Best Romantic Comedies: My Top List Review

After writing a series of  Romantic Movie double features, I neglected to go back and create a list of Romantic Comedies.    So  here are the romantic comedies I consider the very best of the best.

 You won't find romantic dramas like Casablanca, or epics like Gone with the Wind, and I don't try to slip in a quirky weird film that really isn't a comedy or really isn't a romantic movie either as some have done in their lists.   I figured if the film is more satire and comedy than romance-I'll leave it off this particularly list  (so no Princess Bride here either).

Anyway, here's a Baker's Dozen (because bakers use chocolate and that spells romance for most, right?) of Romantic Comedies.

1.         IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT  1934   Directed by Frank Capra

You might call this the archetype, the movie that solidified the formula for the screwball romantic comedy...that would reach its peak in the 1940s.  It's a formula that with a few twists is still used in the majority of  Romantic comedies today.  It was not the first romantic comedy-nor was it the first to use the ‘meet cute', dislike each other, fall in love, progression-but it became so big and so popular and is still so fondly remembered and embraced, I really must start my list out with this still witty, warm and wonderfully romantic classic.  Writer Robert Riskin and Director Frank Capra's delightfully entertaining story about a run-away heiress who needs a newspaperman's help to make in the world of ‘real people'.    Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert are the couple and they became even bigger stars after this movie was released.  Even though it's an old one.... It is not nearly as dated as you might think.  It will entertain and amuse you better than most films you've seen.  

2.         HOLIDAY 1938  Directed by George Cukor

Based on a play by Phillip Barry, this sophisticated screwball comedy is a love triangle involving  Cary Grant about to marry into a very rich family.  He has to be approved by his future father-in-law of course and that may not be easy.  In the mean-time he meets his future sister-in law played by Katherine Hepburn and soon discovers he has more in common and likes the sister better than his bride to be. . .. Uh-oh.....  Cast includes  Doris Nolan, Edward Everett Horton, Ruth Donnelly, and Lew Ayres.  It's more restrained then the over the top slapsticky  Bringing up Baby and so I would call it more romantic than Baby.  It was restored a few years ago and though it is an older film, it is not stiff or stodgy or overly theatrical.

Make sure you see it before you waste anymore time with films starring Matt M and that Kate H.    

3.         HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940) - Directed by Howard Hawks

Never will you witness people talking so fast and furiously funny for 92 minutes straight as they do in this fall on the floor laugh out loud funny romantic comedy battle of the sexes.  Rosalind Russell goes toe to toe with Cary Grant and others.  It was based on the Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur play The Front Page, which was made into a decent movie in 1931 and an enjoyable re-make with Lemmon and Matthau too.. but the leads in these were male.  Hawks and writer Charles Lederer decided to do a slight twist and make the reporter and editor feud about an ex-wife and husband as reporter and editor feuding and then fighting over a big story involving an escaped condemned man who insists he is innocent-and maybe he is.  Complications and twists and turns ensue until the couple discovers after all the fighting and fussing... they might still love each other!!!   They don't have people talk this fast in movies anymore and few movies have ever been this funny.

4.         THE LADY EVE   1941   directed by Preston Sturges 

Two con artists are after a wealthy but very naïve beer tycoon Henry Fonda.  Unlikely love blossoms and the best laid plans turn into complications that quickly grow into the ridiculous.  It's witty funny and the great cast includes:  Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Coburn, and William Demarest (Uncle Charlie on T.V.'s My Three Sons).  The plot like many of Sturges' movies is ridiculous and I won't mention it to you except to tell you, you will go right along with it and be charmed and won over.    Then at the end.. the film suddenly zips into some hyperspeed and in a couple of minutes ties up many loose ends and then it's over.  Huh?  What?  You will probably say after your first viewing.  That was too fast.   Well when you get to the third or fourth time you watch it.. and you'll probably watch it several times because it is THAT good... you'll enjoy the fact Sturgess wastes no one's time with the wrapping up process.  

5.         PHILADELPHIA STORY  1940  Directed by George Cukor

The studios decided that Katherine Hepburn could not be made into a star and were snubbing her.  Kate went out and found a great play, bought it, and spearheaded the effort to make it into a movie. It would later be turned into the musical High Society in 1956.  It was a big hit and Kate Hepburn was treated much better by Hollywood for several years.

Kate plays the woman who is engaged to be married again when her dashing ex shows up on the scene.  Then there's a reporter who is supposed to spy on the upcoming nuptials and falls in love with the bride.   Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and James Stewart are the trio.  Phillip Barry wrote the play, Donald Ogden Stewart wrote the screenplay, and George Cukor directed this multi-award winning, gem of a film. 

6.         BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S   (1961) -  Directed by Blake Edwards

A spoiled, somewhat naïve young New York socialite (Hepburn) becomes interested in a young man  (George Peppard) who has moved into her apartment building.  It's the charisma of Audrey and smooth direction by Black Edwards that makes this one endearing to so many.   Warning: Mickey Rooney's over the top comic portrayal of an Asian may be insulting to some.   Also: the movie is NOT as good as the Trumam Capote novel on which it is based.  Great supporting cast also includes Patricia Neal Martin Balsam, and Buddy Ebsen.  But it's Audrey... Audrey who will win your heart in her delightful performance.

7.         ANNIE HALL (1977) - Directed by Woody Allen

It's one of the best modern romantic comedies ever made-but if you have a bias against Woody Allen-well you are missing out.  Out with old kind of romantic comedy from Hollywood's golden age and in with the new.    A Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) falls completely in love with the somewhat ditsy Annie Hall played by Diane Keaton. She winds up teaching him many things about what's most important in life.  Brilliantly clever  award winning romantic comedy that gets better every time you view it.  Great supporting cast includes Shelley Duvall, Tony Roberts, Paul Simon, Carol Kane and a quick funny role for Jeff Goldblum too!!!

8.         WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989) - Directed by Rob Reiner

Very much inspired by Woody's Annie Hall is this witty, charming, clever comedy about courtship rituals with a rich cast of comic performers. The biggest laughs are generated with assists from Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby.   And the woman who has the famous:  "I'll have what she is having" line is Rob Reiner's mom !!!   The neurotic couple here are played by  Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. They meet first in college, then several years ago and then a few years after that  and so on and so forth. Written by: Nora Ephron

9          GROUNDHOG DAY (1993) - Directed by Harold Ramis

It's safe to call this one a modern classic.  Bill Murray plays a burned out weatherman who gets trapped into living the same day over and over again and gets to try and try again to woo Andie MacDowell.  Funny and clever script co-written by Harold Ramis.  Nice supporting work by Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle Murray,  and Marita Geraghty   I honestly have never met anyone who doesn't like this movie.  Most really love it.

 10.          GOODBYE GIRL (1977) directed by Herbert Ross

 Sure Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl is another variation on his classic Odd Couple,and of course there's one of those only in a Neil Simon play or romantic comedy movie kind of set-ups. . .but it works because of the sharp dialogue, the wonderful performances and Ross, a director who know exactly how to give us a sophisticated sit-com on film.  What really surprised me when I saw this recently was how well it holds up after more than 30 years. Dreyfus is even better than I remembered and Marsha Mason (Simon's wife fora while) and pre-teen Quinn Cummings are all enjoyable.  The Plot?   Single mom Paula (Mason) has been dumped by another loser of a boy-friend.  He owns the apartmentbuilding however and he doesn't properly evict Paula, so when Dreyfus moves into the apartment he's renting, he's got Paula and her daughter already living there. Dreyfuss can't kick them out onto the street so they come to an arrangement and of course the hostility and distrust turns into admiration and then to love.   Wonderful hogwash, funny, charming, entertaining.  It's a keeper. And you won't forget Dreyfus' over-the-top rendition of the Shakespear ‘a horse, a horse my kingdom from a horse,"anytime soon.  You probably won't even realize this is a remake of a 60's Grant-Audrey Hepburn movie called  Walk Don't Run.  

11.       SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (1993)   Directed by Nora Ephron

Sleepless is a cute romantic comedy which borrows and rewrites some great scenes from the near classic  An Affair to Remember, it eschews that film's pathos and melodrama in favor of keeping things comic and light (for some it is a too cute and Meg Ryan is too darn perky....I say get over it-it's funny, and charming).  Hanks plays a recently widowed man whose son decides to help find his dad a new partner.  Ms. Right is played by Meg Ryan  (Hanks and Ryan made several films together-this is still their best).  Written by David S. Ward, Jeff Arch and Nora Ephron. Good supporting work by Ross Malinger, Rosie O'Donnell, Bill Pullman, and David Hyde Pierce.       

  12.          SINGING IN THE RAIN (1952)   Directed by Stanley Donen and  Gene Kelly Besides being one of the very, very best and most entertaining musicals ever made it is also an irresistible romantic comedy.  One classic scene after another.   Did you know that milk was mixed into the ‘rainwater' so it would show up better when Gene was singin'and dancin' in the rain?  Cast?  Wow..  Gene Kelly Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Connor and Jean Hagen have never been better and you get Cyd Charisse, Rita Moreno and more.  Written by Adolph Green and Betty Comden.  

AND

You probably don't think of it in the Romantic Comedy vein, but that is exactly what

this silent movie classic is. 

13.       THE  GENERAL  1926--  Buster Keaton , Clyde Bruckman

What Buster Keaton won't do for love. . .  Keaton created his most ambitious, most expensive movie ever with this meticulously historically accurate telling of a civil way story.  It's full of adventure, and an incredible staged train wreck scene.  At front and center is a very touching and very romantic romance.   It's a silent movie... it's an old old movie... and I'll bet if you give it a chance... you'll be absolutely charmed, mesmerized and entertained by this remarkable film.

If you have never seen these films or it has been too long since you have seen them,  put them on your list-make them a priority-these are the best of the best I assure you.

All of these films were mentioned when I wrote about Romantic Double Features in a series of essays I did for Viewpoints just prior to Valentines Day.    You can check those out here:

 Part 1  of the Romantic Double Features   is right here:

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Part 2  here:

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and Part 3

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ENJOY