Best Falling in love Movies
Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of falling in love cinema — measured across 2,094 indexed frames from 24 films, against a 404,689-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.
Falling in love films over-index on wine glass, microphone and pillow — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.
- 1
The Big Sick (2017)
Michael ShowalterDP Brian BurgoyneIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →
Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani), in the middle of becoming a budding stand-up comedian, meets Emily (Zoe Kazan). Meanwhile, a sudden illness sets in forcing Emily to be put into a medically-induced coma. Kumail must navigate being a comedian, dealing with tragic illness, and placating his family's desire to let them fix him up with a spouse, while contemplating and figuring out who he really is and what he truly believes.
- 2
Can You Keep a Secret? (2019)
Elise DuránDP Autumn EakinIMDb 5.4TMDB 6.4See in full on FrameThrower →
Emma's flight home from Chicago is very bumpy, making her believe that they're going to crash. About to "die", she spills all her inner secrets to the tall, handsome stranger sitting next to her. Next day at work at the NYC ad agency, she discovers he's the top guy in the company. As he doesn't want anyone to know he's been to Chicago, they promise each other to take the secrets to their graves. Emma shares apartment with a coworker and another woman. She's not ready to move in with her jazz loving coworker boyfriend.
- 3
Monster-in-Law (2005)
Robert LuketicDP Russell CarpenterIMDb 5.6TMDB 6.2See in full on FrameThrower →
After years of looking for Mr. Right, Charlotte 'Charlie' Cantilini finally finds the man of her dreams, Kevin Fields, only to discover that his mother, Viola, is the woman of her nightmares. A recently fired news anchor who is afraid she will lose her son the way she has just lost her career, Viola determines to scare off her son's new fiancé by becoming the world's worst mother-in-law. While Viola's long-time assistant Ruby does her best to help Viola execute her crazy schemes, Charlie decides to fight back and the gloves come off as the two women battle it out to see just who is the alpha-female.
- 4
The Wedding Singer (1998)
Frank CoraciDP Tim SuhrstedtIMDb 6.9TMDB 6.8See in full on FrameThrower →
Robbie Hart is singing the hits of the 1980s at weddings and other celebrations. He also can keep the party going in good spirit, he knows what to say and when to say it. Julia is a waitress at the events where Robbie performs. When both of them find someone to marry and prepare for their weddings, it becomes clear that they've chosen wrong partners.
- 5
Definitely, Maybe (2008)
Adam BrooksDP Florian BallhausIMDb 7.1TMDB 6.9See in full on FrameThrower →
Romantic comedy: Will Hayes, a 30-something Manhattan dad is in the midst of a divorce when his 10 year old daughter, Maya, starts to question him about his life before marriage. Maya wants to know absolutely everything about how her parents met and fell in love. Will's story begins in 1992, as a young, starry-eyed aspiring politician who moves to New York from Wisconsin in order to work on the Clinton campaign. For Maya, Will relives his past as a idealistic young man learning the ins and outs of big city politics, and recounts the history of his romantic relationships with three very different women. On the campaign, Will's best buddy is Russell McCormack. They not only have similar political aspirations, they share the same type of girl problems, too. Will hopelessly attempts a "PG" version of his story for his daughter ad changes the names so Maya has to guess who he finally married. Is her mother Will's college sweetheart, the dependable girl next-door Emily? Is she his longtime best friend and confidante, the apolitical April? Or is she the free-spirited but ambitious journalist? As Maya puts together the pieces of her dad's romantic puzzle, she begins to understand that love is not so simple or easy. And as Will tells her his tale, Maya helps him to understand that it's definitely never too late to go back...and maybe even possible to find a happy ending.
- 6
You've Got Mail (1998)
Nora EphronDP John LindleyIMDb 6.7TMDB 6.7See in full on FrameThrower →
This sweet romantic comedy reunites Sleepless In Seattle stars Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. He's the owner of a bookstore chain; she's the woman he falls for online. Both are unaware that she runs the little shop his company is trying to shut down.
- 7
Just Go with It (2011)
Dennis DuganDP Theo van de SandeIMDb 6.4TMDB 6.7See in full on FrameThrower →
While romancing Palmer, a much younger schoolteacher, plastic surgeon Danny Maccabee enlists his loyal assistant Katherine to pretend to be his soon to be ex-wife, in order to cover up a careless lie. When more lies backfire, Katherine's kids become involved, and everyone heads off for a weekend in Hawaii that will change all their lives.
- 8
A Star Is Born (2018)
Bradley CooperDP Matthew LibatiqueIMDb 7.6TMDB 7.5See in full on FrameThrower →
Seasoned musician Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) discovers-and falls in love with-struggling artist Ally (Gaga). She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer - until Jack coaxes her into the spotlight. But even as Ally's career takes off, the personal side of their relationship is breaking down, as Jack fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons.
- 9
Closer (2004)
Mike NicholsDP Stephen GoldblattIMDb 7.1TMDB 6.8See in full on FrameThrower →
Smart-but-ineffectual journalist Dan "We use euphemisms!" cannot decide between his girlfriend, loving-but-clingy waitress Alice, or his lover cold-but-intellectual photographer Anna; herself indecisive between Dan and honest-but-thuggish "You're bloody gorgeous!" doctor Larry. The film puts the four leading characters in a box and strips them apart.
- 10
Mike CahillDP Markus FördererIMDb 5.4TMDB 5.5See in full on FrameThrower →
Bliss is a mind-bending love story following Greg (Owen Wilson) who, after recently being divorced and then fired, meets the mysterious Isabel (Salma Hayek), a woman living on the streets and convinced that the polluted, broken world around them is just a computer simulation. Doubtful at first, Greg eventually discovers there may be some truth to Isabel's wild conspiracy.
What falling in love films are made of
How much more often each element appears in a falling in love frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — wine glass is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.
- wine glass2.9×
- microphone2.4×
- pillow1.9×
- necklace1.9×
- table lamp1.7×
- glass1.6×
- leather jacket1.5×
How falling in love films are shot
Weaker signals than the objects above, and worth saying so: most dramatic genres skew dark and night-heavy, so these numbers separate falling in love from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.
- 24%high keyvs 12% baseline
- 28%low keyvs 39% baseline
- 16%closeupvs 21% baseline
- 15%widevs 20% baseline
- 89%eye levelvs 69% baseline
What breaks the pattern
Despicable Me 2 (2013) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.
Method
Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 2,094 frames from 24 films carrying the falling in love label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (404,689 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.
Machine-readable: /api/list/falling-in-love
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