Romantic comedies are cinematic comfort food for many movie watchers, and it's fascinating to see how much this storytelling genre has changed over time. Romantic comedies have had their ups and downs in the film industry, but they're a reliable style of story that audiences continue to seek out.
Plenty of rom-coms are content to just celebrate awkward love and tender encounters. That being said, there's also a greater push toward indulging in other genres. While these movies are still likely to make the audience laugh and their hearts swell, there is a lot more that these genre-bending stories bring to the table.
10 Palm Springs
Science Fiction
It's hard to believe that strange genre content has become so mainstream that the concept of obtuse time loops is now somewhat typical and has reached a point of subversion. Palm Springs stars Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti as two unkempt wedding guests who find themselves doomed to repeatedly experience the same day.
The knowledge that they're both uniquely trapped in this scenario brings Nyles and Sarah closer together and an unlikely relationship forms. Palm Springs really embraces the mysterious angle behind its science fiction premise as these characters work to improve themselves and avoid the same toxic cycles that have pushed them to their current lots in life.
9 Romancing The Stone
Adventure
Romancing the Stone is an early directorial effort from Robert Zemeckis, a filmmaker who would later be known for ambitious genre experiments. The playful adventure movie stars Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner, who both get in over their heads as they're forced to navigate a treacherous jungle in the hunt for a legendary gemstone.
Romancing the Stone embraces fish-out-of-water hilarity that humbles Douglas' harlequin romance novelist character as he's stuck experiencing the real thing. A legitimate romance blossoms, but Romancing the Stone is just as much of a heightened adventure. Modern films like The Lost City have attempted to replicate its magic.
8 Love & Basketball
Sports Drama
Gina Prince-Blythewood has recently made waves with grandiose action films like The Woman King and The Old Guard. Prince-Blythewood's roots go back to smaller, more personal coming-of-age stories, which she absolutely masters in Love & Basketball. The 2000 romance builds upon a simple premise where two childhood friends, Monica and Quincy, find their lives going in opposite directions as they both try to make a name for themselves as professional basketball players.
Jealousy, pride, and understanding push these two to figure out what's really important to them in life. Emotional breakthroughs are reached against the thrilling action that's experienced on the basketball court.
7 The Princess Bride
Fantasy
The Princess Bride is one of the best romantic comedies to come out of the '80s and set a high benchmark that's been difficult for subsequent genre-blending films to match. Based upon William Goldman's novel of the same name, The Princess Bride lovingly lampoons fairy tales as well as the very nature of storytelling and the act of adaptation.
The Princess Bride presents the ultimate star-crossed romance between a lowly farmer and a heavenly maiden. There's a sweet love story that pushes the plot forward and fans of the fantasy and fairy tale genres will be just as delighted with its magical take on good versus evil.
6 Passengers
Dark Psychological Sci-Fi Drama
2016's Passengers is a cautionary tale of the importance of accurate marketing and why it's never smart to trick audiences. Passengers presents itself as a glossy romance between Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence that's set in the sterile nature of outer space. Pratt and Lawrence's Jim and Aurora are prematurely awakened from suspended animation and learn to make the best out of their strange and lonely situation.
Jim and Aurora slowly fall for each other, but the film reveals that the circumstances between this intergalactic meet-cute have been orchestrated by Jim. Passengers is much darker than it lets on, especially once the truly toxic nature of Pratt's Jim comes to light.
5 The Lobster
Experimental Drama
Yorgos Lanthimos is the anarchic voice responsible for thought-provoking pictures like Dogtooth, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and the Academy Award-winning, The Favourite. 2015's The Lobster is the perfect intersection of Lanthimos' unconventional interests and mainstream storytelling.
Set in a dystopian future, The Lobster follows a group of single people who will be transformed into an animal of their choosing if they don't find a partner in 45 days. The absurdist premise invites a deeper commentary on society's compulsion to equate marriage and family with success. An extremely strange relationship unfolds between Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz's conflicted characters that's as surreal as it is romantic.
4 Shaun Of The Dead
Zombie Horror
Edgar Wright has a wildly diverse filmography that truly kicks off with the incredibly confident Shaun of the Dead. Self-described as a "rom-zom-com," Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost follow up their imaginative television series, Spaced, with a story about love, growth, and friendship that just happens to occur in the middle of a zombie outbreak.
Shaun of the Dead has become an all-time classic due to its hilarious comedy, progressive statements on relationships, and the growth that Shaun experiences by the end of the movie. It's also just highly effective as a tribute to horror's zombie subgenre.
3 They Came Together
Satire
David Wain and Michael Showalter have a rich history of avant-garde and experimental comedy that's not for everyone but deeply connects with those who are on board with their heightened silliness. Much like how Wet Hot American Summer satirizes summer camp movies, They Came Together is a parody of major studio romantic comedies.
Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler rise to the occasion as these broad caricatures in a movie where practically every single line is a sarcastic gag. There's so little sincerity in They Came Together that it doesn't necessarily succeed as a love story, but it's absolutely on point as an outlandish parody of an over-produced genre.
2 Punch-Drunk Love
Psychological Thriller
P.T. Anderson has an eclectic filmography that includes classics like Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Phantom Thread. Punch-Drunk Love is a movie that sometimes slips through the cracks due to its sweeter nature in contrast to Anderson’s earlier films. Adam Sandler gives one of his most nuanced performances as a troubled, lonely man whose life blossoms after he falls in love with a kind soul.
There's a powerful quality to this love that brings its characters together, almost like gravity, but it's also a psychologically draining experience. Anderson rotates between tender romance and debilitating panic attacks as these characters take leaps and leave their comfort zones.
1 'Before' Trilogy
Arthouse Post-Modern Romance
Richard Linklater is an ambitious filmmaker who explores risky projects, not all of which meet mainstream expectations. One of Linklater's most rewarding endeavors is his "Before" Trilogy. Made up of Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight, each of these small-scale minimalist romance movies follows Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy's Jesse and Celine after nine-year intervals.
These movies largely consist of humble conversations and earnest explorations of identity. They're incredible microcosms of how people's lives and desires change over time, as well as the ebb and flow that pulls individuals together. In lesser hands, the "Before" Trilogy would just be empty grandstanding, but there's such honesty in these movies.