Poll: Favorite romantic movies?

[SusanH]

I'm really in the mood for a good romantic film, preferably a comedy. Any suggestions? I'm really easy to please, I like everything from costume dramas to classic films to mainstream crowd pleasers. Unfortunately, I've also seen a huge number of films and I'm having trouble coming up with any good ones that I've missed. ;)

Some of my favorites:
~Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn version)
~Crossing Delancey
~Shakespeare in Love
~Room with a View
~Bridget Jones's Diary
~Before Sunrise
~Moonstruck

[caligula02]

Shakespeare in Love is a wonderful movie.

I'd like to add:
Much Ado about Nothing
&
The Princess Bride

Sarah

[k-mom]

Sleepless in Seattle was the first movie that popped into my mind or how about Pretty Woman & Legends of the Fall.

[Kathleen]

The Palm Beach Story! One of my all time favorites! It is from the 1940's and is more a comedy than a romance, but there is some romance in it and some hiliarious scenes. I think you might enjoy it. Claudette Colbert stars in it and Preston Sturges directed. You can't go wrong with it...I promise! :D

edited to add another film: Say Anything with John Cusack is another good one! I'll edit this post as I think of more!

[rebeccav]

I love "The Princess Bride"!

Other romantic movies I like:

"Hope Floats" - Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick, Jr. I don't know if it classifies as a "romantic" movie, but I loved it anyway.

"Romeo + Juliet" - Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes - one of my all-time favorite movies in general. I love Baz Luhrmann's films. I also like the older, 60's Romeo & Juliet version.

I'm editing to add - I did a search for "AFI" and "romantic movies" and got a list of their "100 Most Passionate Films" - some of them I'm not sure will fit what you're looking for, Susan, but here are some of my favorites from the list:

"Casablanca"
"It's a Wonderful Life"
"Pretty Woman"
"A Streetcar Named Desire"
"The American President"
"Lady and the Tramp"
"Grease"

The AFI website has all kinds of "Top 100" lists of movies, I always enjoy looking through them!

[k-mom]

Oooo! I love "Hope Floats"! Thanks for reminding me of that one:)

[Caryl]

What a fun question to ponder! I'm adding some of these to my list of movies to see. Susan, I came up with a few you might not have seen yet and might enjoy.

I love Katharine Hepburn. You should see all of the following: Adam's Rib, Woman of the Year, and Philadelphia Story. Dh and I also really enjoyed the romantic Summertime.

More romantic comedies: An Ideal Husband is based on an Oscar Wilde play, and is lots of fun. Shirley Valentine is a British film, and a very sweet story. Me, Myself, I, an Australian film, isn't exactly a romance... but it's fun. I'd also recommend The Apartment, Roxanne, Il Postino, and Shall We Dance.

You might enjoy Next Stop Wonderland. It's a cute movie, with some entertaining, unique bits.

My favorite romantic movie in recent years is Life Is Beautiful. I found their courtship, which is the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the movie, so sweet and funny! I would have fallen in love with him, too.

You've already seen one of my favorite romantic films, Truly, Madly, Deeply. Oh, and Pride and Prejudice (the A&E version), too.

How about Meet Me in St. Louis with Judy Garland? "Clang, clang, clang went the trolley.... "

:)

[djk42]

I love many of the above, but how can you forget Breakfast at Tiffany's?
Philadelphia Story gets my vote as well! I enjoy musicals- Guys and Dolls, Brigadoon, Kiss Me Kate, Singin' in the Rain.. and because it is getting colder- White Christmas and Holida Inn are both romances, as are Miracle on 34th Street and Holiday Affair. Recent films that I liked were At First Sight, Don Juan DeMarco and Bed of Roses. HTH :)

[SusanH]

There are some great suggestions here. I decided I would extend the poll to include our favorite *ahem* "romantic" nudge, nudge films. ;)

On my list of very grown-up, mood inspiring films:

~ The Big Easy - "Your luck's about to change, cher."
~ Tequila Sunrise - drug dealers aren't usually so appealing, lol
~ Dr No - mmm, Sean Connery
~ Anything involving Alan Rickman. Except for that film where he's pretending to be an alien and has that weird rubber thing on his head.

[Kathleen]

The Big Easy! Yes! Dennis Quaid was irresistible in it!

Two more off of my list:

~The Unbearable Lightness Of Being - "Take Off Your Clothes..."
~The English Patient (or just about anything with Ralph Fiennes!)

:)

[Lisa Jo]

One of my favorite movies is Edward Scissorhands. It's funny and romantic but in a very offbeat poignant sort of way. I looked at my list in the back of my journal and here are a few more I've enjoyed over the last year or so:[I]
Heartbreakers
28 Days
Serendipity
Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion
Never Been Kissed
Legally Blonde
They don't all qualify as romantic comedies, but they were (mostly) light and fun.

[rebeccav]

One of the best dates DH and I had when we were first married was when we went to see "You've Got Mail" - when we left the theatre, it was dark and the snow was falling. We lived downtown at the time, so we walked home in the snow. It was very romantic, and from what I remember, the movie was cute in a romantic sort of way.

[Eljay]

My all time favourite movie is without a doubt "Pride & Prejudice" produced for A&E by the BBC (1995). It's 5 hours long but worth every minute!

Jane Austen wrote this book 200 years ago and writers have been trying to copy her style ever since. But you don't have to be a Jane Austen fan to love this movie. It's superb in every way and very funny too.

Briget Jone's Diary is supposed to be "inspired" (cough, sputter, gag) by P & P. Poor Miss Austen would roll over in her grave! I consider this movie a bad nightmare of P&P, certainly NOT an inspriration. Interestingly, Colin Firth (who is to Mr. Darcy what Clark Gable was to Rhett Butler) plays both Mr. Darcy's, and in my opinion, he's the only one worth watching in BJD. (OK, Hugh Grant is VERY cute!) If you haven't noticed, I HATED that movie, and I watched the video twice just to be fair and make sure I didn't miss anything.

I don't know if you'll be able to rent the video anymore. It's an expensive one to buy (6 tapes) but worth every penny. (I hear the DVD quality is poor.)

This movie has become like a dear friend whom I never tire of spending time with.

[SusanH]

Eljay, you are a kindred spirit! :) I am a devout Jane Austen fan since high school and I own the new, improved DVD of P&P. The new one is of higher quality and it contains numerous small parts that were trimmed for the US airing (perhaps not a problem in Canada.) Also, it isn't in danger of wearing out like my tapes, lol.

I'm sorry you were so disappointed in Bridget Jones Diary. I'm a big fan of the novel and film (Colin Firth is so very appealing in a suit.) The sequel (novel - Edge of Reason) is not so much "inspired" by Persuasion as lifted whole-cloth from it, so if the borrowing of the first bothered you, stay far away from the second! The borrowing (stealing) didn't bother me, as I think Helen Fielding is so funny that I was willing to be charmed by it.

Oh, little piece of trivia - did you notice Crispin Bonham Carter (Mr. Bingley) in Bridget Jones' Diary? He is in two scenes, but regrettably has no dialogue. He is speaking to Salman Rushdie at the party and is standing in the background when she quits her job. I adore Mr. Bingley and am always happy to see him, even if he is silent!

[Ursula]

I've refrained from answering because I had nothing new to offer, and because I simply cannot recall most of them, but.

Romantic comedy:

-Moulin Rouge!!!
-Much Ado About Nothing
- Cousins
- Bull Durham :o
- The Sound of Music (the love story between father & children especially gets to me)
- Terms of Endearment

Movies that family members love, but I don't, but others might:

- (I hate this one, but my sister's favorite is) Overboard
- Strictly Ballroom (1 of my dh's favorites)
- Moonstruck is 1 of my mom's favorites


It's funny how some people have listed favorites here that I simply loathe. I won't say which ones, as that is rude, rude, rude. But it's so strange how one person can love a film and see it over and over again, and you might loathe it beyond words. Like my sister loves Back to the Beach and I hate, hate, hate it!

Ursula

[SusanH]

Ursula, I am concerned that you felt the need to put the :o face next to Bull Durham.

I love that movie! Although I actually prefer the relationship between Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins to the main love triangle - they are just hilarious in their many conferences on the mound.

But it's so strange how one person can love a film and see it over and over again, and you might loathe it beyond words.

Isn't that odd? There are some well-loved movies that seem hackneyed and trite to me, yet I love movies that I'm quite sure others would be horrified at. And yes, I mean Valley Girl. ;)

[TangoMom]

I don´t like romantic movies, but must confess that the 5 hrs version of Pride and Prejudice tied dh and me to the chairs for 5 weeks!!!
What I like most is war romance. In that sense I can recommend Sunflower, a 1960 or so movie w/Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni (USA-Italy production)

[Eljay]

I'm glad to know there are others who like P&P as much as I do! (It's okay if you don't - it would be boring if we all liked the same things.) Yes, it is interesting how some people love what others hate and vice versa. Sometimes it takes alot of courage to admit you hate something everyone else loves!

I don't get alot of time to watch movies. With two kids in school and a busy toddler, it takes me two or three sittings to get through one movie!

I stumbled across a different kind of "romance" recently at the video store. It's called "Sommersby" and stars Richard Gere and Jodie Foster. They are great in the movie although Jodie Foster isn't totally convincing as a southern belle. This is a little off the beaten path and I loved the first 75% of the movie. I didn't like the ending, unfortunately, but try it if you need a good cry!

[Aimee]

Unless I missed it, nobody said "When Harry Met Sally". That is one of my all time favorites!

[marnay]

OMG I loved Sommersby until the ending......I hated the ending!!!!!!

Here are a few that I havn't seen here yet, they are light and fun!

A Knights Tale
Enemy Mine (ok it is kinda stupid, but it is a friendship movie!)
Top Gun (I adore the love scene)
An Officer and a Gentleman
Pearl Harbor

Hmmmm.... I see a theme here..... :)

[Lisa Jo]

Ha ha, now I feel I need to defend my lightweight picks! Other than Edward Scissorhands, none of the other movies I listed is a "favorite". I know that Susan has seen all my favorites (and I'm not ashamed to say that Clueless is one of them!) so I was just going for (sort of) romantic comedies that I'd recently seen which were at least worth 2 hours of my time and a couple of bucks to rent. ;)

Marnay, I was just thinking the other day that I need to see An Officer and A Gentleman again. I'll bet it's been 10 years.... I loved that movie!

From Susan:There are some well-loved movies that seem hackneyed and trite to me...I recently borrowed Casablanca and Breakfast at Tiffany's from the library and was decidedly underwhelmed (especially with B at T). There was an interesting commentary at the beginning of Casablanca. Some studio bigwig said that in those days the studios were cranking out war movies one after the next, and Casablanca was just another one. They never expected it to be anything special.

[SusanH]

No need to defend yourself, Lisa, I happen to think that lightweight films can be very entertaining!

I enjoyed both Casablanca and Breakfast at Tiffany's, but I was very young when I saw them. I think that Casablanca has fallen victim to its fame - no film could be as good as that film is said to be, and once you've seen a dozen send-ups and imitations of it, it's rather hard to appreciate the original. Breakfast at Tiffany's just hasn't aged well. Mickey Rooney playing her Asian landlord with buck teeth and a bad accent just isn't as funny these days. Of course, the point of just about any Audrey Hepburn movie is that Audrey Hepburn looks amazing in Givenchy. But if you want to try another of her films, I think Sabrina is a better film. It's old-fashioned and sweet. And the clothes are stunning. So stunning that Edith Head stole designing credit from Givenchy and won an Oscar. Ah, the trivia that lives in my head ... replace it with useful knowledge and I'd be a force to be reckoned with ...

[amykw33]

toh -- "Philadelphia Story" & "Brief Encounter" (BE makes me cry!!!)