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Romantic comedy is one of cinema’s oldest and most reliable genres for good reason: Real-life romance is complicated and sometimes exhausting. That can be true for characters in movies, too, but their problems are generally funnier than our own and, anyway, they’re not our problems. We’re comforted either because we know everything will work out fine for our cinematic counterparts—or because we know we won’t have to deal with the hilarious and/or poignant consequences of interacting with other humans.
In that spirit, these are some of the best romantic comedies currently streaming on Netflix—everything from ’90s favorites to non-English language imports to older classics.
Hit Man (2024)
This “Netflix Original” from director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Boyhood) was actually acquired by the streamer after it made a splash at the Sundance Film Festival, no doubt in anticipation of leading man Glen Powell finally having his moment. And certainly he’s got charisma to spare in this shaggy-dog rom-com/thriller in which he plays Gary Johnson, a college professor who moonlights as a participant in sting operations for the New Orleans police department, pretending to be a hit man to rope in would-be criminals. When he feels a spark with his latest mark, a woman (Adria Arjona) desperate to escape an abusive husband, things get complicated. It’s a great premise, the leads have chemistry to spare, and it’s altogether a great hang.
Anyone But You (2023)
Speaking of Glen Powell, he co-headlines this 2023 throwback (an extremely loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing) with Euphoria‘s Sydney Sweeney that became a box office hit despite a savaging by critics. The pair play an investment banker and a college student, respectively, who meet cute but suffer a classic rom-com misunderstanding that leaves them both bitter—then, two years later, they meet up at the destination wedding of her sister and his roommate’s sister, perfectly positioned for a classic enemies-to-lovers turnabout.
It Could Happen to You (1994)
Nicholas Cage and Bridget Fonda star in this charming inspired-by-a-true-story gem originally titled “Cop Gives Waitress $2 Million Tip.” Cage plays that cop, who realizes he can’t cover his bill at a diner and tells his waitress (Fonda) he’ll give her half of his jackpot if his lottery ticket turns out to be a winner—and then it does.
The Lovebirds (2020)
Bumped from theaters and sold to Netflix at the beginning of the pandemic, his two-hander starring Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani was largely overlooked at the time, but deserves a second chance. They play a couple whose relationship is at a low point after four years together. Through bizarre circumstances, the same night they decide to break up, they are the joint witnesses to a murder and must go on the run—and nothing reignites an old flame like life-or-death stakes. The film was directed by Michael Showalter, who helped put Nanjiani on the map with 2017’s The Big Sick.
Knocked Up (2007)
One of the biggest rom-coms of the 21st century, Knocked Up stands out today less for its slightly retrograde gender dynamics (schlubby, childish guy is forced to man up after getting a one-night stand pregnant and realizing she—a responsible adult—wants to keep the baby) than for the fact that a few decades ago, a movie like this could be a box office sensation. Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl are appealing enough leads, but the most memorable moments come from the supporting cast, which includes Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segel, Kristen Wiig, and Jonah Hill.
Kicking and Screaming (1995)
No, not the on where Will Ferrell coaches a kids’ soccer team. This early effort from future Barbie co-writer/Greta Gerwig paramour Noah Baumbach is a talky rom-com in the Woody Allen/Whit Stillman vein, following the various romantic struggles of group of recent college grads who can’t quite figure out how to get started on their real lives. There’s not a ton of plot, but the vibes are great—credit Baumbach’s witty script and a likable cast, including Josh Hamilton, Olivia d’Abo, Chris Eigeman, and Parker Posey.
She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
The first Spike Lee joint, this enormously charming low-budget feature follows Nola Darling (Tracy Camilla Johns), a young artist living in Brooklyn in the pre-hipster 1980s, as she muses on her romantic relationships with three different men (one of them played by Lee himself). If a little rough around the edges, it’s an extremely accomplished debut, hinting at Lee’s future career with creative flourishes, from a documentary shooting style to sequences in which interviews with the characters (and a handful of real people) offer commentary on the difficulties of navigating romantic relationships in the then-modern era.
Something’s Gotta Give (2009)
Nancy Meyers is the queen of the glossy, escapist rom-com, and Something’s Gotta Give is one of her best. Where many films in the genre focus on hapless twenty-somethings, this one turns the clock forward a few decades to focus on fifty-something Erica (Diane Keaton) looking for a new spark in her life, post-divorce and children. A trip to her (ridiculously gorgeous) home in the Hamptons gets awkward when her daughter (Amanda Peet) shows up with her much older boyfriend Harry (Jack Nicholson), who has sworn he will never date a woman over 30. Despite her infatuation with Harry’s doctor (a particularly fetching Keanu Reeves), who has no qualms about dating above his age bracket, Erica feels drawn to Harry, but maybe only because they make such good sparring partners.
Nappily Ever After (2018)
Violet Jones (Sanaa Lathan) spends her life in near-terror of rain, for fear that her rigorously straightened hair will be ruined. That hair is a signifier in every aspect of her life, straightening sessions even having been a way to bond with her demanding mother (Lynn Whitfield). Following a breakup with her boyfriend because of her exacting nature (particularly regarding her hair), she experiments with: different colors that her friends object to; a natural style that renders her either invisible or the subject of derision; she even shaves her head at one point, which only gets her invited to a cancer support group. Director Haifaa al-Mansour’s movie makes a great point about the fraught nature of Black hair, particularly when that hair belongs to a woman. Meeting a salon owner in the middle of a freakout, Violet begins a slow journey to learning to love herself, her hair, and maybe even the hot salon owner (Lyriq Bent).
Always Be My Maybe (2019)
Romantic comedies are often (not always) comfort food, and so we often find familiar plots: Here, longtime friends who’d lost touch (Ali Wong and Randall Park) reconnect after a falling out years before. She’s a successful celebrity chef and engaged; he’s fixing air conditioners with his dad, which is how the two meet up. Nahnatchka Khan (creator of Fresh Off the Boat) brings a light touch here, and Wong and Park have great chemistry; they’re joined by a fun supporting cast that includes a really funny turn from Keanu Reeves playing himself.
Set It Up (2018)
Some of the best romantic comedies involve a slightly outlandish scheme, and this reliably charming Netflix original has one of those great setups: Two overworked assistants (Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell) come up with the idea that, if they can get their bosses (Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs) laid, they’ll be less interested in stressing out their employees. So the two harried assistants plan to set their bosses up, which, not unexpectedly, goes very comedically awry in pretty much every way. Naturally these things never work out as planned, and the romance in the offing is not the one that anyone had expected.
The Perfect Find (2023)
Though Numa Perrier’s film hits plenty of the traditional rom-com beats, lead Gabrielle Union provides the spark that ignites the whole film (based on the Tia Williams novel). She’s never been better than she is here, playing Jenna, a woman in her 40s making a clean break of a long-term relationship and taking on a high-profile, high-stakes career in beauty journalism—only to wind up in a one-night stand with Eric (Keith Powers), 15 years younger and the son of her boss.
The Half of It (2020)
Writer/director Alice Wu made a splash with her queer classic Saving Face way back in 2004. Her long-awaited follow-up, a comedy-drama inspired by Cyrano de Bergerac, is better. Here, friendless high schooler Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis, from “Nancy Drew”) is tasked with writing love letters to her crush, Aster (Alexxis Lemire), on behalf of a football player named Paul. There’s plenty that’s familiar here, but Wu makes everything feel fresh and fun.
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)
One of the most iconic and memorable rom-coms of the 1990s might be new to many American viewers, who are missing out on a movie that’s both wonderfully goofy and deeply poignant in the best tradition of the genre. Shah Rukh Khan plays Rahul Khanna, best friends in college with Anjali (Kajol), but smitten with Tina (Rani Mukerji). Rahul and Tina get married and time goes by, but Tina always feels a little bit guilty, like maybe she got in the way of something. With little time left to live following complications in childbirth (did I mention there’s also drama here?), Tina writes her daughter a series of letters—the last one asking that she make sure that dad and Anjali reconnect.
Our Souls at Night (2017)
Indian director Ritesh Batra (The Sense of an Ending and The Lunchbox) brought together screen legends Robert Redford and Jane Fonda for this well-received romantic drama from a top-rate director. Despite the ominous title, it’s a quiet and sweet film that’s worthy of its stars. It’s not really a comedy, so I’m cheating a bit by putting it here, but it’s got such a satisfyingly light touch that it hits most of the same buttons as more straightforward rom-coms.
A Perfect Pairing (2022)
A high-end Hallmark movie in tone (nothing wrong with that!), A Perfect Pairing has a flawless setup: Harried Los Angeles wine exec Lola (Victoria Justice) comes across a little-known family-made wine from Australia, but a co-worker steals her idea and pitches it to the boss before she can. So fed-up Lola heads Down Under to secure the client for what she hopes will be her new company. Trying to work her way in, she volunteers to cover for a missing hand at the sheep farm owned by the family. The big-city girl down-on-the-farm premise comes, of course, with the slightly cocky but increasingly charming (and often shirtless) station boss (Adam Demos) with whom she works.
Alex Strangelove (2018)
High schooler Alex Truelove (Daniel Doheny) is psyching himself up to have sex with his girlfriend, Claire, for the first time—but something’s holding him back. Openly gay Elliott (Antonio Marziale) has an idea why Alex is so reluctant and, frankly, the audience ought to have a clue by that point, as well. It’s a perfectly sweet, good-natured coming-of-age story that has some fun with Alex’s awkward efforts to set expectations aside and just kinda be himself.
Wedding Season (2023)
Asha (Pallavi Sharda) just broke off her engagement and left her Wall Street investment firm in favor of a Jersey City startup. Her concerned mother sets her daughter up on a dating app, and Asha acquiesces to a single date with the first match: Ravi (Suraj Sharma). It doesn’t go particularly well, but they’re both under a lot of parental pressure to get married, and Asha has about a dozen weddings to go to over the course of the summer, most of them filled with busybodies who want to see her in a relationship. So, naturally (for a movie), Ahsa and Ravi decide to play at being a couple to get people off their backs—which works out fine, until it doesn’t.
Barakah Meets Barakah (2016)
Class-busting romance is nothing particularly new, but this candid Saudi Arabian comedy-drama sees middle-class civil servant Barakah (Hisham Fageeh) strike up a relationship with Bibi, a boundary-pushing Insta celebrity. Just finding time and space to pursue a frowned-upon relationship in modern Saudi is challenging, but the movie explores the social and political obstacles with a light touch.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
Imagine that everyone you’d ever had a crush on received a letter expressing your exact feelings. It’s a nightmare scenario, but a reality for shy high school junior Lara Jean (Lana Condor), who’d written the letters as a form of secret diary, only to show up at school one day to find that her little sister had mailed them all. Can you imagine? Condor is fantastic here, and the whole thing is delightful. It’s been followed by two also-very-good sequels, as well as an ongoing spin-off series (XO, Kitty).
Seriously Single (2020)
We start out in familiar territory here: Dineo and Noni (Fulu Mugovhani and Tumi Morake, both very funny) are a couple of successful big-city women—this time in Johannesburg. Dineo is on the hunt for a long-term relationship, even after getting dumped via livestream at work, while Noni is perfectly content with one-night stands. Their romantic (and un-romantic) trials are alternately charming, horrifying, and hilarious. The heart of the movie is its two leads, and the friendship that sustains them.
