Valentine’s Day 2019 is just around the corner, and whether celebrating with a loved one or yourself, you’ll want to catch these top romantic films.
From the classic “Casablanca” in 1942 and all the way through last year’s “Crazy, Rich Asians,” the theme of love has been one of the most common core themes in film history. In 1997, the love story of Jack and Rose in “Titanic” went on to gross over $600 million domestically, while crossing $1 billion overseas.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we rounded up the best romantic movies of all time. Check it out below:
“Casablanca” (1942)
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, see more here.
Synopsis: Ex-patriate Rick Blaine runs a nightclub in Casablanca, Morocco during World War II. Blaine faces unforeseen complications when a former lover Ilsa and her husband show up in the cafe.
How To Watch: Amazon
“Love Story” (1970)
Director: Arthur Hiller
Cast: Ali MacGraw, Ryan O’Neal, John Marley, Ray Milland, see more here.
Synopsis: Despite their opposite backgrounds, Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share undeniable chemistry and embark on life together with the notion that love can fix anything.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“The Way We Were” (1973)
Director: Sydney Pollack
Cast: Barbara Streisand, Robert Redford, see more here.
Synopsis: Current events and politics drive a wedge in between the romance of a young couple.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Grease” (1978)
Director: Randal Kleiser
Cast: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Jeff Conway, see more here.
Synopsis: The hit musical about teen romance in the 1950s, which follows the love story of summer sweethearts Danny and Sandy as the two reunite months later in the halls of Rydell High.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Dirty Dancing” (1987)
Cast: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach, Cynthia Rhodes, Kelly Bishop, see more here.
Synopsis: A girl falls in love with the dance instructor at her camp, while spending the summer with her family in the Catskills.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Say Anything” (1989)
Director: Cameron Crowe
Cast: John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney, see more here
Synopsis: A young couple fall in love the summer before going off to college.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Ghost” (1990)
Director: Jerry Zucker
Cast: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, see more here.
Synopsis: A young woman is guided through unforeseen circumstances by the spirit of her recently murdered boyfriend.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Pretty Woman” (1990)
Cast: Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Jason Alexander, see more here.
Synopsis: A businessman hires a beautiful prostitute to escort him on social events, but ends up finding himself falling in love her.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Beauty and the Beast” (1991)
Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Cast: Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Jesse Corti, Angela Lansbury, see more here.
Synopsis: A selfish prince is cursed to become a beast forever, unless he learns to fall in love with a beautiful young woman he keeps prisoner.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Romeo + Juliet” (1996)
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Sorvino, Brian Dennehy, Paul Rudd, see more here.
Synopsis: Shakespeare’s romantic tale about star-crossed lovers is retold in a modern-day setting of the city of Verona Beach.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“As Good As It Gets” (1997)
Director: James L. Brooks
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr., see more here.
Synopsis: An artist befriends and unlikely group of people after being assaulted in a robbery.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Titanic” (1997)
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Bill Paxton, see more here.
Synopsis: A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a poor artist aboard ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Shakespeare In Love” (1998)
Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Judi Dench see more here.
Synopsis: A young, broke Shakespeare meets the perfect woman who inspires him to write one of his most famous plays.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Moulin Rouge” (2001)
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Kylie Minogue, Jim Broadbent, see more
Synopsis: A poet falls for a beautiful courtesan, while she is being courted by a wealthy duke.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“The Wedding Planner” (2001)
Director: Adam Shankman
Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey, Judy Greer, Justin Chambers, Kathy Najimy, see more here.
Synopsis: San Francisco’s most successful wedding planner knows all about the rules of love, until she breaks the most important one of all: falling for the groom.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“The Notebook” (2004)
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Gena Rowlands, Ed Grady, Kevin Connolly, see more here.
Synopsis: A poor man falls in love with a wealthy woman, but social differences drives their whirlwind romance to an end.
Ways To Watch: Amazon
“50 First Dates” (2004)
Director: Peter Segal
Cast: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Dan Akyroyd, see more here.
Synopsis: Henry Roth finally meets the girl of his dreams, Lucy, but discovers she has short-term memory loss and she forgets him the next day.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Brokeback Mountain” (2005)
Director: Ang Lee
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid see more here.
Synopsis: Two sheep herders form a deep connection that leads to a forbidden budding romance.
Ways To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Crazy, Stupid, Love” (2011)
Directors: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Cast: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Joey King, see more here.
Synopsis: A middle-aged man’s life is turned upside down after his wife asks him for a divorce.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“This Means War” (2012)
Director: McG
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Tom Hardy, Abigail Spencer, Chelsea Handler, see more here.
Synopsis: Two C.I.A. operatives get extremely competitive with one another once they realize that they are dating the same woman.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
“Crazy Rich Asians” (2018)
Director: Jon M. Chu
Cast: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Harry Shum Jr., see more here.
Synopsis: An American-born Chinese professor travels meets her boyfriend’s family when she travels to his hometown of Singapore for his best friend’s wedding.
How To Watch: Amazon Prime
Images in lead composite courtesy of New Line; 20th Century Fox; Paramount; Walt Disney Studios. Movie information sourced from IMDb.
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