The movie love story is one genre that has a stigma attached to it, much the same way the action movie does. Mention the words romantic movie to most people and they immediately think of the latest soap opera film or Meg Ryan atrocity. But there has to be some good romantic movies out there right? Sure there are and one can't judge the whole genre simply on the basis of mass produced "chick flicks". It's like writing off the action genre without seeing one of John Woo's classics and basing your presumption on a direct-to-video Steven Seagal POS.
So here I am pleased to present ten love story movies that avoid the schmaltz and soap. Ten movies that avoid the cliches that sink most movies of this type. Ten movies that prove that the words "love story" and "Chick flick" are not always synonymous.
10: Love And Basketball. This one combines two genres (love story and sports movie) and manages to make them mesh together quite well. The best point in its favor is that the characters are well-developed enough that one grows to care about them and that helps overcome the relatively predictable story.
9: Moulin Rouge. Baz Luhrmann revived the musical in 2001 with this operatic love story. It's possible to note that the movie is more style than substance, But what style it is! More emotionally affecting and far more entertaining in its approach than the overblown and overrated Chicago.
8: Moonstruck. Fantastically written (definitely deserving of the Oscar it won for John Patrick Shanley's script), this is the movie that I always sensed My Big Fat Greek Wedding was trying to be. While MBFGW turned out to be an ultimately fun but lighweight piece of fluff, Moonstruck aims higher and scores higher. Cher, Vincent Gardenia and Olympia Dukakis are all superb.
7: Love Jones. Love Jones, for some reason, turned out to be Theodore Witcher's sole directorial effort. Shame too, for this is a fantastic character-driven love story. Larenz Tate shows off range here after being best-known for playing a psychotic criminal in Menace II Society and proves he is one of his generation's best actors. The lovely Nia Long is great as an independent woman. Love Jones is as effective as it is because it captures both the rush of falling in love with someone and the uncertainty that comes as you wonder if you have what it takes to make it work in the long run.
6: Chasing Amy. Kevin Smith's third feature film has a premise that sounds like it could be used as the plot for the latest American Pie rip (straight male comic book artist falls in love with a lesbian). But it has way more heart and depth than that. Ben Affleck gives what is one of his best performances as lovestruck Holden McNeil and Joey Lauren Adams brings depth to what could have been a one-dimensional role. The only Kevin Smith film to surpass this one so far is Dogma.
5: An Officer and a Gentleman. Taylor Hackford's summer of 1982 drama has elements to draw in anyone who likes love stories, anyone who likes military themed films and anyone who likes a good story with characters one can truly identify with and care about. Louis Gosset won a deserved Academy Award for his performance as tough as nails yet caring drill instructor Sgt Emil Foley, Debra Winger is fantastic as a local girl who understands the meaning of true love and is not willing to resort to dirty trickery. The late Lisa Blount is her friend who is willing to resort to dirty trickery and David Keith is the man who truly loves her and ends up paying the price. And of course, there's Richard Gere in the lead role as Zack Mayo, the young aspiring Navy pilot who learns over the course of the film what being an offcer and gentleman truly is.
4: The Age of Innocence. Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Edith Wharton's novel is one of those instances where a film improves on the book it's based on (Michael Mann's Last Of The Mohicans is another). No gangsters, graphic violence or rock and pop songs on the soundtrack here. But it's still a Scorsese film in that he takes a recurring theme throughout much of his work (guilt and human frailty) and sets it in the context of 1870s New York. If Merchant and Ivory had made this, it would've been a typical "chick flick". Scorsese makes it into a poetic and wrenching tragedy. Fantastic performances from Winona Ryder and Danile Day-Lewis.
3: Punch Drunk Love. I'm not really an Adam Sandler fan with a few exceptions. This is one of those exceptions. Director Paul Thomas Anderson puts Sandler in a role where he's forced to confront the immaturity that's prevalent in most of his roles and grow up somewhat. The character he portrays here is more fully-dimensional than most Sandler characters and his romance with Emily Watson is better developed than the typical movie meet cutes. Anderson is one director who has yet to make a dud. Punch Drunk Love adds another notch to his belt.
2: Casablanca. Of course it's impossible to make a list of great movie love stories and leave this one off. I can't really think of anything else to say about this cinematic classic other than it has achieved immortality for a reason and has not dated a minute since 1942.
1: Before Sunrise/Before Sunset. I know, I ranked 2 movies together and I ranked them ahead of Casablanca. For the former, it's because there's no way to separate them and for the latter I have two reasons: I wanted to offer something a little unpredictable and I truly do consider these 2 movies to be my favorite cinematic love story of all time. In Before Sunrise Richard Linklater creates two characters, a man and a woman, both relatively young (in their early to mid 20s) and shows them making their way through a day while travelling. He skillfully avoids the contrived aspects of most romances, The same goes for Before Sunset where he brings them back together at a point where they are older and wiser and lets events unfold naturally. Watching these movies shows just how hollow most "chick flicks" are at their core. Here we have none of the soap opera cliches or stock characters so prevalent in those movies. What we have are two characters we really do care about and a story that has a natural flow. This makes Before Sunrise and Before Sunset two sides of the same coin as the best cinematic love story of all-time (even though Ethan Hawke may be no Bogie).
Runners Up:
Romeo And Juliet (The 1968 Franco Zeffireli one)
Last Tango in Paris
In The Mood for Love
Show Me Love
Monsoon Wedding
Jason's Lyric
Adventureland
Beauty and the Beast (The 1991 animated Disney one of course)
Murphy's Romance
Ones best avoided:
Endless Love
Love Story
Maid In Manhattan
Valentine's Day
The Princess Diaries
The Wedding Planner
Any movie based on a Nicholas Sparks novel
Any Sandra Bullock romantic comedy (aside from maybe While You Were Sleeping)
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