plot points that overlook its lack of realism within its context. 

The original script was a darker drama on classism and exploitation called $3,000. But after Disney acquired the rights, the studio turned it into a Disney-esque live-action fairy tale of wish fulfillment and mismatched love. It may not be a great class deconstruction, but it's one of the great, endlessly entertaining romantic comedies. 

9. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

The film is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew by way of a ‘90s high school. Starring the late great Heath Ledger, the film was a glimpse into the incredible actor he would become. The bleacher scene of Ledger singing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” has become a cultural touchstone and was largely improvised on the fly, and it works because of Ledger’s sincerity. Not to mention the performance of Julia Stiles’ confession of love disguised as a poem class assignment in the final scene. If you're a millennial, this is probably a shoe horn for one of your favorite romantic comedies. 

10. Jerry Maguire (1996)

Jerry Maguire produced two of the most famous romantic movie lines within the same scene. "You complete me" and "You had me at hello" entered the cultural lexicon almost immediately and have remained there since. The film stars Tom Cruise as Jerry, a sports agent who attempts to rebuild his career. It’s a role we rarely see Cruise take on, yet he nails it with vulnerability, desperation, and just enough charisma.

11. Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010)

Edgar Wright's ability to blend the surreal with the slice of life is lands Scott Pilgrim vs the World a spot on this list. The video-game-style plot follows Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) as he fights his way through Ramona Flowers' (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) seven evil exes. Beneath the comic book visuals is one of the sharpest romantic comedies. It also has plenty to say about emotional baggage. How can you not love that?

These movies treat love as something that must be fought for and sometimes comes at a cost. But each, in their own way, pushes us to root for love even when it's downright complicated.

13. Before Sunrise (1995)

A chance encounter that leads to one brief night of connection. The film essentially takes place in real time as Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a young American, and Celine (Julie Delpy), a young French woman, meet on a train in Europe and decide to spend one night together walking the streets of Vienna. Unfolding in mostly dialogue, Linklater proves romance can happen in smaller gestures through deep, vulnerable conversation. 

Its sequels, Before Sunset and Before Midnight, have cemented the trilogy as one of the most ambitious romance stories in cinema — each released nine years apart, telling a brutally honest love story that unfolds over a few decades. 

14. Lost in Translation (2003)

Sticking with the theme of brief encounters, Sofia Coppola’s moody Tokyo love story Lost in Translation is a masterclass in subtle storytelling. Anchored in Bill Murray’s and Scarlett Johansson’s melancholic performances, the ambiguity of their romance draws us in and culminates with the film’s still talked-about ending.

15. Brokeback Mountain (2005)

"I wish I knew how to quit you." One of the most iconic lines in the genre, and the entire film distilled into a single sentence. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal play Ennis and Jack, two young sheep herders who begin a love affair on a Wyoming mountain in 1963 and spend the next twenty years trying to sustain it in secret. 

They each go on to marry women, build separate live, but reunite on “fishing trips” a few times a year to continue their affair. Ledger's performance is built entirely on suppression — clenched jaw, mumbled words, a man who swallowed his own feelings as a child. It's a love story defined by what can never be said or shown openly.

16. Her (2013)

The last thing you expect to feel in a film about a man falling in love with Artificial Intelligence is to empathize with his heartbreak. Spike Jonze pulls off the difficult cinematic task of creating a tender rather than satirical story of AI and romance. In a visually striking yet eerily familiar future, Joaquin Phoenix’s loneliness comes to a head with the release of a new AI. It feels more relevant now than when it was released over a decade ago.

Epic romances create a sense of scale. The best directors know how to use political circumstances, war, history, and geography to make the most personal love stories feel massive and monumental. 

18. Gone with the Wind (1939)

Adjusted for inflation, Gone with the Wind remains the highest-grossing film in history. The film has aged poorly with its romanticization of the antebellum South, passive portrayal of enslaved people, and nostalgic perspective of the Confederacy. Its place in the on our list and in cinema history lies in the film’s ambition and scale as a nearly four-hour romantic epic.

19. Doctor Zhivago (1965)

David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago uses the historical backdrop of the Russian Revolution as more than just a backdrop — it becomes the primary force that pulls its main characters together for brief moments only to tear them apart. It follows Omar Sharif's Zhivago and Julie Christie's Lara over years of chance encounters that feel both transient and fated. With Lean’s sweeping cinematography and scale of time, the love story holds a real weight.

21. La La Land (2016)

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s chemistry takes center stage in writer director Damien Chazelle’s ode to the classic Hollywood romance film with a modern twist ending. It’s uses iconic Los Angeles locations as major set pieces even opening with an iconic freeway number. Stone won Best Actress for her role and the film almost won Best Picture before the error was corrected to the actual winner, Moonlight, in one of the biggest debacles is Oscar award ceremony history.

22. Moonlight (2016)

Speaking of Moonlight, Barry Jenkins’ queer coming-of-age drama showed what the modern romance story could hold — the complexity of race, poverty, and masculinity and their impact on a young boy’s longing for love. While the film explores these themes* with delicate balance, at its heart is a love story, told over decades. 

23. Call Me by Your Name (2017)

Summer heat, bicycles through Italian towns, swimming in ponds, and… peaches — Luca Guadagnino’s visceral sensory storytelling was a perfect match for the adaptation of André Aciman’s queer coming-of-age love story. Set in the summer of 1983 in Northern Italy, the film follows Elio (Timothée Chalamet) as he spends the summer falling for Oliver (Armie Hammer), an older doctoral student working with his father and staying with his family. 

24. The Big Sick (2017)

How do you pull off a romantic comedy where the love interest spends a third of the movie in a coma? You write a story from a deeply personal place. The Big Sick was written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon about their own real relationship, struggles with cultural expectations within families, and the fear of losing someone. It trades universal romance tropes for specific experience, making the comedy and the emotions hit harder. This is easily one of the best comedy romance movies on our list. 

25. Past Lives (2023)

Writer-director Celine Song’s directorial feature debut struck genuinely new ground in the genre layering cultural identity, memory, and romance into one subtle but powerful film. What is essentially a love triangle story evolves into an exploration of connections that can transcend time and distance. Its power lies in its willingness to hold onto questions rather than answers, making it one of the more talked about romance films in modern cinema. 

26. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

Not all love stories have that happy ending. The most memorable ones can break your heart. But it's how these films break out of the heart that makes all the difference. 

27. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Would you erase the memory of someone you once loved? That’s the question screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's sci-fi premise poses. The Oscar-winning script was made dreamlike by Michel Gondry’s direction and use of entirely practical effects* (forced perspective, lighting changes, set deconstruction). Not to mention Jim Carey and Kate Winslet being cast completely against type, leading to some of the best performances in both of their careers. “Meet me in Montauk” remains one of the most beautifully heartbreaking lines in cinema.

28. A Walk to Remember (2002)

The film, based on Nicholas Sparks’ novel, makes up for its lack of formal innovation with its straightforward sincerity. The film follows high school bad-boy Landon Carter (Shane West) who is forced into the school play where he falls for Jamie Sullivan (Mandy Moore), who is secretly dying of leukemia. The film proved that you don’t need an innovative premise to be memorable or impactful, but just two likeable characters, a death sentence, and a willingness to tell the story without irony.

29. Atonement (2007)

The Dunkirk oner shot alone makes is enough reason to give this movie a watch. But on top of that, Keira Knightley as Cecilia, and James McAvoy as Robbie give career defining perfromances that tug at the heart strings. 13-year-old Briony (Saorise Ronan) witnesses and really misinterprets a sexual encounter between her older sister Cecilia and the housekeeper's son Robbie. She falsely accuses him of a crime, for which he’s arrested and later sent to war, causing the rift between the two lovers. Their love story is a tragedy, but a love story nonetheless.

30. Blue Valentine (2010)

Capturing the falling in love and falling apart of a relationship in the same story is ambitious. Derek Cianfrance pulls it off by intercutting the two timelines, so the warmth and the wreckage play against each other in every scene. The film refuses to frame either character as the villain — it's more interested in honestly showing two people who stopped growing in the same direction. 

And if the love story wasn't told with such genuine tenderness, this would just be a bleak breakup movie. But it's the juxtaposition that creates the drama, the constant reminder that these two people destroying each other are the same two people who once slow-danced to "You Always Hurt the One You Love" on a street corner.

31. A Star Is Born (2018)

Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, A Star is Born, landed with a huge cultural footprint largely due to Lady Gaga’s incredible performance as Ally. Not only did her obvious musical and vocal talents bring a realness to her character arc*, but the vulnerability that her acting brings to the early scenes is what hooks us in emotionally (it also earned her an Oscar nom).

Cooper brough his own sense of realness by learning to sing and play guitar for his role as a country music star. He performed all the film’s concerts live with no lip syncing or post-production dubbing. 

Hollywood doesn't have a monopoly on love stories and these films prove it. Romance translates across all cultures and those differences bring different rhythms, restraints, and definitions of love to the screen that have inspired filmmakers for decades.

33. In the Mood for Love (2000)

A truly innovative piece of art from auteur filmmaker Wong Kar-wai. The story takes place in 1960s Hong Kong, a conservatively stiff environment. Two neighbors, Tony Leung as Chow Mo-wan, and Maggie Cheung as Su Li-zhen, discover that their respective spouses are having an affair with each other. Through their mutual sense of betrayal, loneliness, and proximity, they fall in love, but refuse to act on their feelings. 

It’s the most restrained love story in cinema defined precisely by what doesn't happen. Christopher Doyle’s cinematography is some of the most beautifully photographed shots in cinema. And its ending influenced the ambiguity of later modern romance films like Lost in Translation, Past Lives, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and Moonlight . Can you tell we love this movie?

34. Amélie (2001)

Amélie (Audrey Tautou) is an imaginative and desprately shy Parisian waitress finds a knack for secretly fixing everyone else’s lives. But when she falls for a quirky stranger who collects discarded photo booth pictures, Amélie can’t overcome her avoidance to pursue him. The tone and visual style of director Jean-Pierre Jeunet presents Amélie as a storybook taking place in a polished, fantastical Paris.

35. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

With Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, director Ang Lee presented one of the most formal innovations in the romance genre — fight scenes as love scenes. Yuen Woo-ping’s choreography used the language of movement and martial arts as emotional expression rather than action spectacle. The result is an impeccable beautiful, dreamlike love story that address conflict and seduction unlike any movie on this list.