The most romantic day of the year is swiftly approaching, and the options to fill it are endless. It’s the one day of the year when love will cost a little extra, with everyone overspending on fancy dinners, getting upsold on weekend packages away, and hurrying to hit up a drugstore on the way home from work in the hopes that all the flowers and candy won’t already be sold out.

Why not eschew all that hassle and snuggle in for date night on the couch? Or perhaps within the cozy confines of a blanket fort festooned with fairy lights and bursting with snacks? All that’s necessary to complete the mood is a romantic movie with a few laughs, a few tears, and a lot of heart. Choose from the 10 best Valentine’s Day movies of all time (ranked by their IMDb scores).

Disclaimer: A film does not have to be set specifically on Valentine’s Day to be considered for this list.

10 SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (6.8)

It doesn’t get much more romantic than Sleepless in Seattle, starring the original King and Queen of romantic comedy in the ’90s, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Hanks plays a widower with a young son who’s recently moved to Seattle, who begrudgingly calls into a radio show and discusses his feelings of grief on air.

Ryan plays the Baltimore reporter who tunes in at the right moment, falling for Hanks’s Sam Baldwin despite being engaged to someone else. She writes him a letter (the emails would come in their next film outing!) telling him to meet her at the Empire State Building on Valentine’s Day if he is game to take a risk on love.

9 THE LAKE HOUSE (6.8)

For Outlander fans and all those who root for time-traveling star-crossed lovers, The Lake House has you covered in the department of unconventional romance. Kate (Sandra Bullock) buys a lake house formerly owned by an architect, Alex, (Keanu Reeves), and the two begin a romance through the exchange of letters in the mailbox out front.

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In this fantasy romance, Kate turns out to be the woman who owned Alex’s lakehouse two years prior, and the pair must uncover some way that they can cross space and time to be with one another in the present. The reunion of Bullock and Reeves after Speed is buoyed by their palpable onscreen chemistry.

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8 PRETTY WOMAN (7.0)

A modern twist on the Cinderella story, Pretty Woman is a romantic classic full of quotable scenes and ’90s zeitgeist. When Edward (Richard Gere) heads to LA for a business trip, he picks up a prostitute on a lark (Julia Roberts) and the unlikely pair’s encounter ends up going far beyond a transactional relationship.

When Edward wants Vivian to stay for the weekend, she happily accepts, dazzled by the luxurious lifestyle of a man who makes a living breaking up multi-million dollar companies. Eventually, the differences in their status threaten to pull them apart just as they start falling for each other, but true love prevails.

7 BLUE VALENTINE (7.4)

Before Marriage Story explored the inevitable end of a relationship, Blue Valentine examines a romance’s slow deterioration over several years. Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) are a blue-collar couple happily in love at first, but his lack of ambition and her tendency to self-isolate slowly take their toll.

The film may not be the happiest of love stories but it’s honest and raw, showing what happens when the meaning of love changes for a loving couple, and the fire that originally fanned the flames isn’t big enough to keep burning forever.

6 LOVE ACTUALLY (7.6)

While Love Actually is most assuredly a fantastic Christmas movie, it also doubles as a perfect Valentine’s Day feature as well. Ironically, a very similar film called Valentine’s Day – which also features the storylines of several interconnected parties eventually intertwining – does exist, but it never tops this seasonal favorite.

Love Actually boasts a huge cast of talent (Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman, just to name a few) and focuses on all sorts of love. Whether it’s the affection between a stepfather and his son, two spouses, girlfriends and boyfriends, or employers and employees, it’s done with the perfect combination of realism and sentimentality.

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5 BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (7.7)

A tragic tale of what happens when love is built on a foundation of longing and regret, Brokeback Mountain features the talents of Jake Gyllenhaal playing Jack Twist and the late Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar, two ranch hands assigned to herd sheep together in Wyoming.

One night Jack makes a drunken pass at Ennis, who is uncomfortable with the encounter at first but eventually reciprocates. Jack eventually marries an ex-rodeo star (Anne Hathaway) and Ennis eventually marries his high school sweetheart (Michelle Williams), but the guys find a way to maintain their affair for 20 years.

4 THE NOTEBOOK (7.8)

The American South in the ’40s was a magical time for young lovers Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Allie (Rachel McAdams) who felt their bond could withstand anything. Unfortunately, her parents’ disapproval and his service in WWII put an abrupt end to their relationship.

The Notebook may seem like as maudlin a romance as they get, however viewers may just find themselves cheering when Noah returns from the war to his home town, intent on winning Allie back even though she’s engaged to a different suitor (James Marsden).

3 TITANIC (7.8)

With its astonishing attention to period detail, jaw-dropping special effects, and a strong cast of talented actors, it was no surprise that Titanic became one of the most successful films of all time. However, it was Titanic‘s grandiose love story that helped it become a timeless classic for the most romantic day of the year.

Set amidst the backdrop of the infamous historical tragedy of the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, penniless artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) has a chance encounter with beautiful aristocrat Rose DeWitt Bukater, and they fight for their love along with their lives.

2 ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (8.3)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind posits what would happen if two people wanted to forget each other with every fiber of their beings but somehow knew their destinies would forever be linked because of the magnitude of their feelings for one another.

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Clementine (Kate Winslet) gets a procedure to forget her memories of her former boyfriend Joel (Jim Carrey), and Joel turns around to get the same thing done. Their love story is told in reverse and proves that no matter what, love has a way of happening when we’re making other plans.

1 CASABLANCA (8.5)

Arguably, modern romance films wouldn’t exist the way they do without Casablanca, the classic romantic drama that features star-crossed lovers caught in a torturous love triangle amidst the backdrop of war. It begins with the beautiful Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) unexpectedly appearing in the bar of Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), an old flame from long ago.

From his position as a nightclub owner in Casablanca, Rick has made all sorts of connections, and she’s hoping he’ll help her get her new husband (a famous rebel) out of the country before the Nazi’s find him. Rick has to put honor before love, but he doesn’t have to like it.

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About The Author


Kayleena Pierce-Bohen
(1344 Articles Published)

Kayleena has been raised on Star Wars and Indiana Jones from the crib. A film buff, she has a Western collection of 250+ titles and counting that she’s particularly proud of. When she isn’t writing for ScreenRant, CBR, or The Gamer, she’s working on her fiction novel, lifting weights, going to synthwave concerts, or cosplaying. With degrees in anthropology and archaeology, she plans to continue pretending to be Lara Croft as long as she can.

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