REEL TALK

DATE NIGHT PICKS

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Best romcoms for Valentine’s Day

REVIEWED BY Ashwini Vethakan

Ah February! The month of love is upon us and with it comes the dreadful pressure one feels when having to plan a romantic night out.

Well, for those of you who’d like to be extra cautious this year and stay indoors, your date night can still be spruced up with the right movie. Because what is date night without a movie?

And have we got a list for you!

Be it a night in with your partner, best buddies or even the cat, here are the top five picks for a romantic night in!

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

What’s a romantic movie without a swoon worthy Mr. Darcy? This 2005 remake with its delightful soundtrack makes for the perfect date night movie and so it simply had to be our number one.

Directed by Joe Wright, Jane Austen’s favourite protagonists will have you wishing you lived in the countryside, had to attend balls and could get away with snippy lines such as ‘A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.’

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU

If you appreciate a good adaption of a classic, the 1990s comedic spin on William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew is an ideal choice.

Here, we have a young Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles take the lead in what’s sure to be a night filled with equal parts of laughter and tears. If you watch the movie closely, you’ll spot a baby-faced Joseph Gordon-Levitt (!), and it also pairs DC Comics’ Joker and Robin in their first film together.

THE NOTEBOOK

This story reduces even the toughest men to tears… A Nicholas Sparks masterpiece, this romantic classic is powered by the palpable chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, but the real tearjerker is the relationship between their older characters played by James Garner and Gena Rowlands.

In true Sparks fashion, you’ll find yourselves walking alongside these powerful characters – crying, laughing and yelling (at the TV) just as they do.

SWEET HOME ALABAMA

This movie has not one but two very swoon worthy protagonists with Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey battling it out on the screen for our hearts. The film centres on a young and confused Melanie Smooter (played by Reese Witherspoon) who’s left her old drawly Alabaman life in the rearview mirror in exchange for the glitz and glamour of New York City. 

Everything seems to be going great for good ole’ Melanie, until she is engaged to the most eligible bachelor in the city but can’t get married because her ex-husband back home hasn’t signed the divorce papers.

Sit back and enjoy Melanie’s hilarious journey as she tries to force her husband into giving her the divorce she wants… or thinks she wants.

MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING

This would not be a romcom list if we don’t include at least one of Julia Roberts’ masterpieces. This delightful film tells the story of Julianne Potter (Julia Roberts) and her best friend Michael O’Neal (Dermot Mulroney) who have a deal that if they’re both single by the time they’re 28, they would marry each other.

But four days before Julianne turns 28, she finds out that Michael is engaged to be married. In true romcom fashion, this makes Julianne realise that she doesn’t want Michael to marry anyone but her – and so she plots a way to break up the wedding…