The weather’s getting colder, and that means it’s the perfect excuse to spend a cozy night in with all the heart-warming twists and turns of your favorite romance movies. Thankfully, Prime Video has plenty of options to leave you swooning.
It’s easy (and entirely too common) to dismiss romance films as mindless popcorn fodder, the kind of feel-good stories meant to pass the time and not much else. But anyone who has ever ugly cried over a powerful love story knows the genre can be so much more than that. There’s something inherently human to stories about the ups and downs of love, and that vulnerability seems to bring out the best in filmmakers and actors alike.
‘Challengers’ (2024)
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Messy romance movies are some of my favorites, and “Challengers” is as messy as it gets. Zendaya takes the court as tennis prodigy Tashi Duncan who, at the height of her success, meets best friends and fellow rising tennis stars Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) at a high school tournament. The chemistry between them is undeniable, but Tashi teases that she’ll only give her number to whoever takes home the trophy.
Though Patrick prevails, his relationship with Tashi takes a nosedive after a bad fight between them causes him to skip the match where a devastating knee injury cuts her career short. Years later, Art and Tashi reconnect and marry, and all three unexpectedly reunite at a tournament. The film opens with the neck-and-neck match between these two former best friends before jumping around to different periods to flesh out all the drama brewing behind their inevitable big showdown.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
Watch “Challengers” on Prime Video now
‘Sylvie’s Love’ (2020)
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“Sylvie’s Love” wonderfully reimagines the classic Hollywood melodramas, drawing you in with an energy so lush and inviting that you long to continue living in that rose-colored bliss even after the credits roll. Set in the steamy summer of 1957 New York City, the story centers on jazz saxophonist Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha) and record store clerk Sylvie (Tessa Thompson).
When Robert drops in to ask about the help-wanted sign in the window, sparks fly. Their chemistry is clear to anyone with eyes as they bond over jazz records, but between Sylvie’s fiancé, Lacy (Alano Miller), off fighting in Korea and her dreams of a career in television, their lives drift apart. Years later, fate brings them together again, and it’s clear their love never truly faded.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Watch “Sylvie’s Love” on Prime Video now
‘The Big Sick’ (2017)
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What’s more romantic than an on-screen romance inspired by a real-life love story? Comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon penned the script of “The Big Sick” together, which earned a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the Oscars.
We’ve all seen that classic tearjerker where one half of a couple falls seriously ill after they’ve found love, but “The Big Sick” flips that formula on its head. Rather than a star-crossed romance cut short by circumstances, it’s about two exes brought back together when one’s health takes a sudden turn for the worse. Nanjiani, playing himself, is determined to win Emily (Zoe Kazan) back, but first he’ll have to convince her skeptical parents (Ray Romano and Holly Hunter). Even if you know how the story ends, the journey to get there is a joy to watch unfold.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%
Watch “The Big Sick” on Prime Video now
‘Easy A’ (2010)
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Stretching the truth is practically a rite of passage for the high school experience, but for Olive (Emma Stone), one little white lie sparks a life of its own. A gossip-loving classmate (Amanda Bynes) overhears her talking about a sexual fling she only made up to get a friend (Aly Michalka) off her case, and soon, everyone at school is in on the scandal that never happened.
That one rumor snowballs in the way that only high school drama can, and Olive embraces her new reputation as the easy girl in school with panache. But when a teacher’s extramarital affair and her lifelong crush Penn (Badgley) get roped into her little social experiment, she must go to great lengths to clear her name (including a jazzy song and dance number). “Easy A” is one of my comfort movies because it’s an endlessly charming watch buoyed by a seriously stacked cast, including Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as Olive’s hilariously blasé but nonetheless supportive parents and Malcolm McDowell as the school’s exasperated principal.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%
Watch “Easy A” on Prime Video now
‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ (1994)
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Sometimes, you just can’t top a classic British rom-com, and with “Four Weddings and a Funeral” one of several critically acclaimed movies new to Prime Video this month, I couldn’t help but include it. Hugh Grant, in his breakout role, is effortlessly endearing as the charming but bumbling Charles, and his budding romance with Carrie (Andie McDowell) is one of the most enjoyable on-screen romances to watch unfold in any movie, period.
Written by Richard Curtis — the screenwriter of other romcom staples like “Bridget Jones,” “Notting Hill” and “Love Actually” — “Four Weddings and a Funeral” follows Charles and his close circle of friends as they stumble through, you guessed it, four nuptials and one slightly more somber affair. Along the way, he keeps bumping into an alluring American named Carrie who instantly captures his attention, but despite their obvious chemistry, they can’t seem to get the timing quite right.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Watch “Four Weddings and a Funeral” on Prime Video now
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