Listen, as someone who grew up with all the best romantic comedies from the 1990s and 2000s, it’s kind of sad nowadays to see the lack in the genre throughout the 2010s and 2020s. I mean, there’s always a few gems now and again, but overall, I feel like we’re in a down period for romantics like myself. That being said, I still went out of my way to find them on the 2025 movie schedule, and found a solid list I’d recommend to fans of romance movies.
Last year, I watched a whopping 20 romance movies and found favorites like We Live In Time, Lisa Frankenstein and Challengers, but as I noted a year ago, my favorite romances were so chaotic for the genre. Many of my picks this year are actually a lot more obvious romance movies than 2024, and there are more, which is a good sign, I think. Let’s get into them:
Eternity
Amazingly enough, one romance movie actually made our best movies of 2025 list, and it’s called Eternity. The movie currently stands at No. 6 in our ranking, which really speaks to how much we loved it as a staff. It may have even restored our faith in rom-coms? Anyways, if you haven’t heard of it, it’s about an elderly man who dies, and is sent to this middle place between death and “eternity.”
It’s not long before he reunites with his wife of 65 years there, but once she arrives, it’s revealed that her first husband (who died in a war) has been waiting for her all this time, and she must choose between her dreamy first husband (Callum Turner) and the man she’s spent her lifetime with (Miles Teller). Along with it being a fresh concept for a rom-com, I found myself teary-eyed over its message about what really matters when it comes to long-lasting love.
A Nice Indian Boy
Another great rom-com to come out of 2025 is the indie film, A Nice Indian Boy. Few movies have made me ugly cry like this one, starring Deadpool’s Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff. It follows an Indian-American doctor Naveen (Soni) who falls in love with a professional photographer who's a white guy, named Jay (Groff), who was adopted by Indian parents who have died. When the couple become serious, Naveen specifically deals with family struggles not only to accept his own sexuality in front of them, but balance their traditions with what he wants. It’s not only hilarious, but I found it to be a very heartwarming story about having immigrant parents.
Stream A Nice Indian Boy on Hulu.
The Wedding Banquet
Along similar lines to A Nice Indian Boy, another movie about a gay couple dealing with an immigrant family also was highlighted in a different light with The Wedding Banquet. It’s actually a remake of a 1990s movie about two queer couples who are dealing with two different problems. Lily Gladstone and Kelly Marie Tran play Lee and Angela, who hope to have a baby together, but are having trouble paying for another fertility treatment. Then, there’s Bowen Yang and Han-Gi-chan’s Chris and Min. The latter is dealing with his U.S. visa soon expiring.
They hatch a plan to have Min and Angela marry each other, and pretend to be a couple in front of Min’s Korean grandmother to solve both couple’s problems. In our The Wedding Banquet review, I gave it four stars for being a “celebration of queer joy” while also feeling “truly genuine.”
Stream The Wedding Banquet on Paramount+.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy
The Bridget Jones movies were a staple of the rom-com genre in the early 2000s, but sequels like this are often not nearly as good as their original counterparts. That’s thankfully not the case for Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy. I came in with low expectations, and found myself floating along with it, as these movies are supposed to. Sure, the idea of the movie killing off Colin Firth’s character is a little hard to get past, but once you go on the ride alongside Renee Zellweger, it’s a beautiful comfort movie about Bridget navigating dating at another phase of her life while also dealing with the subject of grief in a really moving way.
Stream Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy on Peacock.
Heart Eyes
Wait, isn’t Heart Eyes a horror movie? Yes, but to my surprise as well, it’s also quite a fun romantic comedy. The movie came out the weekend before Valentine’s Day for a reason! Now, this one is probably the goofiest movie on this list, given it’s about a serial killer that goes after couples on the holiday, but I found myself simultaneously charmed by the romance plotline, and all-in on the bloody horror at the same time. Give it a shot.
Oh, Hi!
The Bear’s Molly Gordon came up with Oh, Hi! with screenwriter/director Sophie Brooks, and I think it’s one of the most original concepts for a rom-com I’ve seen in a while. Gordon plays one half of new couple, Iris and Isaac (Logan Lerman), who go on a romantic weekend getaway in a remote house.
When playing with bondage together, Isaac is handcuffed to the bed right before they end up having a conversation about their relationship. When Iris learns he doesn’t think they are in a serious relationship, and has been sleeping with other women, she decides to leave him handcuffed to the bed and attempts to convince him they belong together. Not only is the movie hilarious, it has really apt commentary about modern dating.
Materialists
One more great romantic comedy that came out this year is Celine Song’s Materialists. I appear to be a Materialists apologist in a sea of viewers who didn’t like it. I've seen this movie twice and I still think it succeeds at being an old school romantic comedy that I wish I saw more of in the world. It asks some hard questions about the part economics play in relationships, and offers some swoon-worthy moments between Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans.
Stream Materialists on HBO Max.
As you catch up on the best of 2025, there’s more romance to be had among the 2026 movie schedule, too. From the adaptation of Emily Henry’s People We Meet On Vacation, to Wuthering Heights and Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s The Drama, I’m looking forward to the year ahead for the genre – even if we’re still not in the golden age of rom-coms anymore.
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