I really liked The Story of Us, but I'm not sure if it really fits in the "romantic" category. Way more realistic than most silly puppy love movies though.
My daughter loves Princess Diaries 2 which I think is a pretty good romance for her to watch-- the princess decides to fight the establishment and say she doesn't NEED a man/husband to be a good queen. Granted, it's not highly intellectual and definitely isn't on my top ten movies of all time. But for a six year old girl, it teaches a good lesson. My six year old son can't stand it. Too much girly stuff in it like dances and dresses and slumber parties.
I plead guilty to watching some Hollywood romances for escapism from reality. I tend to find foreign ones a bit more realistic and intellectual. Some of the ones I've watched and rated four or five stars on Netflix are:
Dear Frankie
Don Juan de Marco
Farinelli
Fingersmith
Fire
Frida
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Indochine
Innocence
Jane Eyre
Keeping the Faith
Lady Jane
A Love Song for Bobby Long
The Lover
Malena
The Man in the Moon
Margaret's Museum
The Notebook
The Playboys
Priest
Queen Margot
The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
Sex and Lucia
Summersby
Stage Beauty
Sweet November
Swept from the Sea
Tipping the Velvet
Under the Greenwood Tree
A Very Long Engagement
Walk the Line
Witness
Beautiful Thing
Bride of the Wind
Breaking the Waves
Brokeback Mountain
The French Lieutenant's Woman
Kama Sutra
Mad Love
Maurice
Valmont
Of course, many of those include romance but don't necessarily have a "happily ever after" ending. But I don't think happily ever after is necessary to a romance, though it's nice sometimes.
I always found Grosse Point Blank kind of romantic -- the John Cusack-Minnie Driver relationship was so cool.
Chocolat
i am also not a fan of romantic-type movies. some movies i like that have some romance and/or healthy relationships:
beetlejuice -alec & geena's relationship is very sweet and stable
little voice
princess bride - one of my favorite movies ever. buttercup is definitely a princess type, but it's a great story and the characters are awesome
raising arizona - hi and ed are quite a pair!
run lola run - also a favorite of mine; not much interaction between the romantic leads, but their relationship certainly drives the story
In the heady days of hormone poisoning that was adolescence, I saw two films which knocked my socks off: My Beautiful Laundrette and A Room With a View. Years later, I am amazed to find that my impressions of the movies has not changed on revisiting, despite this young romantic having evolved into something of a cynic.
My Beautiful Laundrette's romance deals with two characters who rekindle a relationship despite race and class prejudice they both harbor. At the end, their future is uncertain, but this doesn't dampen their connection. Stephen Frears (director) challenges the viewer to become attached to his characters who are often morally uh... complex. And for this reason, the romance and tragedy of (some of) his films are incredibly powerful.
A Room with a View struck me as more than the usual schmaltz for a few reasons: Lucy defies Edwardian convention to dump snooty Cecil for the romantic brooding poet, George. That George recognizes Lucy's inner passion, and supposedly longs to nurture it struck me as very... well... romantic. In George, Lucy has found someone who understands and loves her true nature.
What also amazed me is that these two films came out within a year or so of each other, and both had excellent Daniel Day Lewis performances, which could not have been more different.
Also interesting that both films were directed by homosexuals.
At age 16, I found the homosexual relationship in MBL irresistibly romantic and hot. My earliest introduction to fag haggetry, I suppose.
I also found Merchant & Ivory's next film after Room with a View, Maurice (already mentioned upstream), equally delicious, though I wondered quite frankly whether Maurice and Scudder would be able to hack it long term.
...
These days, disgusted with the ever growing exploitation of women in Hollywood tripe, I watch alot of B&W films of the "fast talkin' high pants" genre. My new romantic faves are Women of the Year, and the Philadelphia Story which SO should have ended with an open relationship between the 4 leads.
Katherine Hepburn, both in life and on screen, was something to reckon with, and it's always a pleasure to see her both kicking ass, and finding love.
Thanks for taking this on, RMama!
I'll throw my 2 cents in here - I admit to being a bit of a sucker for good romantic stories. And fluffy ones, sometimes, hence my appreciation for Pretty Woman. In the adolescence category, I love the first Legally Blonde movie.
As for grownup romances, Amelie is fantastic.
I'm not much of romantic movie fan. Haven't seen too many lately that meet my criteria. Body Heat from the 70's. Film Noir with a bad ending but talk about hot, hot, hot. The Lion in Winter. What could me more romantic than the love-hate relationship between Elenor and Henry II? "He married out of love, a woman out of legend."
Hmmm. I still love the Colin Firth version of "Pride and Prejudice".
The only romantic video I've seen recently is (German, I think) "Mostly Martha". I recommend it, especially if you like food movies.
One caveat here is I've not actually watched Titanic but I love the idea that the Kate Winslett character gets the romance, then survives the ship sinking pretty much through pluck and will. So the romance? She gets to have the best parts of the love affair which ultimately sets her on a better path in life but she never has to do his laundry (or other mundane chores that take the romance out of life). I know that a romance is supposed to end with the couple living happily ever after, married of course. But I think this one is far better.
Another romantic movie? Thelma & Louise.
And no, I'm not cynical.
Anon
Quite a few good ones listed above. One that may or may not suit your fancy is love, actually. Shows about love in a lot of forms, not just romantic love. And even then, romantic love and the characters in this movie are as flawed as they are in real life.
Princess Bride, Grosse Pointe Blank, Love Actually,
I'm sure if I thought hard about it I could come up with some other good flicks, like Stranger Than Fiction.
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