Best Romcom Movies
Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of romcom cinema — measured across 3,034 indexed frames from 31 films, against a 408,752-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.
Romcom films over-index on wine glass, bookshelf and blazer — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.
- 1
The Wedding Planner (2001)
Adam ShankmanDP Julio MacatIMDb 5.4TMDB 5.9See in full on FrameThrower →
Mary Fiore is the wedding planner. She's ambitious, hard-working, extremely organized, and she knows exactly what to do and say to make any wedding a spectacular event. Bt when Mary falls (literally) for a handsome doctor her busy yet uncomplicated life is turned upside down - he's the groom in the biggest wedding of her career! Will she help him walk down the aisle with his internet tycoon girlfriend, or will Mary finally get to be the bride herself? When it comes to love, you can never plan what's going to happen.
- 2
Life As We Know It (2010)
Greg BerlantiDP Andrew DunnIMDb 6.5TMDB 6.9See in full on FrameThrower →
Holly and Eric were set up on a blind date by their married friends Peter and Allison, but it didn't go well. After Peter and Allison are killed in an accident, Holly and Eric learn that they have been named as the guardian of their late friends' infant daughter Sophie, so they move into their house and try their best to honor their friends' wishes. But raising a child cramps their style--and they still don't exactly get along.
- 3
Annie Hall (1977)
Woody AllenDP Gordon WillisIMDb 7.9TMDB 7.7See in full on FrameThrower →
Alvy Singer, a forty year old twice divorced, neurotic, intellectual Jewish New York City stand-up comic, reflects on the demise of his latest relationship, to Annie Hall, an insecure, flighty, Midwestern WASP aspiring nightclub singer. Unlike his previous relationships, Alvy believed he may have worked out all the issues in his life through fifteen years of therapy to make this relationship with Annie last, among those issues being not wanting to date any woman that would want to date him, and thus subconsciously pushing those women away. Alvy not only reviews the many ups and many downs of their relationship, but also reviews the many facets of his makeup that led to him starting to date Annie. Those facets include growing up next to Coney Island in Brooklyn, being attracted to the opposite sex for as long as he can remember, and enduring years of Jewish guilt with his constantly arguing parents.
- 4
The Rebound (2009)
Bart FreundlichDP Jonathan FreemanIMDb 6.3TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →
Sandy, upon discovering her husband's infidelity while watching her son's birthday video, leaves the suburbs and moves into the city. She gets an apartment that's above a coffee house where she befriends one of the workers, Aram, a guy whose wife only married him so she could get a green card. Aram's family thinks he's wasting his life and education by working in the coffee house. Soon after moving into the apartment, Sandy hires Aram to be her nanny while she takes on work for the first time since her children were born. It isn't long when Aram and Sandy find they get along wonderfully and start to date. But the question is: is their relationship real or is it, in fact, just a rebound for both of them?
- 5
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Joel CoenDP Roger DeakinsIMDb 6.3TMDB 6.0See in full on FrameThrower →
Miles Massey, a prominent Los Angeles divorce attorney has everything--and in some cases, two of everything. Despite his impressive client list, a formidable win record, the respect of his peers and an ironclad contract (the Massey pre-nup) named after him, he's reached a crossroads in his life. Sated on success, boredom has set in and he's looking for new challenges. All that changes when Miles meets his match in the devastating Marylin Rexroth. Marylin is the soon-to-be ex-wife of his client Rex Rexroth, a wealthy real estate developer and habitual philanderer. With the help of hard charging private investigator Gus Petch, she has Rex nailed and is looking forward to the financial independence a successful divorce will bring. But thanks to Miles' considerable skills, she ends up with nothing. Not to be outdone, Marylin schemes to get even and as part of her plan, quickly marries oil tycoon Howard Doyle. Miles and his unflappable associate, Wrigley, unwittingly dig themselves in deeper and deeper as they go head-to-head with Marylin. Underhanded tactics, deceptions and an undeniable attraction escalate as Marylin and Miles square off in this classic battle of the sexes.
- 6
Blended (2014)
Frank CoraciDP Julio MacatIMDb 6.5TMDB 6.9See in full on FrameThrower →
Recently divorced mom Lauren and widowed dad Jim let their friends push them into a blind date, which goes disastrously wrong. Unsurprisingly, neither wants to see the other ever again. However, fate intervenes when both Jim and Lauren, unbeknownst to each other, purchase one-half of the same vacation package at a South African resort for families, during spring break. They and their children are forced to share the same romantic suite and participate in a slew of family activities together.
- 7
Two Weeks Notice (2002)
Marc LawrenceDP László KovácsIMDb 6.2TMDB 6.4See in full on FrameThrower →
Harvard educated lawyer Lucy Kelson, following in the footsteps of her lawyer parents, uses her career for social activism. She hides any sense of femininity behind her work. George Wade is the suave public face of the Manhattan-based Wade Corporation, a development firm that Lucy routinely opposes and whose true head is George's profit-oriented brother, Howard Wade. George, who has a reputation as a lady's man, has had as his legal counsel a series of beautiful female lawyers with questionable credentials, they who have more primarily acted as his casual sex partners. Needing a real lawyer, he offers Lucy the job of his legal counsel on a chance meeting. Despite warnings from her parents in working for the "enemy", Lucy, who has no intention of being the latest in his bed partners, accepts the job as she feels she can do more good from the inside, and as George, as part of the job offer, promises not to demolish a community center in a heritage building as part of a development project near her childhood Coney Island home where her parents still live. Although Lucy is able to effect the type of change she wanted from this position, she finds she cannot deal with George's expectations of her, namely being his primary confidante and advisor at all hours of the day and night, mostly about issues she considers frivolous. As such, she gives him two weeks notice, although she promises to help George find her replacement. As Lucy begins to review resumes, George himself unilaterally decides to hire June Carver, a fellow Harvardite, but who seems to have her sights set on George as both a boss and personal partner. As June begins to replace Lucy in seemingly all aspects of George's life, Lucy begins to realize that she herself has fallen for George. However, Lucy's feelings for George and her attempts to re-ingratiate herself into George's life are placed into jeopardy when she learns of a Wade Corporation decision against her basic sensibilities.
- 8
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.
- 9
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)
Donald PetrieDP John BaileyIMDb 6.5TMDB 6.9See in full on FrameThrower →
Benjamin Barry is an advertising executive competing with two female co-workers for a major campaign for a diamond merchant. He cuts a deal with his competitors that the account is his if he can make a woman of their choice fall in love with him in 10 days. In comes Andie Anderson who, in turn, is writing a story on how to lose a guy in 10 days as a bet with her boss to be allowed to write more substantial stories. With a hidden agenda in each camp, will either party be able to complete their mission?
- 10
A Good Year (2006)
Ridley ScottDP Philippe Le SourdIMDb 6.9TMDB 6.7See in full on FrameThrower →
After years of no contact with his Uncle Henry, London banker and bond trader Max Skinner learns that Henry has died intestate, so Max inherits a château and vineyard in Provence. Max spent part of his childhood there, learning maxims and how to win and lose, and honing his killer instinct (at chess, which serves him well in finance). Max goes to France intent on selling the property. He spends a few days there, getting the property ready to show. Memories, a beautiful woman, and a young American who says she's Henry's illegitimate daughter interrupt his plans. Did Max the boy know things that Max the man has forgotten?
What romcom films are made of
How much more often each element appears in a romcom 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 glass3.3×
- bookshelf2.3×
- blazer2.1×
- necklace2.1×
- baseball cap2.1×
- table lamp1.9×
- glasses1.9×
- sofa1.8×
How romcom 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 romcom from the catalogue far more than they separate it from its neighbours.
- 26%high keyvs 12% baseline
- 12%closeupvs 21% baseline
- 24%low keyvs 40% baseline
- 13%widevs 20% baseline
- 64%mediumvs 48% baseline
What breaks the pattern
Amelie (2001) 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 3,034 frames from 31 films carrying the romcom label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (408,752 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/romcom
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