This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at MSU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
Like many people, I am a sucker for a good romance movie. I love having a good cry, laugh, and swooning moment all in one sitting, and over the years, these four movies have become my go-tos. These movies are ones that I can watch over and over without ever getting tired or bored of the plot. They are feel good, sad, happy, and romantic all at once. These are my island movies, my favorite ones, and ones I will continue to recommend time and time again.
Life As We Know It (2010)
This movie follows Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Messer (Josh Duhamel). However, these two can’t stand each other. Their best friends set them up on a date and of course it’s the worst date ever, which is the catalyst of loathing between the two over the next couple of years. However, when tragedy strikes, they are the ones left to care for their best friend’s daughter who is barely one year old. As godparents, they are forced to step up to keep Sophie out of the system, and this means moving in together and coparenting.
Holly and Messer are the perfect enemies to lovers story. They spend their time hilariously trying to figure out how to take care of a baby (imagine a man eater and a playboy raising a baby girl) in the midst falling in love with each other and with their godbaby Sophie. Forced-proximity, enemies to lovers, and even a heart-wrenching third act break up becomes so heartwarming with a beautiful ending. Life As We Know It is the movie I go to for good laughs in a romantic setting, and it was one of the first movies I ever truly loved and watched over and over.
Dear John (2010)
This one is a classic. John (Channing Tatum) meets Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) during his two-week break from the army. The two easily fall in love, but those two weeks fly by and suddenly John is back off to war. The two keep in touch with letters over the years, but sadly Savannah moves on eventually in a heartbreaking twist. John is heartbroken and so is Savannah, and viewers are forced to watch this on screen as they live their separate lives in agony, yearning for the presence of each other. The movie ends with them meeting again, but left vague yet hopeful for the audience.
This is my go-to cry movie. Without fail, every time that I’ve watched I have cried like a baby. It wrecks me every single time and that’s why I love it. That’s why I keep going back. I can’t help it, I always tune in for my yearly rewatch of Dear John, and if you’re looking for a tearjerker, I would highly recommend this film. After all, they don’t call them dear John letters for nothing.
The Spectacular Now (2013)
Sutter (Miles Teller) and Aimee (Shailene Woodley) are a cool-guy and shy-girl high school romance. Sutter’s popular long-term girlfriend breaks up with him and he’s lost until he meets Aimee, a shy girl who keeps her head down at school. Both coming from hard home lives, they connect quickly, which then turns into a whirlwind romance. Aimee has plans to go to college and get away from their closed-in small town, but Sutter struggles with motivation to go, and his life crumbles when he comes face-to-face with his previously absent father. Sutter and Aimee go through a sad heartbreak, but luckily Sutter turns his life around and their story ends on a good note with Sutter going back for Aimee.
When I first saw this movie years ago, I thought I was the only one who watched it. No one I knew knew about this movie, and I spent so much time introducing it to people. This is the first movie I ever saw Miles Teller in and loved him, but I knew Shailene Woodley from The Secret Life of the American Teenager, which was the first ever show I binged and loved. I absolutely loved seeing these two in a movie together and it’s one I go back to every so often because of the personal nostalgia, but it also captures teenage years so well. It’s a movie that perfectly captures young love and the complexities of people, and the outstanding factors that ultimately impact relationships.
Fifty Shades Freed (2018)
I already know the rep that this movie trilogy has, so I am here to put it to rest. Fifty Shades Freed is the last movie in the Fifty Shades trilogy that follows Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). If you don’t want spoilers for this movie, don’t read the rest of this paragraph because it’s a little hard to describe without spoiling some of the plot — and yes, these movies have plots. Anastasia’s old boss from her job has a vendetta against Christian and has been plotting his revenge since the first movie. After all his attempts at getting back at Christian have failed, in this movie he tries one last time. This attempt involves a kidnapping, a ransom, and a dangerous situation for Ana, who is already in a fragile state in her relationship with Christian given the big news that neither of them expected. This is a very vague explanation of the movie, but everything ends happily with Christian and Ana in their new home with the family they built together. It’s all very wholesome.
The Fifty Shades trilogy has a very bad reputation because of the first movie, but people don’t stay long enough to realize that it has depth. This is a trilogy about a man who falls in love with a woman and changes all his ways for her. It’s a trilogy about overcoming childhood trauma and the habits that one builds because of it. It’s a trilogy that focuses on overcoming traumatic events and experiences. It’s a trilogy that is based on love and the trials and tribulations that come with loving a person. I advocate for this series so much because it’s so much more than just sex, which is what everyone sees. Whenever I say it’s my comfort series I get odd looks. I beg people to not just watch the first movie and then abandon it and claim all of it is just about sex because it’s not. It’s about finding true love and sticking by them through the hard times, it’s about changing for the person you love because you want them to have the best version of you, it’s about accepting flaws and loving the whole person, not just parts of them. I hope if you’ve gotten anything from this article, it’s to give this trilogy a chance and not to just chalk the whole thing up to sex. Fifty Shades Freed is specifically my favorite because of the happy ending Ana and Christian get after everything they’ve been through together — and I am one sucker for a happy ending.
These are four of my favorite romance movies, and they each have a little bit of something different to fit whatever mood you might be in. Whether you want to cry, laugh, or even enjoy a little bit of suspense with your romance, these movies are the ones I’d recommend for a peak movie watching experience.