Best romance movies to stream this Valentine’s Day weekend

Love is in the air! Valentine’s Day weekend has arrived and there’s nothing better than spending it with your loved one on the couch watching a romantic movie! Whether you are spending your day with your significant other, or yourself, here are the best romance movies on streaming.

Best romance movies to stream this weekend

Palm Springs: Hulu

Palm Springs might be the most recent film I have on my list, and it’s just one of my favorites. Growing up with Andy Samberg, he, and the whole Lonely Island crew, helped form my comedy as a young teenager. To see him continuously pump out great work has been one of the biggest joys of my film watching life.

In Palm Springs, Samberg plays Nyles, a carefree “plus-one” at a wedding for his girlfriends best friend; Christin Milioti plays Sarah, an equally as carefree sister to the bride. Both of these people are somewhere they don’t want to be, but for Nyles, he can’t leave.

In one of the most recent, and innovative, spins on the Groundhog Day, Nyles is stuck in a time loop, constantly reliving the current day. Nothing can break the loop, not sleep, distance, or even death will stop the day from being reset the next morning. After Sarah accidentally follows Nyles into a cave, she too becomes stuck in the loop.

During this time, both Sarah and Nyles learn one another – I mean they have all the time in the world, they might as well – and their romance sparks. What I love about this film is it isn’t just about the relationship between Nyles and Sarah, but finding a meaning to keep living. Nyles has been stuck in this time loop for so long he has lost count, and the fact that he’s basically invincible has made him question the importance of life. Sarah doesn’t just show him that there is more to life, but she shows him there is a reason to living. It is a really beautiful message that ties together this wonderful film.

If Beale Street Could Talk: Hulu

What lengths would you go to prove the innocence of the person you love? In Barry Jenkins beautiful adaptation of James Baldwin’s highly acclaimed novel looks to answer that question. After Fonny (Stephan James) goes to jail for a crime he didn’t commit, pregnant girlfriend Tish (KiKi Layne) along with her parents try to prove his innocence.

Barry Jenkins tells this movie with intertwining storylines of past and present. You watch the love between Tish and Fonny blossom, which makes the downfall even harder to handle. Everything about this movie is beautiful, which makes sense coming from Barry Jenkins, as this romantic drama will cause you as much pain as it will love.

About Time: Netflix

About Time is for the romantic out there who just wants a second chance. After turning 21 Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) is told by his Dad (Bill Nighy) that he has the ability to travel in time and change events of his own life. Tim uses this trick when meeting Mary (Rachel McAdams) and tries over and over again to get her to fall in love with him. This film is highly charming, and even though the time travel aspect doesn’t make any sense – he just kind of walks into a closet and then appears in the past – the film is endearing enough to where the audience shouldn’t care.

This chemistry between Gleeson and McAdams was wonderful, and Nighy gives a great performance as well. This also was one of the first roles for Margot Robbie – who would also have The Wolf of Wall Street this year – and Vanessa Kirby. The first hour of this film is some of the absolute best that the romance genre has to offer. While it does taper off a bit in the second half, the ending remains emotional and very sweet.

Midnight in Paris: Netflix/Hulu

The second early-2010’s romance film involving time travel starring Rachel McAdams and streaming on Netflix is Midnight in Paris. The only twist is, instead of Rachel McAdams being the one the protagonist, in this case Gil (Owen Wilson), is falling in love with, she is the one he is falling out of love with.

Gil, a writer who is envious of the past and unattached with the present, is in Paris with his fiancee Inez (McAdams) and her family as they attempt to plan their wedding. Already feeling strained by the upcoming marriage, Gil decides to go on late walks around Paris only to wind up in a 1920s bar every night at midnight.

Similar to About Time, the time travel itself isn’t explained much, and also similar to About Time, it doesn’t matter. When Gil travel back in time he finds himself in the presence of some of the most famous authors of all time: Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), Ernest Hemingway (Cory Stoll), and F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston). It is here that Gil sparks a quasi-romance with not just Adriana (Marion Cotillard) but with the time itself, one that dives into what it means to love a person and a place. The performance from Wilson is the best of his career, so far, and the film should do enough to help anyone understand love.

Punch-Drunk Love: HBO Max

Paul Thomas Anderson is no stranger to romantic films – his most recent romantic film, Licorice Pizza, just picked up 3 Oscar nominations – but Punch-Drunk Love was his real dive into the “genre.” Punch-Drunk Love stars Adam Sandler, yes… early 2000’s Adam Sandler, as Barry Egan, a lonely socially awkward and anxious business owner.

Egan’s loneliness gets him into some trouble, but it is his love that gets him out of it. This film follows Egan has he breaks out of his comfort zone and falls in love with Lena (Emily Watson), and has to go toe to toe with the “Mattress Man” (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). It’s one of Anderson’s more comedic films, but it’s also his most romantic.

The symbolism of Barry and Lena’s love is all around whether it be in clothes, color tints on the lens, or in a broken harmonium Barry finds on the street, PTA puts meaning into everything. Adam Sandler delivers one of his best performances in a film that shows you the more… chaotic, side of love.

When Harry Met Sally…: HBO Max

This wouldn’t be a completed list if I didn’t include When Harry Met Sally…. This film shows you that the person you love might be in front of your face the entire time.

Meeting through a mutual friend, Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) both take a long trip to New York, and along the way a friendship sparks between the two, even if they might repulse each other at times. Time passes as Harry and Sally go through different jobs and relationships, frequently bumping into each other in the big city. Every time they do, they become closer until they eventually go for it.

It is a truly romantic movie of patience and love. Both Crystal and Ryan give great performances, and the writing of this film completely engulfs itself in true love.

500 Days of Summer: Amazon Prime

Before Marc Webb was making The Amazing Spider-Man films, he made an amazing rom-com that has one of my all time favorite scripts. Summer isn’t just a girl, played by Zooey Deschanel, but a state of being for Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). 500 Days of Summer works because it’s real. Instead of playing it off as a fantasy, it shows the fantasy and how that is different from the real world.

Summer and Tom’s relationship was never going to last, she was upfront about it, but Tom still tried to make something work. There were great moments, and not so great moments, and this film does a magnificent job of showing how everyday can “look” like Summer, even when it isn’t. Maybe it isn’t the most hopeful of romantic comedies, but it’s one of the best.

The Big Sick: Amazon Prime

The Big Sick is Kumail Nanjiani and wife Emily V. Gordon’s – played by Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan respectively – real life rom-com. The duo wrote this film together, which they were Oscar nominated for, as it tells the story about how they met, fell in love, fell apart, and how Kumail learned she was the one.

This film is hilarious, which makes sense coming from the mind of Kumail Nanjiani, but it is also heartbreaking. What happens in this film provides for some very dramatic and terrifying moments that Kumail and Emily’s parents have to go through. Watching Kumail realize that Emily means more to him than traditions. Also starring Holly Hunter and Ray Romano in some of their best work.

Once: Amazon Prime

I couldn’t complete this list without one musical, what better one to pick than Once. Once is a love story about friendship that ultimately stays a friendship. Meeting on the street, Guy (Hansard) and Girl (Irglová) form a bond over a week in Dublin that finds the two writing, performing, and recording music that tells of their love.

Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová are both incredible in this film. It is the kind of low-budget passion piece that you can’t help but be charmed with. The songs are incredible, all originals from Hansard and Irglová, including the song “Falling Slowly” which won Hansard and Irglová an Oscar for Best Original Song.

If you enjoy films that just charm you from start to finish, this is a great one.

Which movies will you be streaming this weekend?