In the evolving landscape of romantic storytelling, the romantic comedy genre has continued to make us laugh, love and live over the span of decades. From the likes of laugh-out-loud stories about the friends-to-lovers trope, to heartwarming stories of finding love where you least expect it- romcoms truly are the best genre when it comes to films.
The 21st century has produced some of the best romcoms in the industry, and though it’s hard to pick favorites, in no particular order, here are ten romcoms of the 21st century that truly captured our hearts and our laughter.
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1. Love Actually
Richard Curtis’ Christmas romcom is one of the best in the genre. The film weaves multiple interconnected stories together during the weeks leading up to Christmas. The best part? there are stories of every age and type. There’s a budding school romance, a marriage proposal, a happy marriage gone sour, a prime minister falling in love, a widowed writer stumbling upon a second chance at love- there’s everything. The cast boasts of fabulous actors like Colin Firth, Keira Knightley, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman.
What’s better than one love story? Nine love stories. If you’re a fan of romcoms, you should definitely watch this.
2. How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days
You must have seen Kate Hudson’s iconic yellow dress from this film everywhere. But the context makes everything better, trust us. This one is about a unique romantic experiment, where a journalist Andie Anderson is assigned an article called “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.”
Her task is to get a man and document her experience. On the other way round, Benjamin Barry makes a bet with his colleagues that he can make any woman fall in love with him in ten days. The film is a comedic clash as both the parties work towards making their own missions successful, the result is a hilarious and heartwarming love story, one that you’ll probably be going back to for years.
3. Crazy Rich Asians
More Asian representation in romcoms? A big yes all the way. Based on Kevin Kwan’s book, the film follows Rachel Chu who gets invited by her boyfriend Nick Young to a wedding in Singapore. However, Rachel isn’t aware of how ridiculously wealthy Nick is. It’s a typical rich guy vs middle-class girl trope, as Rachel finds herself overwhelmed with Nick’s family and his wealth, leading to a clash between Rachel’s modest upbringing and Singapore’s high society with luxurious lifestyles.
The film is hilarious, and at times serious, but it knows how to balance both out and give the audience a great time.
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4. 500 Days Of Summer
Not all romantic comedies need to end in happy endings- and this one is the perfect one that sends out that message. It’s about Tom Hansen a hopeless romantic who crosses paths with Summer Finn- a cynic and not the relationships-y kind.
The film is 500 days of Tom falling in love with Summer- who repeatedly asks him not to, showing their ‘relationship’ in a non-chronological order, the highs and lows and everything, as the audience can witness the subtle dissolution of their relationship in an introspective way.
The film is heartbreaking, but also funny and sends out a great message to every hopeless romantics out there. Sometimes we aren’t meant for summer(s). Sometimes we are meant for autumn(s). (Pun intended)
5. Enchanted
If you like romcoms and you also like fantasy Disney-esque love stories, then this is the one for you.
Real-life clashes with the fictional animated world here. Giselle, a princess-to-be is banished from her animated fairy tale world of Andalasia and ends up on the streets of New York. She is shocked by the different world with big monsters (vehicles) and people dressed so weirdly (normal clothes for her means gowns and jackets). She meets her divorce lawyer Robert, who takes her in but refuses to believe her stories about being a princess. The rest of the film is a hilarious collage of incidents as Giselle makes her way through the real world and starts fitting in, but Robert finds himself drawn to the magical world she carries with herself.
The film is a beautiful homage to Disney and to fairytales. It’s hilarious and romantic and gives us an insight into how these parallel worlds would look like if they merged.
6. Friends With Benefits
The story follows two good friends who start a casual, no-strings-attached sexual relationship without any emotional attachments. As they go through their relationship, they end up developing feelings for each other which makes things messy. The film is funny and romantic and fresh and has a happy ending. The film touches on modern-day lovers and how they navigate through relationships and love. It’s a good watch with good jokes and a good love story.
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7. Silver Linings Playbook
This Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence starrer is filled with dark humor, but also a heartwarming love story between two troubled individuals. It features an unconventional story of them finding love after being broken by it, just with a lot of laughs along the way.
As funny as it is, the film also involves themes of mental health, and searching for silver linings in hard situations. Lawrence even ended up winning an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role.
8. Love And Other Drugs
This Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal starrer is warm and funny, with a dash of tragedy too as Hathaway’s character suffers from Parkinson’s disease.
The film follows the couple as they try to keep their relationship intact, challenging the barriers. Though it is based on a serious topic, the film managed to keep things funny and relatable for the audience.
9. Love, Simon
LGBTQ+ representation in romantic comedies have been more common in recent years, but nothing touches the film inspired by Becky Albertalli’s book.
Simon, a closeted gay guy tries to come in terms with his sexuality while falling in love with a boy he emails online called Blue. The film explores his journey of him accepting his true self and those around him supporting him through it, as he goes through crowds to find who Blue is (Spoiler: he was someone hanging around all along).
The film is amusing, and at times also upsetting as you anxiously bite your nails through decoding who Blue might be. It also features more serious topics of the stigma that comes with someone coming out, and how someone’s sexuality shouldn’t be what defines them as a whole.
10. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
This film has everyone in a chokehold when it came out, and rightly so.
The three-part series is Lara Jean Covey’s love story with Peter Kavinsky when she writes letters to all the boys she has a crush on, but accidentally, they get out and it’s a big mess for Lara. Afterward, she and Peter start a fake relationship in order for him to make his girlfriend jealous and win her back, in the process, however, the two end up falling in love.
The rest of the films in the series follow up their love story as they go through different challenges of people trying to wreck their relationship, long distance and breakups. It’s one of the most popular and loved films of the YA section of romcoms and is adored by the audience, even years after its release.
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