Summary
- Romance movies on Netflix offer a wide range of emotions, from lighthearted comedies to devastating dramas.
- The universal language of love in films like “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and “A Whisker Away” resonates with viewers.
- From following romantic formulas to subverting expectations, Netflix has a movie for every heart that needs to be warmed or broken.
From lighthearted comedies to devastating dramas (and everything in between), there are plenty of great romance movies on Netflix for streaming audiences to enjoy. The global audience of Netflix subscribers love a good romance movie because love is a universal language. Falling head over heels in love is a feeling that most can relate to. Whether it takes place in a different time like Lady Chatterley’s Lover, or a different culture like the animated A Whisker Away, viewers can always personally identify with a touching love story.
Romance is one of the most formulaic genres, but that formula is a recipe for a great movie. Filmmakers can create a timeless cinematic love story by either following that formula with earnestness and a deeply personal touch or subverting that formula’s expectations with something entirely new. Whether fans are looking for a romance movie that will break their heart or one that will warm their heart, Netflix has the perfect film to satisfy their needs.
15 Anyone But You (2023)
Starring Sydney Sweeney And Glen Powell
Some of the most entertaining romantic comedies are loose adaptations of classics, like Clueless adapting Emma. In this case, Anyone But You is a very loose adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.
They’re reunited as members of a wedding party and try to fake getting along to not cause any undue drama at the wedding.
The story is built on a misunderstanding by Powell and Sweeney’s main characters, who both believe the other to have insulted them and, consequently, hold a grudge, after initially being interested in one another. They’re reunited as members of a wedding party and try to fake getting along to not cause any undue drama at the wedding. Of course, their real feelings begin to emerge.
The bickering and the mishaps of the movie call to mind the comedy of romances of the ‘90s and 2000s, and Anyone But You was a hit at the box office. Much of the positive response to the movie is down to the chemistry of the cast and the charm of its leads.
14 Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Starring Henry Golding And Constance Wu
Inspired by the novel of the same name, Crazy Rich Asians sees an Asian American woman travel to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s family for the first time. What she doesn’t realize is that his family makes up some of the wealthiest people in the entire country, and most of them see her as a golddigger only interested in getting access to the family’s money, despite her never knowing the extent of his wealth.
The movie examines how generational wealth can both help and hinder family dynamics in addition to the romance playing out at the center. There is also commentary on the secrets parents keep from their children and the immigrant experience, though the movie leans into the comedy as much as the drama. It also features one of the most beautiful weddings ever put on screen as the set design and the costuming are truly unmatched in modern rom-coms.
The movie was supposed to get a sequel exploring the relationship between Gemma Chan and Harry Shum Jr.’s characters, but that sequel seems to be on hold indefinitely.
13 20th Century Girl (2022)
Starring Kim Yoo-jung And Byeon Woo-seok
This Korean romance is a bittersweet tale of first love. A high school student promises her best friend, who has to leave the country for heart surgery, that she’ll keep an eye on her crush and report back. The girl finds herself falling for the best friend of the boy she’s been watching, only to discover that she’s actually been watching the wrong boy all along, and the two girls have feelings for the same boy.
The twist ending adds an element of realism to the story. It’s also a nostalgic romance as the movie is set in the 1990s.
Rom-com fans, however, should be warned. While much of the movie leans more toward being a comedy of errors, the end does take a more dramatic turn. It speaks to the fierce loyalty of young friends as well as the intensity of first love, but it also demonstrates just how time and perspective can make things change.
12 Love At First Sight (2023)
Starring Haley Lu Richardson And Ben Hardy
Netflix has had a lot of luck with its original romances. It could rival the Hallmark Channel for finding leads with palpable chemistry and scripts that are just too sweet to be true. This movie, however, manages to find the balance between what jaded audience members might find cheesy and what romance enthusiasts will allow to sweep them off their feet.
One of the newest Netflix original romance movies is inspired by the novel The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight. In it, two people meet on a flight and have an instant connection, leading to a handful of brief adventures between the two and the question of whether an instant connection like that can be maintained. The chemistry of leads Haley Lu Richardson and Ben Hardy is what really helps make the movie charming and unforgettable.
11 A Whisker Away (2020)
Featuring The Voices Of Mirai Shida And Natsuki Hanae
Anime movies have a way of making even the simplest love stories become fantastical. In A Whisker Away, the fantasy elements are turned up high for the audience. A young woman with a crush on a classmate is given a magical mask that turns her into a cat temporarily. She finds that when she’s a cat, her classmate is much more appreciative of her, and she considers just turning into a cat forever.
As the boy who initially ignored her comes to care about her as a human and a cat conspires to take the girl’s human face, however, her love story becomes even more complicated, turning the sweet love story into even more of an adventure.
A Whisker Away won the Best Animation Work Award (in Japanese) at the Asian Academy Creative Awards. It also picked up the Excellent Work Award at the Japanese Media Arts Awards in the Animation Division.
10 Plus One (2019)
Starring Maya Erskine And Jack Quaid
Sometimes, all it takes is a pair of very likable and charming romantic leads to make a familiar rom-com premise feel fresh again. Such is the case with Plus One, which is elevated by the fact that it stars Maya Erskine and Jack Quaid in the lead roles. The movie takes place during the busy wedding season with Erskine and Quaid playing best friends who decide to be each other’s designated dates for all the nuptials they have to attend.
Though few people will be surprised when these two friends begin to develop feelings for each other, the humor, heart, and performances make it a relationship worth rooting for.
The “friends to lovers” trope is a well-worn formula in the rom-com genre, but one that audiences enjoy returning to for good reason. Though few people will be surprised when these two friends begin to develop feelings for each other, the humor, heart, and performances make it a relationship worth rooting for.
9 Holidate (2020)
Starring Emma Roberts And Luke Bracey
Some of the best Netflix romance movies are also some of Netflix’s best Christmas movies. Holidate is one of those, although its premise means that it can be enjoyed on any holiday. A young woman who is tired of her family hassling her about not having a boyfriend makes a deal with a single guy: they’ll be each other’s “holidates” for as long as they’re both single, so that their families leave them alone. This means they’ll accompany one another to any and every holiday gathering attended by their respective family members throughout the year.
Along the way, the two get to know one another and become friends, and eventually, more. The movie is self-aware in its use of rom-com tropes, which is part of what makes it so great. It also boasts some fantastically funny supporting cast members, like Kristin Chenoweth.
8 Along For The Ride (2022)
Starring Emma Pasarow And Belmont Cameli
Inspired by Sarah Dessen’s young adult novel of the same name, Along for the Rideisn’t just one of Netflix’s best romances, but also one of Netflix’s best coming-of-age movies.
Auden falls in love for the first time while spending the summer with her father and making her first real friends her age. Auden has lived a sheltered life around the academic colleagues of her parents and has never really felt like she fit in with other kids. Spending a summer with a trio of teenage girls, learning to ride a bike, and falling in love, all help her get in touch with who she is.
The story acts as a reminder that even the most precocious of children should be allowed to be kids, that sometimes, a little frivolity is necessary among the most serious of relationships.
7 Set It Up (2018)
Starring Zoey Deutch And Glen Powell
2024 was Glen Powell’s year as he cropped up in action and romance movies nearly every month. Before he became one of the most in-demand leads in Hollywood, however, he starred in this Netflix original movie that showed the potential he had to become the next big rom-com boyfriend.
Set It Up is a modern rom-com about two assistants who set their bosses up to give themselves less stress. While the plan works to their advantage, it also means the two of them spend a lot of time together. As they fall for one another though, it’s refreshing, because they’re able to do it without the romance traps that characters can fall into. They’re friends who share pizza and beer, get messy, and don’t hide their flaws. They are not the picture-perfect romantic couple, making them one of the best Netflix romance movie couples to watch.
6 Carol (2015)
Starring Cate Blanchett And Rooney Mara
Not all of the best Netflix romances are set in the modern day. This one is set decades earlier. Set in the 1950s in New York, Carol sees a wealthy socialite going through a bitter divorce and falling in love with a younger shopgirl. Todd Haynes’ steady-handed direction gives Blanchett and Mara’s performances plenty of room to breathe, allowing the audience to bask in the characters’ forbidden romance.
Blanchett received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her powerful work in the title role of Carol Aird, while Mara was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for playing her love interest, aspiring photographer Therese Belivet. The movie was an award show darling, picking up nominations left and right after it was released. In all, it received five Golden Globe nominations, six Oscar nominations, and nine BAFTA nominations. It also earned accolades from several different critical organizations and guilds.
5 Always Be My Maybe (2019)
Starring Ali Wong And Randall Park
Ali Wong and Randall Park star in Always Be My Maybe as childhood sweethearts who reconnect as adults and find they still have feelings for each other. The premise has been seen in many previous rom-coms, but Wong’s uniquely biting wit and Park’s unmistakably affable presence make Always Be My Maybe stand out from the crowd and provide a fresh take on the formula.
Though the movie didn’t get a lot of award show love, the song “I Punched Keanu Reeves” did win Best Original Song at the 2019 Chicago Indie Awards.
It’s got the sweet story between the two friends, some off-the-wall comedy, and a healthy balance of dramatic reveals. Not only is Always Be My Maybe a wonderful love story, but it also has an unforgettable cameo appearance by Keanu Reeves as a ridiculous version of himself. It’s one of Netflix’s best original romance movies.
4 Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2022)
Starring Emma Corrin And Jack O’Connell
This is one of several movies to have an experimental theatrical-streaming hybrid release. Lady Chatterley’s Lover was only in theaters for about two weeks before it became available to stream on Netflix as well. That meant it didn’t have a lot of time to gain box office revenue, but it was able to find an audience at home very quickly.
Emma Corrin gives a stunning lead performance as Lady Chatterley in Lady Chatterley’s Lover; an aristocratic woman who escapes from her loveless marriage by entering into a torrid affair with the handsome gamekeeper on her husband’s estate. Netflix’s 2022 version is the 10th film adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s classic novel, but it’s arguably the best of the bunch. It’s well-acted by Corrin and her co-star Jack O’Connell, well-written by Life of Pi screenwriter David Magee, and director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre doesn’t shy away from the moral complexity of the story’s themes.
3 To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)
Starring Lana Condor And Noah Centineo
This movie is responsible for ushering in an era of Netflix teen romances. Based on Jenny Han’s Young Adult novel, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before follows shy high-schooler Lara Jean Covey, who secretly writes letters to her crushes in order to get all of the feelings that seem too big for her out. She is horrified to learn that the letters have been mailed out and that her crushes know her secret – even ones that she doesn’t have feelings for anymore.
Condor’s charming, lovable performance has made Lara Jean one of the definitive teen rom-com heroines of her generation as she agrees to a fake relationship with one of those very crushes. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is everything that romance fans could want from an entry in the genre: sweet, funny, earnest, and it tells a great story. It also has two sequel movies and a spinoff series spotlighting Lara Jean’s little sister, so it’s a universe a romance fan can immerse themselves in.
2 Maestro (2023)
Starring Bradley Cooper And Carey Mulligan
Following his critically acclaimed directorial debut with A Star is Born, Bradley Cooper wrote, directed, and starred in another feature film about a complicated musician and the powerful love of his life. Maestro tells the story of Leonard Bernstein (Cooper), one of the most celebrated American composers of all time, and his marriage to Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan).
The couple struggled with finding a balance between raising a family and allowing him to embrace his sexuality.
Maestro is a unique love story that shows the different shapes romance can take. Bernstein was in romantic relationships with men most of his life and Felicia understood this. The couple struggled with finding a balance between raising a family and allowing him to embrace his sexuality. However, there was never a doubt how deeply in love they were. Cooper tells a touching and heartbreaking love story with a grand feel and amazing performances, especially from Mulligan.
1 Marriage Story (2019)
Starring Scarlet Johansson And Adam Driver
Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver might be known for their work in genre movies instead, but they each give Oscar-nominated performances as two sides of a couple going through a difficult divorce in Marriage Story. Although Nicole and Charlie initially agree to split amicably, the legal proceedings quickly turn ugly. Every argument goes through lawyers, every tiny mistake is extrapolated in court as a sign of bad parenting, and every single emotion from their marriage is laid out on the table.
Marriage Story is a raw, honest examination of what brings couples together in the first place, the challenges that each relationship faces, and the irreparable problems that eventually lead to a breakup. This is not a charming rom-com, but the dissolution of a relationship is just as compelling a watch and makes for one of Netflix’s best romance movies right now.
