By Jasmina Lara

SAN JOSE, CALIF. –  From the early 2000s to 2023 nothing has beaten films of hilarious love stories on movie screens. Here are the top five romantic comedies you need to watch in your lifetime. 

Romantic comedies are a genre of movies, television shows, and books that usually have a light hearted, humorous, dramatic story about two love interests using plots and tropes to tell their story of falling in love. They have many classic tropes like friends to lovers, grumpy with sunshine, forced proximity, fake dating and many more. 

5. “Just Go With It”

Where a plastic surgeon named Danny Maccabe (Adam Sandler) pretends to be married so he can enjoy future dates with no strings attached. His web of lies soon catches up when he meets Palmer, a younger woman from a party, and instead of coming clean he enlist Katherine Murphy, his assistant (Jennifer Aniston) to pose as his soon to be ex wife which creates more trouble. The movie itself does lean towards comedy due to the hilarious one liners and plots. But what made the movie such a love story is how we see Maccabe finally expect that he has fallen for Murphy and their small interactions indicating they have fallen for each other before acknowledging it. 

4. “Another Cinderella Story”

Where Mary Santiago (Selena Gomez) is a modern-day Cinderella with dancing shoes instead of glass slippers, inspiring to be a dancer. Santiago was adopted by the washed up pop star Dominique when her mother sadly passed away. Joey Parker (Drew Seeley), a famous pop star, has retired so he can go to school for his senior year to remember why he started dancing. Unexpectedly Santiago and Parker cross paths, leaving Parker intrigued with the mystery girl. It may be controversial to say but I truly believe this is the best modern-day Cinderella movie because of the way they executed Santiago’s character and it made sure to include the side characters’ storylines as well. Also the building romance between her and Parker, the chemistry was there, especially their meet cute is one every high schooler would want.  

3. “You Again”

Is a movie I used to rewatch over and over again with my mom. It’s where high school was the worst for Marni (Kristian Bell) and was horrified to learn her brother’s fiance is Joanna,the nemesis of her teen years. Marni tries to expose Joanna’s evil side to her family but the situation explodes in the arrival of Joanna’s Aunt Roman (Sigourney Weaver), who turns out to be the high school rival of Marni’s mom (Jamie Lee Curtis). These unlikely reunions cause high school drama to resurface. This movie is definitely a good comfort movie to watch. I would say it doesn’t just have the romance storyline it also has a story about family and the importance of those bonds which makes the movie so light hearted. Even with the romance aspect they did have their cute moments mainly more when you see he was one of the only people nice to her and their relationship song is definitely Taylor Swift song ‘You belong with Me’. 

2. “Set it Up”

 It stars Zoey Detuch and Glen Powell who play two overworked and underpaid assistants who work for two demanding, workaholic bosses.They come up with a plan to get their bosses off their backs by setting them up with each other on dates around New York. While trying to keep up with this romantic ruse between their nightmare bosses the assistants soon realize they themselves might actually be right for each other. I truly was obsessed with this movie. The cute moments between the assistants you wouldn’t really think of but when rewatching you just adore it. It’s what made the movie one of the best romantic comedies in my opinion and it is a definite comfort rewatch movie. 

1. “Crazy Rich Asians” 

Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) is happy to accompany her long term boyfriend, Nick to his best friend’s wedding in Singapore. She becomes surprised to learn that Nick’s family is extremely wealthy and he is considered one of the country’s most eligible bachelors. Put into the spotlight, Chu must now deal with jealous socialites, judgy relatives and something much worse, Nick’s disapproving mother. This movie was honestly so good the execution of showing the effects it had on Chu and seeing how Nick truly does love her. As well as how important the representation the movie gave to the Asian communities, this movie took steps to help bring more representation for their culture to be put on the big screen and shown properly. 

Miranda De Anda, a sophomore at Silver Creek was asked about how she feels about Romantic comedies she explained “ For me, romantic comedies are a way for me to feel better when having a bad day. When I’m watching them I feel warm and safe. I am a romantic myself, so I can always count on watching a rom-com to bring up my mood.” 

Some honorable mentions:

 “Free Guy”

A bank teller named Guy who learns he is really just a background character in an open-world video game. To make matters worse the game owner has decided to end the game, teaming with a woman who is both human and a character in the game. Guy decides to become the hero of his own story and is determined to be the guy who saves his world. Which I have to say is an underrated Rom-Com since not many would consider it a romance since it’s not the main focus. But they do execute the love story between the two love interests really well and it was adorable and it makes you wish you had something like it.

 ‘Wedding Season’ 

How Asah and Ravi, the main characters, are pressured by their parents to find a spouse so they agree to fake a relationship to make it through a summer of weddings. Only to find themselves falling for each other. It was such a cute movie to watch, especially being able to see part of my culture represented in a respectful way. The movie truly showed how beautiful Indian weddings and how traditions are so important that help connect you with your family roots even more. The fake dating trope in this movie just made it even better because you able to see them falling for each other more and more as they spend time together