Some romance movies fall short of sending healthy messages about relationships, glamorizing toxicity to a point where romanticizing the relationships we’re viewing on screen would be harmful. Other romance movies touch us powerfully, raising our standards in love and transforming the way we look at relationships in meaningful ways. These romance movies pulled at our heartstrings, causing audiences to remember what real love is and why we shouldn’t settle for anything less.
About Time (2013)
Unlike people who simply wish they could change the past, Tim has a unique ability to travel through time and actually change what occurred, a gift that all the men in his family share. Advised by his father not to use the gift to pursue wealth or fame, Tim decides to remodel his love life, going back in time to reconnect with Mary (played by Rachel McAdams), a woman he eventually falls in love with, battling fate and destiny and navigating many diverse life circumstances and choices so he can end up with the one he truly loves. Swoon! Tim is the definition of if he wanted to, he would. If you don’t have a partner who’s willing to sift through alternate timelines for you, what are you even doing?
A Walk to Remember (2002)
If you weren’t singing, “You were all by yourself, staring up at a dark gray sky…I was changed” regularly under your breath to yourself often in the 2000s, you were not living life. Mandy Moore’s debut film A Walk to Remember was one of the most sorrowful and meaningful romance movies audiences had ever seen and for good reason. Rebellious teenager Landon falls in love with the minister’s daughter, Jamie Sullivan, a young woman he’s known since kindergarten, and develops a deep soulful connection with her that is unexpected. He even names a star after her. Talk about raising your standards for love! Unfortunately, Landon discovers Jamie has leukemia, and her life is short-lived, making their moments together extra special and precious until the very end. A Walk to Remember is a powerfully moving romance about love and loss and appreciating every single moment.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Some break-ups leave you depressed, while others leave you seeking a lobotomy. Or an advanced memory erasure procedure that negates the presence of your ex in your brain completely – close enough. When Joel discovers that his ex-girlfriend Clementine had her memories erased by a firm called Lacuna in New York, he decides he wants to do the same. However, during the process, he realizes even his stormiest memories with Clementine contains fragments, clues, and pieces of why he fell in love with her in the first place. As he and Clementine reconnect post “erasure,” they realize all they needed was a reminder that life would essentially be meaningless without our memories of both the beauties and horrors of the world and of our relationships and the lessons learned. While this certainly isn’t a romance movie without its problematic aspects, it is definitely one of those romance movies that stays with you forever.
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
Although this movie isn’t primarily a romance movie, at its heart it contains some of the most powerful messages about love, empathy, and kindness. As Evelyn is pushed to save the multiverse when an alternate version of her daughter Joy becomes an expert in “verse” or universe-jumping and goes to the dark side, she travels through many different parallel realities where is living more successfully as a film star, chef, scientist, and kung fu master. Yet in her journey, she discovers that the universe where she’s originally from is the one she wants to stay in, and as she appreciates the kindness and empathy in different versions of her husband, Waymond, she falls in love with the husband in her own reality all over again. Her husband Waymond also delivers one of most romantic lines in the film, saying, “In another life, I would have really just liked doing laundry and taxes with you,” in the reality where she is a famous movie star who never got married to him, reminding viewers that the man that is truly for you would choose you in every lifetime, and in every universe.
