About The Romantic Comedy Movie List
We’ve compiled a list of the best romantic comedy movies of all time for you. It is better to give some initial information. Before seeing the best movies of the genre, we will make a brief summary.
First of all, we exclude romantic films targeting only youth audiences like high school teen movies.
We handpicked those movies by considering many criteria. Those are the popularity, cast performances, and IMDb ratings of movies. The historical significance and reviews of cinema professionals are also other factors.
A Brief Summary About Comedy Films
What makes a movie a comedy?
There Are Various And Different Elements That Make A Movie A Comedy. Those Can Vary From Satirical Narratives To Clumsy Characters And Exaggerated Actions. Yet, Gags, Jokes And Funny Moments Are Fundamentals For All Forms Of Comedy.
A sense of humor is subjective because of its nature. This is the reason why comedy elements show such great differences. Because of these variations, there are many sub-genres of comedy such as slapstick, screwball or black comedies.
Besides the sub-genres, those elements also appear, either together or alone, on other major genres. Thus, we can also mention comedy hybrids such as musical, horror, or fantasy comedies.
A Brief Summary About Romance Films
Romance films usually focus on searching pure love and/or the struggles of lovers in hard situations. There can be many obstacles to prevent the lovers to come together. Those can be physical illnesses, financial problems, culture clash, racial or religious discriminations, etc...
Romantic Comedy Movies
The Romantic Comedy Genre
The Romantic comedy genre is also known as rom-com or lesser-known romedy. The terms are composed of a linguistic blending of two genres. Also, the romantic comedy is widely considered as a sub-genre of comedy. Yet, some scholars say that romantic comedy films should be classified as a movie with two genres, not a separate new one. In contemporary cinema, the romantic comedy is a well-established genre with familiar patterns.
Romantic Comedy Movies
A Romantic comedy movie generally focus on romantic love story with a humourous plot that has a happy ending. The most obvious difference between romance films and romantic comedy films is that the lovers meet at the end of the movie. At least, we would say that the end of the lovers is not tragic. It is not the case for every romance film.
Rom-com movies have also common messages and assumptions. The films assume true love exists and awaits us somewhere outside or true love/romance can overcome all obstacles.
The History of Romantic Comedy and the Honorable Films of the Era
Early Romantic Comedies
Early romantic comedy cinema dates back to the great depression era. For example, screwball comedy is a U. S origin sub-genre popular during the ‘30s and early ‘40s. The films satirize classic love stories. The characters are typically from different economic strata. Also, the female character dominates the relationship with the main male character.
One of the best examples is Frank Capra‘s It Happened One Night (1934). The film is the first that won the five major Academy Awards. Until now, Only three films won those big five awards. It is noteworthy to say that Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) is also another popular romantic comedy film starring Audrey Hepburn.
The 80s ~ 2000s Romantic Comedies
Romantic comedies have received the greatest attention after the 1980s because of its revival by Hollywood. Successful and popular movies of these days are mostly depicted the heterosexual love stories.
When Harry Met Sally (1989) - stars Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal directed by Rob Reiner.
A Sydney Pollack movie Tootsie (1982) has ten Oscar nominations. Gary Marshall‘s Pretty Woman (1990) starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.
Also, we should provide a separate section to Woody Allen‘s Annie Hall (1977) which led to other so-called ‘nervous romance‘.
The Best Foreign Romantic Comedy Movies
Hollywood is the leader if it comes to production. Because of this, It is expected to be more Hollywood films than any other country. We tried to make this list as diverse as but our priority is not the origin of the movie. The list includes only two French and one South Korean romantic films.
Amélie (2001) directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. The film was nominated and won many prestigious awards.
Heartbreaker (2010) a.k.a. L’Arnacœur is another ‘comédie romantique’ starring Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis.
My Sassy Girl (2001), as known as Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo, is a South Korean movie directed by Kwak Jae-Yong. The film is based on a true story that is originally told in the blog posts.
We mentioned above some of the greatest romantic comedy movies. Here, full list of the finest romantic comedy recommendations of Pixly.