The 20 best romantic comedies to watch as a couple

• bittersweet
• black-and-white
• surprisingly modern

The highest-rated romantic comedy on IMDb is a film about an office worker who lends his apartment to his bosses for their affairs, and the elevator operator he falls for. It sounds bleak and plays as one of the warmest movies ever made about two lonely people choosing each other and building a relationship out of nothing. For a couple it is a perfect first classic: the jokes still land, the romance is earned, and the final line is one of the best in cinema. Watch it on a quiet Sunday night when you want a movie that feels like a hug with some sadness in it.

• whimsical
• Parisian
• for the dreamers

A shy Montmartre waitress decides to secretly fix the lives of everyone around her while being too scared to fix her own love life. Amélie is the most visually playful romantic comedy on this list, every frame saturated with colour and little inventions, and it is a great couple movie because it is really about the courage to start a relationship at all. If one of you is a Guarded type who takes a while to open up, you will recognise yourself. French with subtitles, which makes it a proper "phones away" movie night.

• screwball
• pure fun

Two musicians witness a mob hit and hide out in an all-female band in drag, where one of them falls for the band's singer. It is the funniest film of its decade and still one of the best comedies for couples who want to actually laugh out loud rather than smile politely. Marilyn Monroe is at her best, the pacing never drops, and the last line is the most famous joke in romantic comedy history. A great pick for a couple who think old movies are slow: this one is not.

• clever
• feel-good
• rewatchable

A cynical weatherman relives the same small-town day until he becomes someone worth loving. Groundhog Day is secretly the best film ever made about what a long relationship asks of you: the same person, the same routine, and the choice to get better inside it. It is short, it is endlessly quotable, and it works for couples who do not usually agree on movies, because it is as much a comedy as a romance. If you only watch one film from this list together, this is a strong candidate.

• romantic
• travel
• one perfect day

A princess escapes her handlers for one day in Rome and spends it with a reporter who knows exactly who she is. Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for it, and the film is basically the blueprint for every "one magical day" romance since. For a pair who love to travel it is a great date night movie, because it is about the joy of being a tourist together, scooters and gelato included, and because the ending respects the audience. Watch it before a city trip and you will spend the trip quoting it.

• warm
• tearful
• for long-term couples

A young man learns the men in his family can travel back in time, and uses it mostly to get the girl and then to get the ordinary days right. It starts as a classic Richard Curtis rom com and quietly turns into a film about marriage, parents and paying attention to the relationship you already have. This is the one that makes couples hold hands on the sofa by the last twenty minutes. Keep tissues nearby and do not watch it on a night when one of you is already tired; it deserves full attention.

• messy
• honest
• a dance competition

Two people who have both had a very bad year meet, argue, and train for a dance contest neither of them is good at. It is a romantic comedy that treats its characters' rough edges with respect, and the chemistry between Cooper and Lawrence (who won an Oscar for this) is the real thing. For a couple it is a reminder that nobody arrives in a relationship finished, and that the right pair can be two unfinished people. The family dinner scenes are as funny as anything on this list.

• New York
• witty
• the one everyone quotes

Can men and women be friends? The film that asked the question, written by Nora Ephron, follows two people over twelve years of almost getting together. It is the most quoted romantic comedy ever made, from the deli scene to the New Year's Eve speech, and at 95 minutes it is the ideal length for a weeknight. Couples whose relationship started as a friendship will see their own story in it. Watch it in autumn; the Central Park scenes practically demand it.

• indie
• bittersweet
• a conversation starter

The film warns you in the first minute: this is not a love story. It is the story of a relationship told out of order, from the day they meet to the day it ends, with an expectations-versus-reality split screen that has become a classic. Watch it as a pair precisely because it is honest about how two people can be in the same relationship and experience two different ones. It is the best conversation starter on this list; expect to talk afterwards about what each of you noticed.

• Christmas
• ensemble
• a British institution

Nine intertwined love stories in London in the five weeks before Christmas, with half of British acting in the cast. It is long, it is uneven, and every couple has a favourite storyline they will defend to the death (the Emma Thompson bedroom scene is the one that stays with you). Love Actually is the definitive Christmas movie for couples and a surprisingly good one for a rainy night in any month. Agree in advance which storyline you are each rooting for; it makes the ending more fun.

• true story
• culture clash
• in-laws

Based on how Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon actually met: a Pakistani-American comedian falls for a grad student, hides her from his family, and then has to win over her parents while she is in a medically induced coma. It is the best romantic comedy of the last decade about families, and about the two cultures a relationship sometimes has to bridge. Holly Hunter and Ray Romano as the parents steal the film. A great pick if one of you is nervous about the other's family.

• ensemble
• twisty
• for married couples

A man whose wife asks for a divorce gets a wardrobe and wingman education from a smooth bachelor, while the bachelor falls for a woman who is immune to his lines. It juggles three generations of romance and lands a third-act twist that most couples do not see coming. Watch it as a couple for the Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone scenes, stay for the speech about soulmates. One of the few rom coms that is just as good for a pair married fifteen years as for a relationship on its fifth date.

• time loop
• wedding
• 90 minutes of fun

Two wedding guests get stuck in the same day in the desert and have to decide whether being stuck together is a punishment or the point. It is Groundhog Day rebuilt as a couple's story, sharp and sweet and over in an hour and a half. For couples it asks the real question underneath every long relationship: would you choose the same day with this person, forever? The funniest modern entry on this list and the easiest to agree on.

• high school
• 90s
• nostalgic

Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew moved to a Seattle high school, where a bad boy is paid to date the girl nobody dares to. The bleacher serenade with the marching band is still one of the great grand gestures in film. It is the ideal pick when a relationship needs something light and nostalgic, and the poem at the end holds up better than most of us remember. Watch it on a Friday when neither of you wants to think too hard.

• London
• cosy
• comfort rewatch

The most famous actress in the world walks into a travel bookshop in west London and the shop's owner spills orange juice on her. Richard Curtis's script is the comfort-food version of a romantic comedy: a flatmate in his underwear, a dinner party of friends who feel real, and the "just a girl, standing in front of a boy" line. For a long relationship it is the film you put on when you want something you both already know you love. The changing-seasons walk through the market is the best single shot in the genre.

• British
• friends
• bittersweet

A serial wedding guest keeps running into the same American woman at everyone else's ceremonies, while his group of friends ages around him. It is about the fear of commitment and the moment you realise you are the last one standing at the bar. The funeral scene, with John Hannah reading Auden, is the reason this film is remembered as something more than a comedy. A great movie for a pair to watch the week before you attend a wedding together.

• fairy tale
• Los Angeles
• iconic

A corporate raider hires a Hollywood Boulevard escort to be his date for a week and both of their lives come apart in the best way. Julia Roberts became a star in this film, and the Rodeo Drive revenge scene ("Big mistake. Huge.") is still quoted every day somewhere. It is the purest fairy-tale romance on the list and a good pick when a couple wants glamour rather than realism. The opera scene is the one to watch for.

• lavish
• Singapore
• meeting the family

A New York economics professor flies to Singapore for her boyfriend's best friend's wedding and discovers his family is one of the richest in Asia, and his mother does not approve. It is the most spectacular romantic comedy of the decade, with a wedding scene that will make you both reconsider your own plans. Underneath the yachts it is about whether a relationship can survive the partner's family, which is why the mahjong scene between Constance Wu and Michelle Yeoh is the real climax. Perfect for a date night that wants a bit of escapism.

• fake relationship
• Alaska
• easy laughs

A Canadian publishing executive facing deportation forces her assistant into a fake engagement, and the two of them have to sell it to his family in Alaska over one weekend. It is the fake-relationship trope done at full strength, with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds bickering like a pair who have clearly been in each other's heads for years. Betty White is a gift. A low-effort, high-return movie night pick when a couple just wants to laugh and go to bed happy.

• destination wedding
• enemies to lovers
• new classic

Two people who had one perfect date and one terrible morning are thrown together at a wedding in Sydney and agree to pretend they are a couple to survive it. Loosely based on Much Ado About Nothing, it brought the big-screen romantic comedy back in 2024 and gave the genre its first new star pairing in years. The IMDb rating is the lowest on this list and it does not matter: this is the film new relationships actually put on, and the Unwritten singalong will stay in your heads for a week. Watch it when you want something new rather than another rewatch.