Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) is desperate. Her all-girls soccer team has just been cut, and she’s barred from joining the boys’ team. What’s a stellar female soccer player to do? How about she pose as her fraternal twin brother, Sebastian (James Kirk), and play for his soccer team at an ultra-exclusive private school? It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds and Viola manages to convince everyone that “she’s the man” on and off the field. But things start to get very complicated once Viola finds herself falling for the team’s hunbky captain, Duke (Channing Tatum). Will love ruin Viola’s perfect plan?

She’s the Man is a very loose adaptation of William Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night, although the Bard probably never had former stripper turned Magic Mike star Tatum in mind when he created Duke. Bynes isn’t remotely believable as a boy, but the film is so fun and lightweight, you suspend your disbelief anyway. When she’s playing Viola, Bynes has great chemistry with Tatum. They’re two jocks who understand that scoring a goal is just as appealing as going out on a date.

Maybe I Do begins with three seemingly random couples facing their own unique crisis. While attending a friend’s wedding, Michelle (Emma Roberts) and Allen (Luke Bracey) contemplate whether they have a future together. In a hotel room, middle-aged adulterers Howard (Richard Gere) and Monica (Susan Sarandon) try to continue their affair, even though Howard wants out. Meanwhile, strangers Grace (Diane Keaton) and Sam (William H. Macy) meet at a movie theater and spend the night getting to know each other.

It’s no big surprise that these six people are all somehow connected, although I’ll leave it to you to discover just how they’re related to one another. Maybe I Do’s story isn’t anything new, but the film’s star-studded cast makes it work. Sarandon stands out as a mistress who wants to claim her love as her next husband, while Keaton is touching as an older woman who discovers she still has the desire to be romantically loved by another person.

If you think about it, Mamma Mia!’s story is kinda insane. Bride-to-be Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried) has invited three of her mother Donna’s (Meryl Streep) ex-lovers to the Greek island where she’s set to marry her fiancé, Sky (Dominic Cooper). Why? Well, she thinks one of them might be her father. But to find out, she wants to talk to each of them first, which doesn’t sit well with Donna, who is mortified that she has to face her ghosts of boyfriends’ past. Donna might have feelings for one of them, but who has time for love when there’s a wedding to plan for?

Based on the hit Broadway musical, Mamma Mia! is beloved by millions of fans – and loathed by a small portion of people who can’t stand ABBA or having fun. But it’s hard to resist musical numbers set in a sun-dappled Greece or the sight of Streep singing “Dancing Queen” and literally letting her hair down. The romance at the center of the story is sweet, too, with Seyfried and Cooper as a lovestruck couple who are just as beautiful as the Mediterranean sea that surrounds them.

Darren Silverman (Jason Biggs) is finally in a relationship with a beautiful, intelligent woman, Judith Fessbegler (Amanda Peet). Unfortunately, she’s a controlling monster and is making his life miserable. His best friends, Wayne (Steve Zahn) and J.D. (Jack Black), hatch a plot to “save” him by reuniting him with his first love, Sandy (Amanda Detmer), but their plan backfires when Judith finds out about it. Darren just wants to be loved, but does he have the courage to be with the right woman who will love him back?

Released at the height of American Pie’s popularity, Saving Silverman is a rom-com with its heart in the gutter. There are plenty of dirty jokes in the film, plus a subplot involving Neil Diamond that’s more groan-worthy than entertaining, but it’s still a fun romp with enough laughs and romance to satisfy genre fans. Black and Peet shine as two people fighting for Darren’s happiness; they’ll do anything, even physically assaulting one another, to get their man.

Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler) is a chill, working-class dude who runs a pizzeria in New Hampshire and writes greeting card slogans in his spare time. His life suddenly changes when he inherits a controlling interest in a media company left by a recently deceased relative he’s never even met. His slice of the pie is worth a lot of money, and all he has to do is fly to New York and sell his shares to the company’s no-good chief counsel, Cecil Anderson. Reporter Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder) thinks Deeds is up to no good and poses as a naive Midwestern school nurse to get closer to him. But Babe and Deeds get a little too close, and their burgeoning love affair distracts them from Cecil’s attempt to steal Deeds’ fortune.

A remake of the Frank Capra classic Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Mr. Deeds is more Adam Sandler bro-comedy than Capra-corn. His Longfellow is nice but also slightly psychotic – he doesn’t think twice before brutally beating a robber who attempts to steal Babe’s purse. It’s everyone around Sandler who makes the movie worth watching, though, particularly Ryder as a Lois Lane-like reporter and John Turturro as Longfellow’s loyal butler. It doesn’t hold a candle to the original, but this Deeds has enough going for it to go to town with if you’re craving a no-frills rom-com to stream.

This modernized take on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew stars Julia Stiles as abrasive but intelligent teenager Kat Stratford. It’s this acerbic personality that keeps the boys away from Kat, which is a problem for her younger sister, Bianca (Larisa Oleynik), who isn’t allowed to date anyone until Kat has a boyfriend first. When new student Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) falls desperately for Bianca, he schemes to get handsome bad boy Patrick (Heath Ledger) to date Kat and get around their father’s (Larry Miller) overprotective rule.

While Kat’s brand of feminism was seen by some as “extreme” at the time, her character is now regarded as a refreshing subversion of female expectations and a progressive take on typical high school movie stereotypes. This unconventional approach has allowed 10 Things I Hate About You to endure as one of the best romantic comedies ever. It’s mature and emotionally resonant, yet still manages to be funny.

Ben (Jack Quaid) and Alice (Maya Erskine) have been friends since college and are now in their late twenties, navigating the reality of everyone around them getting married. With Alice having recently left a relationship and Ben getting rebuffed by his crush, the pair agree to be each other’s permanent wedding dates during a particularly busy summer of weddings. Of course, the two unlucky-in-love singles find their platonic wedding dates becoming something more as the summer goes on.

Critics felt that Plus One managed to breathe new life into the romantic comedy genre, with fresh faces like Quaid and Erskine who balance the heart and the humor with ease. Their well-matched chemistry, in addition to the film’s buoyant narrative and emotional stakes, makes Plus One a fantastic recent entry into the rom-com canon. Plus One both embraces and subverts genre expectations, creating something that’s both new and familiar.

This underrated rom-com had the misfortune of being lost in the shuffle of 2020 movie releases due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it stars the fabulous Geraldine Viswanathan (Thunderbolts*, Blockers) and Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things) as unlikely collaborators on an unusual art project. Lucy (Viswanathan) is fired from her assistant job at a New York art gallery on the same night as a brutal breakup, leaving her heartbroken over her ex. Unable to part with the mementos of her lost relationship, Lucy decides to create a space where people can leave memorabilia from past relationships—essentially a gallery of broken hearts.

It just so happens that Nick (Montgomery) is looking for a gimmick to save his failing boutique hotel. Together, they create a place where people can display their keepsakes from breakups past. The publicity for their Gallery of Broken Hearts gets hot — and so does the chemistry between the two leads.

The Broken Hearts Gallery has a witty script, a diverse cast and a real insight into the experience of heartbreak. Don’t break our hearts by skipping this movie.

Andy Samberg (Saturday Night Live, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Cristin Milioti (How I Met Your Mother, The Penguin) star in the genre-bending romantic comedy Palm Springs. While attending a wedding in Palm Springs, Nyles (Samberg) and Sarah (Milioti) get stuck in a time loop, forced to relive the day of the wedding over and over again. Meanwhile, another wedding guest named Roy (J.K. Simmons) blames Nyles for being trapped in the time loop as well and is constantly seeking revenge by killing him (which resets the loop). 

As Nyles and Sarah grow closer, secrets about their lives before the wedding are revealed. Will they be able to move forward together, or will they stay stuck in the past? Milioti and Samberg are charming and funny actors with great chemistry, and you’ll find yourself rooting for them despite their flaws. Palm Springs feels like the perfect millennial interpretation of Groundhog Day.

A modern-day retelling of Pride and Prejudice, Fire Island follows a found family of gay men who take a summer trip to the titular island every year. When Howie (Bowen Yang of Saturday Night Live fame) meets the rich and charming Charlie (James Scully) at a party, Howie’s best friend Noah (Joel Kim Booster, who also wrote the film) is determined to get them together. But Charlie’s judgmental friend Will (Conrad Ricamora, who is adorably dorky in the “Mr. Darcy” role) seems to get in the way at every turn. 

The movie shows how wealth and social class can still come into play in present-day relationships, while maintaining the original story’s themes of miscommunication and first impressions. The supporting cast is hilarious and includes Margaret Cho and Yang’s Las Culturistas co-host Matt Rogers.

No Hard Feelings is one of those comedies where the premise is deeply disturbing, but the great writing and talented cast sell it so well that you find yourself laughing anyway. In this romantic comedy, down-on-her-luck waitress Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) is facing bankruptcy after having her car repossessed. Desperate for a new car, she answers an unusual Craigslist ad posted by wealthy parents Allison and Laird Becker (Laura Benanti and Matthew Broderick).

The Beckers are worried about their 18-year-old son Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) starting college in the fall, as he is shy, awkward and inexperienced. So they hire Maddie to “date” Percy, without giving him any idea what’s happening. (See? Told you it was disturbing.)

But as Maddie’s over-the-top attempts to seduce Percy turn into a real friendship, Maddie begins to open up about her complicated past while Percy learns to stand on his own two feet. There’s hilariously shocking physical comedy (a naked fist fight occurs — we won’t reveal the participants) and a warm sweetness that will move and surprise you.

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