Romantic comedies may dominate the romance movie genre, but love is rarely that funny in real life. Finding a love that lasts is challenging, and it doesn’t always work out. And some of the greatest romance movies have played into that idea by keeping the leading characters apart at the end of the story. But the filmmakers behind romantic dramas also understand the value of letting viewers watch a couple’s struggles before they work through everything and get together.
Although Netflix is always adding new movies, it remains a top destination for romance lovers, with a selection of flicks that embrace drama, comedy, and everything in between. These are the best romance movies on Netflix right now.
Looking for something else? Check out our list of the best rom-coms on Netflix, the best rom-coms on Hulu, and the best rom-coms on Amazon Prime Video.
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The Choice2016 - La La Land2016
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- Forever My Girl2018
Nicholas Sparks has a pretty high percentage for getting his romance novels turned into movies. The Choice is one of the more recent Sparks adaptations, and it features Benjamin Walker as Travis Shaw and Teresa Palmer as Gabby Holland, a medical student who catches Travis’ eye. Despite Gabby’s relationship with Dr. Ryan McCarthy (Tom Welling), and Travis’ on-and-off fling with a woman named Monica (The White Lotus‘ Alexandra Daddario), Gabby and Travis seem drawn to each other.
To explain what “the choice” is in regards to the movie’s title is a bit too big of a spoiler. Just expect some tear-jerking moments ahead. This is a Nicholas Sparks story, after all.
La La Land is a modern-day musical for the dreamers, and one of the most successful flicks in the romance genre in a long time. Barbie‘s Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone share the spotlight as Sebastian “Seb” Wilder and Amelia “Mia” Dolan, respectively. Mia is a struggling actress in Los Angeles while Seb is an unfulfilled musician who can’t quite realize his career ambitions.
Seb and Mia’s musical courtship of each other is a wonder of song and dance, but finding a mutual happily ever after proves to be far more difficult. Can they stay together even as their dreams and hopes pull them apart?
Jason Segel and Emily Blunt may be the primary couple of The Five-Year Engagement, but the supporting couple, Chris Pratt and Alison Brie, really steal the film. Tom Solomon (Segel) and Violet Barnes (Blunt) are in love, but life keeps giving them curveballs as they try to get married. First, Tom’s best friend, Alex Eilhauer (Pratt), has an impromptu marriage with Violet’s sister, Suzie Eilhauer (Brie). And then Violet’s academic career keeps them from actually walking down the aisle.
As the years pass, Tom’s obvious displeasure with the constant delays to their marriage and his own stalled career starts to poison the romance he shares with Violet. When their lives reach a turning point, Tom and Violet have to decide whether they can be together at all.
In Forever Your Girl, Liam Lincoln Page (Alex Roe) is one of the biggest country music stars in the world. But years earlier, Liam abandoned Josie Mollee Swan (Jessica Rothe) at the altar and he didn’t look back. Upon returning to his hometown for a funeral, Liam learns that Josie resents him and that they have a daughter, Billy Anne Swan (Abby Ryder Fortson).
Learning about Billy inspires Liam to try to reconcile with Josie while trying to be a father to their daughter. However, the same reasons that kept Liam and Josie apart may keep them from figuring out how to rekindle the love they once had.
Where the Crawdads Sing is one of the rare films that works as a romance, a mystery, and a thriller. Director Olivia Newman adapted Delia Owens’ novel for the big screen with Daisy Edgar-Jones as Catherine “Kya” Clark, a young woman who lives alone in the marsh during the 1950s and ’60s after being abandoned by her family.
When Kya is a teenager, she falls for a boy her age, Tate Walker (Taylor John Smith). After her connection with Tate is seemingly severed, Kya takes up with Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson), a young man who betrays his bond with her. But when one of her lovers ends up dead, Kya finds herself on trial for her life and the deck stacked against her.
What’s so curious about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button? He was born old, and grows younger as he ages. David Fincher updates F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story by setting it across the 20th century, with Bullet Train‘s Brad Pitt headlining the film as Benjamin Button. After Benjamin is abandoned by his father, he is taken in by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) and her husband, Tizzy Weathers (Mahershala Ali).
But the key relationship in Benjamin’s life is with Daisy Fuller (Cate Blanchett), a girl whom he meets as a child before their ages eventually line up in the middle of their lives. Benjamin and Daisy share a powerful romance, but the nature of Benjamin’s condition means that their time together is limited.
Legends of the Fall is yet another Brad Pitt romantic drama that takes place over the course of a few decades. In the early 20th century, William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) lives on his property with his three sons, Tristan (Brad Pitt), Alfred (Aidan Quinn), and Samuel (E.T.‘s Henry Thomas).
Julia Ormond co-stars as Susannah Fincannon, the woman who comes between the brothers. All three of the Ludlow brothers have romantic feelings for Susannah, but only two of the brothers return from World War I. And in the years that follow, heartbreak and pain threaten to tear two remaining brothers apart as well.
For the better part of a century, D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover has been adapted again and again for film, television, and even radio. Netflix’s movie is the latest adaptation, and it features Emma Corrin in the title role of Constance “Connie” Reid, the wife of Matthew Duckett’s Sir Clifford Chatterley.
When Clifford returns home from World War I as a paraplegic, the passion goes out of his marriage with Connie despite her best efforts. But when Connie begins a torrid affair with a gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors (Jack O’Connell), it may cost Lady Chatterley her title, her wealth, and even her husband.
Sometimes, you just need a break from life. When her mother passes away and her husband doesn’t show up to the funeral, it’s the last straw for Zeynep (Naomi Krauss). She’s already dealing with stress at work, an aging father at home, a husband who is clearly too preoccupied with his job for her, and a typical closed off teenage daughter.
So, she takes things into her own hands and decides to drive off to a home in Croatia that her mother bought before her death. But when she arrives, the owner of the villa Josip (Goran Bogdan) is still living there. This could pose a problem, or could it? Faraway is a romantic drama with elements of comedy and feel-good heartwarming moments that fans have likened to movies like Mamma Mia.
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