(Photo by A24. WE LIVE IN TIME.)
Best Rom-Coms and Romance Movies of 2024
Look, with the recent successes of Anyone But You or even Ticket to Paradise, we’re not saying rom-coms and romance movies are back to full life in theaters, but that their demise has been greatly exaggerated. (Just like our last few dates off the apps.) And besides, in the privacy of our homes? Things are really heating up, with plenty of choices on streaming services, both from abroad and of every outlook.
So when we put together our guide of the 2024’s best rom-coms and romance movies, we’re looking at PDAs for everyone to see in fawning awe (we won’t acknowledge of any other reaction) and what’s happening behind shuttered living room curtains. This includes It Ends With Us (starring Blake Lively, adapting Colleen Hoover‘s multi-million best-seller), Hit Man (starring and co-written Glen Powell…so he’s got brains to go with the rest of the package?), Challengers (featuring Zendaya in a love triangle and sports shorts), The Fall Guy (with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in the Barbenheimer reunification we didn’t know we needed), We Live In Time (the decades-spanning romance with Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh), Fly Me to the Moon (Scarlett Johannsson and Channing Tatum take a gambit on romance), The Idea of You (if Anne Hathaway’s happy, we’re happy), and Upgraded (a good old-fashioned rom-com with Camila Mendes).
We’ve ranked the list by Tomatometer, with Certified Fresh movies first. Whether it’s date night or friends outing, or something to cozy up with a partner (even if it is a pint of ice cream), with all the choices, tonight’s the night you’ll find a match.
#1
Adjusted Score: 98487%
Critics Consensus: Rudy Mancuso's use of magical realism elevates Música, infusing its familiar narrative framework with a bracingly personal touch.
Synopsis: Based on writer, director and star Rudy Mancuso, Música is a coming-of-age love story that follows an aspiring creator with...
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#2
Adjusted Score: 111778%
Critics Consensus: A deceptively dark thriller that's also loaded with laughs, Hit Man is an outstanding showcase for leading man Glen Powell -- and one of the most purely entertaining films of Richard Linklater's career.
Synopsis: Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater's sunlit neo-noir stars Glen Powell as strait-laced professor Gary Johnson, who moonlights as a fake hit...
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#3
Adjusted Score: 111861%
Critics Consensus: Lust and violence collide to powerfully pulpy effect in Love Lies Bleeding, a well-acted addition to writer-director Rose Glass' growing body of exceptional work.
Synopsis: From Director Rose Glass comes an electric new love story; reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious...
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#4
Adjusted Score: 113049%
Critics Consensus: With its trio of outstanding performers volleying their star power back and forth without ever dropping the ball, Challengers is a kinetic and sexy romp at court.
Synopsis: From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, Challengers stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force...
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#5
Adjusted Score: 93292%
Critics Consensus: Unwieldy but rewarding, The Beast uses its sci-fi conceit to explore intriguing themes in largely satisfying fashion.
Synopsis: The year is 2044: artificial intelligence controls all facets of a stoic society as humans routinely "erase" their feelings. Hoping...
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#6
Adjusted Score: 106619%
Critics Consensus: With action, comedy, romance, and a pair of marvelously matched stars, The Fall Guy might be the rare mainstream movie with something to entertain everyone.
Synopsis: He's a stuntman, and like everyone in the stunt community, he gets blown up, shot, crashed, thrown through windows and...
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#7
Adjusted Score: 91954%
Critics Consensus: The Idea of You offers a welcome reminder that Anne Hathaway remains a thoroughly delightful romcom lead -- and reaffirms that few filmmakers understand the genre better than Michael Showalter.
Synopsis: Based on the acclaimed, contemporary love story of the same name, The Idea of You centers on Solène (Anne Hathaway),...
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#8
Adjusted Score: 88751%
Critics Consensus: Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh's palpable chemistry will snatch audiences' hearts before breaking them in We Live in Time, a powerful melodrama that uses its nonlinear structure to thoughtfully explore grief.
Synopsis: Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) are brought together in a surprise encounter that changes their lives. Through snapshots...
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#9
Adjusted Score: 81448%
Critics Consensus: A low-key comedy with an ample dose of pathos, Cora Bora can be as aimless as its heroine but gets considerable lift from Megan Stalter's stellar star turn.
Synopsis: Cora (Meg Stalter) goes home to win back her girlfriend, and soon realizes it's much more than her love life...
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#10
Adjusted Score: 77923%
Critics Consensus: Lightly entertaining even as it hews to genre conventions, Upgraded is an appealing option for anyone seeking a good old-fashioned rom-com.
Synopsis: Ana (Camila Mendes) is an ambitious intern dreaming of a career in the art world while trying to impress her...
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#11
Adjusted Score: 86992%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Turtles All the Way Down tackles anxiety through its 17-year-old protagonist, Aza Holmes. It's not easy being Aza, but she's...
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#12
Adjusted Score: 85424%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Two strangers meet on a fateful Christmas Eve, but a night of romance soon becomes a nightmare....
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#13
Adjusted Score: 28536%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A Vietnamese woman has endured many difficulties in her life. When she meets her neighbor, they develop feelings for each...
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#14
Adjusted Score: 77128%
Critics Consensus: Blending romance with vertiginous thrill-seeking, Skywalkers: A Love Story is a documentary of truly dizzying proportions.
Synopsis: A daredevil couple risks it all by going where no one has gone before: the top of the world's second-highest...
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#15
Adjusted Score: 72491%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: MARMALADE is an edge-of-the-seat crime-tinged romance tale. Recently incarcerated Baron (Joe Keery) strikes up a friendship with cellmate Otis (Aldis...
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#16
Adjusted Score: 42683%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A young autistic museum guide lives by a strict routine until he falls in love with his coworker and must...
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#17
Adjusted Score: 80156%
Critics Consensus: Sustained by Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum's screwball chemistry even when its plotting strains credulity, this throwback romance is a pleasant enough trip to the moon and back.
Synopsis: Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, Fly Me To The Moon is a sharp, stylish romantic comedy set against the...
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#18
Adjusted Score: 50205%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Mahendra & Mahima, a couple who get together through an arranged marriage, share a common passion for Cricket. Mahendra who...
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#19
Adjusted Score: 35976%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Sasha Pieterse (PRETTY LITTLE LIARS), Parker Young (IMPOSTERS), Nestor Carbonell (THE DARK KNIGHT RISES), and Academy Award® winner Mira Sorvino...
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#20
Adjusted Score: 68954%
Critics Consensus: Earnestly performed if marred by clunky dialogue, It Ends With Us is surprisingly at its most graceful when handling the more provocative elements of its melodramatic source material.
Synopsis: IT ENDS WITH US, the first Colleen Hoover novel adapted for the big screen, tells the story of Lily Bloom,...
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#21
Adjusted Score: 28385%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Valentina is a pianist preparing for an audition. David is a games inventor who can only concentrate in complete silence....
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#22
Adjusted Score: 65590%
Critics Consensus: An affectionate callback to classic horror comedies of the '80s, Lisa Frankenstein can be fun in its own right despite not quite measuring up to the movies it imitates.
Synopsis: A coming of RAGE love story from acclaimed writer Diablo Cody (Jennifer's Body) about a misunderstood teenager and her high...
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#23
Adjusted Score: 53206%
Critics Consensus: Players proves Gina Rodriguez remains a thoroughly charming lead, even if those charms aren't quite enough to compensate for a frustratingly predictable plot.
Synopsis: New York sportswriter Mack (Gina Rodriguez) has spent years devising successful hook-up "plays" with best friend Adam (Damon Wayans Jr.)...
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#24
Adjusted Score: 28457%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: After defecting from North Korea, Loh Kiwan struggles to obtain refugee status in Belgium, where he encounters a dejected woman...
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#25
Adjusted Score: 42913%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: A bumbling young man meets the girl of his dreams....
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#26
Adjusted Score: 44484%
Critics Consensus: With Lindsay Lohan in the lead, it almost doesn't matter that Irish Wish is a scattered collection of rom-com clichés.
Synopsis: When the love of her life gets engaged to her best friend, Maddie (Lindsay Lohan) puts her feelings aside to...
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#27
Adjusted Score: 42064%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: After a failed comeback album, a rock star retreats to a cliffside home on Cyprus, only to find his new...
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#28
Adjusted Score: 14236%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: When a skeptical journalist reluctantly enters heartbreak therapy for an article, he ends up opening his heart to his charming...
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#29
Adjusted Score: 39847%
Critics Consensus: Lonely Planet coasts by on the gravitational pull of its charming stars and setting, but a lack of real heat keeps this romantic drama curiously uninvolving.
Synopsis: A reclusive novelist arrives at a prestigious writer's retreat in Morocco, hoping the remote setting will unlock her writer's block....
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#30
Adjusted Score: 21717%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Lia, a tea shop owner, is gifted a prophecy that says she will meet her soul mate in five dates...
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#31
Adjusted Score: 41260%
Critics Consensus: Despite Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman's welcome return to rom-com territory, A Family Affair squabbles with its own tonality too much to elevate its litany of clichés.
Synopsis: A surprising romance kicks off comic consequences for a young woman, her mother and her movie star boss as they...
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#32
Adjusted Score: 28140%
Critics Consensus: Never achieving liftoff despite Emma Roberts' peppy performance, Space Cadet flunks out of the school of high-concept comedy.
Synopsis: Tiffany "Rex" Simpson (Emma Roberts) has always dreamed of going to space, but life isn't going quite as planned. Determined...
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#33
Adjusted Score: 25708%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Zach Braff, Vanessa Hudgens, and Evelyne Brochu star in this heartwarming romantic comedy. Gordon, a hopeless romantic, finds his proposal...
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#34
Adjusted Score: 11936%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Teenagers Amelia and Archie have been best friends since childhood. Archie has always been there to fight Amelia’s battles and...
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#35
Adjusted Score: 7126%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: After the events of the summer, Ares and Raquel can't find a way to carry on their relationship and decide...
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#36
Adjusted Score: 7114%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: After learning that the art thief she has been chasing is her ex-lover, an officer working for Interpol concocts a...
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#37
Adjusted Score: 7000%
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Adopted together after a tough childhood in an orphanage, Nica and Rigel realize that unexpected but irresistible feelings pull them...
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#38
Adjusted Score: 15416%
Critics Consensus: Mother of the Bride serves an oft-overlooked demographic and takes us to crystalline beaches before it ceremonially drowns in generic waters.
Synopsis: Lana's daughter Emma returns from abroad and drops a bombshell: she's getting married. In Thailand. In a month! Things only...
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96%
86%
57%
