10 Things I Hate About You
Teen Love done right. Also great music.
American Dreamer
Every romance writer I know loves this movie.
Charade
Murder, great clothes, a plot that ties itself in a knot, Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant doing some great banter as they fall hopelessly in love, and that theme song . . . just go rent it.
Grosse Point Blank
Okay, so he killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. Nobody's perfect.
His Girl Friday
The perfect screwball comedy. Having Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell as the hero and heroine doesn't hurt, either.
How To Steal A Million
Yes, it's dated and prefeminist. I don't care. It's also Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole in a great caper/romance/comedy.
The Lady Eve
Sexy, funny, fast-paced, and morally ambiguous . . . my favorite kind of story. Plus Barbara Stanwyck cracking her gum and batting her eyes at a clueless Henry Fonda.
Little City
I love the way this plot works. Josh Charles is a bonus.
Moonstruck
One of the most perfectly constructed scripts ever. Especially that scene where Cher slaps Nicholas Cage and tells him to snap out of it.
A New Leaf
The only really sweet black comedy I know about murdering your wife. Also it's Walter Matthau and Elaine May.
Return to Me
Nothing blows up. Nobody calls the cops. People just fall in love. Plus Bonnie Hunt is a goddess.
When Harry Met Sally
For the dialogue alone you have to love it, even if that scene in the deli is a complete character violation for Sally.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Skipping over the Riley years, of course. (even though it's a TV show)
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Brilliant script but the guy ends up with the wrong woman.
Message in a Bottle
Drowning while throwing a bottle into the ocean is not tragedy, it's Darwin.
Miss Congeniality
Bullock is wonderful but she ends up with a weasel. If only Michael Caine hadn't been gay in this…
Pretty Woman
Street hooking in LA is not romantic.
Shadowlands
Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger do everything right. Watch it alone with a new box of Kleenex whenever you're tempted to doubt that real love exists.