Top 10 Romance Movies

By Greg Thompson

The following top 10 romance movies range from old to new and contain all the romantic elements for Valentine's Day, anniversaries, or date nights.

10. Atonement

Briony is an imaginative writer and has a crush on Robbie, the son of a servant. Robbie has eyes for Briony's sister, Cecilia, and hopes that Cecilia has similar feelings. One night, Briony witnesses an interaction between Robbie and Cecilia and misconstrues the emotions and creates a terrible lie that breaks their lives apart. As Briony gets older, she realizes that she may have misunderstood what went on between her sister and her crush and must live with her mistake through WWII. Robbie tries to get back to Cecilia and has to overcome many obstacles as he does so.

9. Titanic

A disaster movie first, Titanic has a deep romantic story involving Jack and Rose, probably the two most known characters in the movies. Rose is a rich girl who is to marry Cal. She isn't sure if that life is for her. Jack wins some Titanic tickets in a poker game. Their paths cross and they quickly become in love. Their love is tested when the Titanic hits the fabled iceberg and it's separate and both be saved or endure the sinking together and die. It's a hard choice.

8. Casablanca

Rick runs a popular nightclub in an unoccupied city in a country in Africa. When a Nazi leader comes to town, Renault does what he can to keep the man happy. The Nazi leader wants the rebel Czech leader Victor Laszlo detain. Unfortunately for Rick, the Czech leader brings a former love, Ilsa. They separated under bad terms in Paris, but when Rick finds out why she left, they agree to reunite their love.

7. Ghost

Sam is murdered by a mugger one night as he and his wife walk back to their apartment. His love for Molly lets him remain on earth as a ghost so he can warn Molly of the danger that lurks for her. Sam uses Ona May Brown (Whoppi Goldberg) as a medium to communicate to Molly. This movie epitomizes lost love and how hard it is to get that love back. Ghost has one of the most memorable scenes from any movie: the pottery scene.

6. The Notebook

Duke is reading a story to an old woman. The story is about Noah and Allie and how they fall in love, but Allie's parents disapprove of Noah's unwealthy family. Allie marries a soldier named Lon. One day Allie goes to see the house Noah has restored for her and falls in love with Noah again. Now she must choose between Noah and Lon. This movie will make you cry, whether you are a hardened construction worker or a softie already.

5. Moulin Rouge

Christian is a writer who runs away to 1900 Paris to the seedy street where prostitutes rule and Moulin Rouge runs the night. He falls in love with dancer Satine, who really wants to act. Satine is forced to love a duke because he is funding the play that Christian is writing. Christian and Satine secretly meet and find ways to be with each other, until the duke learns of their plot and creates a plan to kill Christian.

4. Annie Hall

From their first meeting, comedian Alvy Singer falls for not-so-bright Annie Hall. Their relationship blossoms, then suddenly they break up and Alvy goes on a memory journey to figure out why they broke up. Alvy (Woody Allen) occasionally speaks directly to the camera, infiltrates other people's lives and stories, and sometimes uses animation to find out why they separated. Funny movie with great acting from two legends.

3. Say Anything

Where else can a slacker and a pretty overachiever fall in love? Well, in Say Anything, of course. Lloyd Dobler (John Cusak) is an okay kickboxer who wants to ask Diane Court (Ione Skye) out. Diane has recently been offered a scholarship to England. As Lloyd tries to woo Diane away from her over-protective father, Diane has a huge decision to make. Pure John Cusak romantic comedy. This movie should be watched alongside of Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer.

2. Pretty Woman

Richard Gere plays Edward Lewis, a lonely lawyer to needs an escort to some functions. So he hires a prostitute named Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts). Over the course of different social events and other outings, Edward falls in love with Vivian and has a hard time convincing her that he likes her. Pretty Woman is the quintessential rich man overcoming the ridicule of others to get the girl who's trash.

1. Tie: The Princess Bride & Shrek

To go a little unorthodox with the top 10 romance movies, watch The Princess Bride and Shrek. The Princess Bride has all the fantasy romance elements you can find. Princess Buttercup is kidnapped by the evil Prince Humperdinck. Westley embarks on a journey to save the princess and along the way meets swordsman Montoya who is on perpetual revenge against someone, and a gentle giant.

Shrek, on the other hand, is unwittingly thrown into a quest to rescue Princess Fiona for Lord Farquaad. He rescues Fiona and as Shrek treks back to Farquaad, he begins to fall for her. Lord Farquaad has other plans and schemes to marry Fiona against her will. When Shrek finds out about the plan, his love for Fiona takes over and he then goes on the quest to rescue her from Lord Farquaad. This animated movie is a fun romance/comedy for all ages.