You’d be lying if you said that Christmas doesn’t invoke certain emotions in you: homecoming, nostalgia, and excitement. It’s that one time of the year when you truly get to relax and you know, just carry a little holiday weight, afterward (Season 7, Ross). More than most, Christmas is about the feeling of love, togetherness, family, and wholesomeness.
And that’s why, despite being a religious festival, it’s celebrated with fervor worldwide. For Christmas 2019, we decided to put out a list of feel-good romances for you. These movies may have not have had to do with Christmas strictly, but they qualify for must-watches in ways you’ll read below. Here we go.
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
Directed by Rob Reiner, When Harry Met Sally is the epitome of well-written Hollywood romcoms. Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal are delightful in their roles as Sally Albright and Harry Burns, respectively. Years ago in a chance encounter, Sally drives Harry to New York on a friends’ request.
Their first meeting isn’t exactly fireworks, Harry is cynical about pretty much everything in life, and Sally the quite opposite. Years later, they befriend each other as two thirty-something singles’, battling the odds of life and slowly fall in love. When Harry Met Sally is crisp, funny and moony. It makes for a timeless romance movie.
YOU’VE GOT MAIL
You’ve Got Mail stars, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, what’s known as the greatest on-screen pairing ever. In real life, Joe is the owner of a family corporation of FOX & SONS BOOKS (or as little Matt likes to call it F-O-X), and Kathleen owns her mother’s bookstore, The Shop Around the Corner. But of course, Joe puts her out of business as soon as he arrives on her block, with his discounted books and the smell of coffee.
In virtual life, the two share an online camaraderie, unaware of each other identities. As Kathleen’s business dooms and the two rift IRL, love continues to blossom online. And when the two do meet, Kath goes, “I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so bad.”
PRETTY WOMAN
Just what the world needed in 1990, humanizing sex workers. Pretty Woman tells the tale of a sex worker (Julia Robert’s Vivian Ward) and an upper-class businessman (Richard Gere’s Edward Lewis). Does the movie really need an introduction beyond this? I didn’t think so.
Their chance encounter turns their lives upside down, by the end of which Vivian quits her life behind for a better one. But wait, the man’s gotta change too. In the end, Edward takes a u-turn, comes outside Vivian’s building with flowers. “So what happened after he climbed up the tower and rescued her?” “She rescues him right back.”
BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY
Bridget Jones’s Diary is a trilogy of movies based upon Helen Fielding’s novels by the same name. But for the purposes of this list, we’ll take the first one into account. When Bridget’s life becomes too real to handle, she maintains a journal to jot down her insecurities, hence the name of the movie.
Meet Bridget Jones, weight 140 pounds plus 42 mince pies, alcohol units, oh, thousands. Meet Mark Darcy, a man besotted with Bridget, from the moment he met her. Meet Daniel Cleaver, Bridgets’ boss. She may get her heart broken by him, but the right man, Darcy, is always around the corner. Even if he leaves her sight for a second and has her chasing him in underwear and a robe.
NOTTING HILL
William: “I live in Notting Hill. You live in Beverly Hills. Everyone in the world knows who you are, my mother has trouble remembering my name.” Anna Scott: “I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”
Anna Scott is a world-famous actress who has arrived in Notting Hill, London to shoot a movie. William Thacker is a divorced bookshop owner whose Anna happens to visit. Love blossoms between the two over a short period of time. Eventually, Anna must leave for Beverly Hills, California, but love has her staying back “Indefinitely.” The pairing of Julia Roberts’ poised smile and Hugh Grant’s British charm, need we say more?
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
2017’s masterpiece, Call Me By Your Name is a romantic drama that will leave you wanting more. It is the tale of a teenager Elio (Timothee Chalamet) and his father’s temporary assistant, Oliver (Armie Hammer) who share a brief, albeit a passionate romance in picturesque Italy. Armie leaves Elio absolutely heartbroken but in complete acceptance of who is he and of their terms of endearment.
By the end of the movie, Elio is a woke young man, thanks to this father’s words of wisdom: “We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to make yourself feel nothing so as not to feel anything- what a waste!”
LOVE ACTUALLY
Love Actually is the most beloved Christmas movie of all time. It has continued to enchant audiences with its interconnected cast ensemble, eight couples, each of which comes with a heartwarming story. Never has there been a cast ensemble so perfect, so loved and so very relatable.
From Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Andrew Lincoln, Rowan Atkinson, to even the cheating- Sir Alan of the Rickman, Love Actually is an absolute British delight. Love Actually released in 2003, and its popularity has been soaring ever since. It’s a cult classic.
GOOD WILL HUNTING
Good Will Hunting may not be a romance movie, per se. But it lays stress on love. That love of all kids is your savior. Good Will Hunting is the story of Will (Matt Damon), a genius, working as a janitor at America’s top university.
Forced to see a psychology professor, (Robin’s Sean Maguire), Will learns the meaning of love, life and of letting go. Their routine appointments become significant life lessons. Will rushes and leaves everything behind to get his girl in the end. “I gotta go see about a girl.”
ME BEFORE YOU
Emilia Clarke is proof of why the world isn’t such a bad place to live, in this movie and IRL. The woman can melt any soul with her infectious smile (unless she isn’t burning down towers and people). Naturally, every rom-com that Emilia is a part of has to be a wholesome, feel-good, full of positivity and a life lesson.
Me Before You talks about the controversial subject of euthanasia, for which it won its fair share of criticism. Emilia’s Louisa Clark as a real-life emoji and a caretaker for Sam Claflin steals our hearts. Louisa took our breath away as she jumped with joy over bumblebee stockings. Ah, the simple things in life.
LOVE STORY
“What can you say about a twenty-five-year-old girl that died? That she was beautiful. And brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach.” Love Story is the adaptation of Erich Segal’s classic by the same name. The story is simple: A Harvard jock/ WASP, Oliver Barrett meets falls in love with a cocky intellectual, and a working-class/Radcliffe student, Jenny Cavalleri.
Whilst Oliver’s parents oppose the marriage, the two make it on their own. Their romance is short-lived, sweet and soulful. Rest assured, you are going to cry in the end. It’s not a happy ending but it is a beautiful story of love.
