IndieWire's The 50 Greatest Romantic Comedies of All Time

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There’s something uniquely cinematic about romantic comedies — something that makes them a natural fit for the movies, and vice-versa. There’s a special alchemy that allows us to believe in the magic of meet-cutes, happily ever afters, and all of the agonizing contrivances that tend to pop up between the two; that gives storytellers permission to transpose the stuff of operas and fables into the fabric of real life.

On paper, a film like “Pretty Woman” might be a retrograde fairy tale about a hooker with a heart of gold and the rich businessman who can afford it, but the chemistry between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere is so explosive that you surrender to the sentiment of it all. It’s hard to imagine how the mismatched couple in “Something Wild” might possibly sustain a lasting relationship after the credits roll, but where that movie leaves you — and the journey it takes to get there — is so thrilling and alive that you can’t help but trust it. Literally nothing in “Love Actually” makes sense if you stop and think about it for even a few seconds, but love, actually, always seems to add up in the moment.

Richard Curtis’ magnum opus was a British production (in case you couldn’t tell), but even some of its many storylines find something naggingly American about the aspirational nature of the rom-com genre. No other country is populated by such radically different strangers, nor so enriched by the unexpected collisions between them; from “Bringing Up Baby” to “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” Hollywood has always been eager to sell the idea that we’re all just one chance encounter away from happiness. That might help to explain — if only in part — why the rom-com canon is as white and heteronormative as the history of the American film business, and why that canon is ripe for re-evaluation now that Hollywood doesn’t see the same value in the genre that it once did.

Of course, the romantic comedy is also something of a universal language, and other film industries (Bollywood most of all) have been churning these stories out for local audiences faster than we can hope to keep up. Fingers crossed that we find a way to disentangle “foreign cinema” from the arthouse, because there are so many mainstream hits from around the world that never make it to American screens.

In that light, IndieWire’s list of the 50 Best Romantic Comedies of All Time is more of a start than a final statement; it’s a living document that we’ll change up and add to as time goes by. One thing that will stay the same, however, is that rom-coms have a recognizable grammar all their own; meet-cutes, montages, banter, a weird preponderance of journalists, sex scenes that always indicate a dark turn at the end of the second act… these aren’t just love stories that happen to be funny, they’re a sacred art unto themselves. And these are 50 of the masterpieces that prove it.

By David Ehrlich, Eric Kohn, Kate Erbland, Anne Thompson, Chris O'Falt, Zack Sharf, Jude Dry, Ryan Lattanzio, Tambay Obenson, Tom Brueggemann

Feb 14, 2020 10:00 am

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  1. 1 new

    The Philadelphia Story

    1940, in 22 top lists Check
  2. 2 new

    Broadcast News

    1987, in 10 top lists Check
  3. 3 new

    Modern Times

    1936, in 30 top lists Check
  4. 4 new

    Something Wild

    1986, in 5 top lists Check
  5. 5 new

    It Happened One Night

    1934, in 29 top lists Check
  6. 6 new

    When Harry Met Sally...

    1989, in 16 top lists Check
  7. 7 new

    Bringing Up Baby

    1938, in 23 top lists Check
  8. 8 new

    Roman Holiday

    1953, in 14 top lists Check
  9. 9 new

    Forgetting Sarah Marshall

    2008, in 1 top list Check
  10. 10 new

    Pretty Woman

    1990, in 12 top lists Check
  11. 11 new

    Moonstruck

    1987, in 10 top lists Check
  12. 12 new

    His Girl Friday

    1940, in 22 top lists Check
  13. 13 new

    Monsoon Wedding

    2001, in 8 top lists Check
  14. 14 new

    Groundhog Day

    1993, in 22 top lists Check
  15. 15 new

    Clueless

    1995, in 8 top lists Check
  16. 16 new

    The American President

    1995, in 1 top list Check
  17. 17 new

    Jerry Maguire

    1996, in 8 top lists Check
  18. 18 new

    The Lady Eve

    1941, in 20 top lists Check
  19. 19 new

    Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain

    2001 — a.k.a. Amélie, in 27 top lists Check
  20. 20 new

    Punch-Drunk Love

    2002, in 12 top lists Check
  21. 21 new

    Notting Hill

    1999, in 6 top lists Check
  22. 22 new

    The Shop Around the Corner

    1940, in 14 top lists Check
  23. 23 new

    Rangeela

    1995, in 1 top list Check
  24. 24 new

    Shakespeare in Love

    1998, in 12 top lists Check
  25. 25 new

    Muriel's Wedding

    1994, in 3 top lists Check
  26. 26 new

    Sabrina

    1954, in 5 top lists Check
  27. 27 new

    Boomerang

    1992, in 1 top list Check
  28. 28 new

    But I'm a Cheerleader

    1999, in 3 top lists Check
  29. 29 new

    Knocked Up

    2007, in 4 top lists Check
  30. 30 new

    Harold and Maude

    1971, in 22 top lists Check
  31. 31 new

    Something's Gotta Give

    2003, in 2 top lists Check
  32. 32 new

    Eagle vs Shark

    2007, in 0 top lists Check
  33. 33 new

    Shall we dansu?

    1996 — a.k.a. Shall We Dance?, in 4 top lists Check
  34. 34 new

    Desk Set

    1957, in 1 top list Check
  35. 35 new

    Think Like a Man

    2012, in 0 top lists Check
  36. 36 new

    She's All That

    1999, in 0 top lists Check
  37. 37 new

    Annie Hall

    1977, in 34 top lists Check
  38. 38 new

    Kissing Jessica Stein

    2001, in 1 top list Check
  39. 39 new

    The Big Sick

    2017, in 2 top lists
    Check
  40. 40 new

    Go Fish

    1994, in 2 top lists Check
  41. 41 new

    Yeopgijeogin geunyeo

    2001 — a.k.a. My Sassy Girl, in 3 top lists Check
  42. 42 new

    High Fidelity

    2000, in 3 top lists Check
  43. 43 new

    Belle Epoque

    1992 — a.k.a. The Age of Beauty, in 5 top lists Check
  44. 44 new

    Obvious Child

    2014, in 1 top list Check
  45. 45 new

    Bend It Like Beckham

    2002, in 2 top lists Check
  46. 46 new

    13 Going on 30

    2004, in 1 top list Check
  47. 47 new

    Daan san nam nui

    2011 — a.k.a. Don't Go Breaking My Heart, in 0 top lists Check
  48. 48 new

    Ruby Sparks

    2012, in 0 top lists Check
  49. 49 new

    Sleeping with Other People

    2015, in 1 top list Check
  50. 50 new

    Love Actually

    2003, in 3 top lists Check
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Last updated on Mar 2, 2020; source