It’s Valentine’s Day! It’s also Parents’ Worship Day if you’re into that, but thanks to Archies and Hallmarks’ extensive campaigning, Valentine’s Day happens to be the more popular day out of the two. So for SEO reasons and because all of us believe in true love etc., here’s a list of rom-coms that are actually really funny. I mean, sure, they’re sappy, emotional, sometimes annoying and dramatic, but they also manage to make us laugh at every re-watch. So sit back (when you’re done with work), relax (when you’re done doom scrolling), pour a glass of wine (or any beverage of choice, as long as it’s not White Mischief vodka, that shit is nasty) and pick out a movie for the night to watch with your loved one.

1. Palm Springs

Palm Springs is the perfect date movie. Starring Andy Samberg, aka Jake Peralta from Brooklyn 99 and Cristin Milioti, the only good thing about the final seasons of How I Met Your Mother, it’s funny and light, the best pick for the night. The film also has just the right amount of existentialism and some seriously sexy chemistry between the leads. This 2020 gem is the Groundhog Day for this generation. If you’re a bit of a cynic then it might momentarily turn you into a romantic by the end of the film. We don’t know the duration of this effect, but we’re pretty sure you’ll enjoy it till it does.

Watch it on Netflix

2. Hitch

Very few movies are as effortlessly sexy as Hitch. Will Smith as the smooth-talking “date-doctor” and Eva Mendes as a cynical gossip columnist are a match made in rom-com heaven. The dialogues are witty, the acting is pitch perfect and Kevin James is so cute, you can’t help rooting for him. Hitch even inspired the Bollywood movie Partner featuring Salman Khan and Govinda. While Partner needs a bop like Soni De Nakhre and Rajpal Yadav’s cameo as Chota Don to be watchable, Hitch does not.

Rent it on Amazon Prime Video

3. Fire Island

A gay romance inspired by Pride and Prejudice? Count us in. Fire Island, starring Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang and Conrad Ricamora, is about a group of friends who go on a vacation to Fire Island. We realise soon enough there’s not much of a difference between contemporary Long Island and 19th Century Hertfordshire, England where Austen’s classic is based. Especially when it comes to the complicated matters of the heart.

Watch it on Disney + Hotstar

4. 10 Things I Hate About You

Can any rom-com list even be complete without this one? Based on William Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming Of The Shrew, the film—featuring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger and Joseph—has been a teen classic since it’s release in 1999. Katarina “Kat” Stratford (played by Stiles) is easily one of the sharpest female characters written in the ’90s teen rom-com sub-genre and she’s perfectly matched with Ledger’s ‘bad boy’ Patrick Verona. Their banter, the soundtrack and Allison Janney’s fantastic performance as Ms. Perky (yes), a guidance counselor who moonlights as an erotic fiction writer, is enough to warrant a re-watch.

Watch it on Disney + Hotstar

5. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

There are very few chances for a film featuring Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader, Paul Rudd and Jason Bateman to not be funny and Forgetting Sarah Marshall is definitely not an exception. In fact, it is one of the many movies that made all the actors mentioned above legit comedy talent to look out for. Come for the feels, go with the lols.

Watch it on Apple TV +

6. Happiest Season

Kristen Stewart and Aubrey Plaza play exes in this rom-com about a woman who struggles to admit to her conservative parents that she’s a lesbian. Stewart and Mackenzie Davis make for an adorable on-screen couple, but her chemistry with Plaza is what makes Happiest Season such an interesting watch, the sexual tension between the two can be best described as bomb dot com.

Rent it on Amazon Prime Video

7. Jab We Met

A pre-Kabir Singh Shahid Kapoor, a career defining role for Kareena Kapoor and a fantastic soundtrack are reasons why Jab We Met is one of the few perfect Hindi rom-coms out there. The film had such an impact on the audience that Geet’s simple patiala and a T-shirt combination became a fashion statement, ‘Hotel Decent’ became a codename for not very ‘decent’ shenanigans and Anshuman’s disdain for ganne ke khet turned into a popular meme. Geet’s break-up speech is still one of the most cathartic experience we’ve seen on-screen, no amount of Pyaar Ka Punchnama monologues can match up.

Watch it at a PVR near you as the movie has been re-released in theatres as part of PVR Valentine’s Week 2023 celebrations. If that’s not your scene then watch it on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video.

8. Four Weddings And A Funeral

Richard Curtis’ Four Weddings And A Funeral catapulted Hugh Grant into superstardom. Thanks to its success we were blessed with more rom-coms like Notting Hill and 2 Weeks Notice, all of them starring Grant, none of them as exquisitely funny as the original.You might start watching it for Grant and Andie MacDowell’s will-they-won’t-they relationship, but you will stay for Kristin Scott Thomas’ friend-zoned Fiona.

Get a VPN and watch it on Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV + or streaming sites we cannot legally tell you about.

9. Bridget Jones’s Diary

To no one’s surprise, the much adapted Pride and Prejudice managed to inspire another rom-com, Bridget Jones’s Diary (based on the book of the same name). Renée Zellweger perfects the British accent and plays one of England’s most loved heroines so well, she was nominated for an Oscar for her performance, which is rare as the Oscars are historically not very kind to rom-coms. Firth plays a modern Mr. Darcy, a character he’s forever associated with thanks to his performance as the OG Darcy and the popularity of the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Firth’s Darcy in Bridget Jones’s Diary is a great update to the famous grouch from Austen’s novel and his chemistry with Renée is really, really hot. The movie also features Hugh Grant, perfectly cast as the cad Daniel Cleaver, a take on George Wickham from the original book.

Get a VPN and watch it on Amazon Prime Video or streaming sites we cannot legally tell you about.

10. When Harry Met Sally

The Queen of rom-coms Meg Ryan plays Sally opposite the sarcastic, witty and sometimes asshole-ish Harry, played by legendary comedian Billy Crystal. When Harry Met Sally took the ‘men and women can’t be friends’ trope and turned it into a romance for the ages. The film is peppered with so much wit and chemistry, you just know that Harry and Sally are meant to be from the get go. It also fills us in on how great women are at faking orgasms and gives us one of the funniest scenes on celluloid. We’ll have what they’re having.

Get a VPN and watch it on Amazon Prime Video or streaming sites we cannot legally tell you about.

Honourable mentions –

1. It Happened One Night

Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert star in Frank Capra’s classic. It Happened One Night served as a blueprint for multiple Bollywood rom-coms, including Chori Chori (the Raj Kapoor and Nargis one) Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, Jab We Met and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

Rent it on YouTube.

2. How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days

Before Matthew McConaughey’s mcconaissance, that guy was the king of Hollywood rom-coms with How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days being the movie that made him one. He’s evenly matched by the stunning Kate Hudson, but the real star of the movie is a yellow dress worn by Hudson that has its own fanbase.

Watch it on Amazon Prime Video

3. 27 Dresses

I’m still slightly sad that Katherine Heigl and James Marsden could not be the queen and king of rom-coms as they were destined to be. They had everything going for them, especially in this movie. 27 Dresses is cliched, a little stupid and it follows the formulas of every romantic comedy ever to the T. But, it still manages to be really charming and it’s actually a really fun watch, especially if you’re single and spending tonight with a bunch of friends.

Watch it on Disney + Hotstar

4. Easy A

Easy A showed the world what a star Emma Stone is. Easy A also showed the world that a novel as tragic as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter can be adapted into a teen rom-com rather well. If these points don’t work for you, then, well, Easy A is worth watching because of Stanley Tucci’s ridiculous sex appeal and that one scene where Stone performs a one-woman concert to Natasha Bedingfield’s Pocketful of Sunshine.

Watch it on YouTube