Feb. 7, 2023
By Debbie Ogunbowale
Staff Writer
With Valentine’s Day just a week away, there is no better time to curl up on a couch with your significant other and watch a movie. Here are 10 films that are sure to give you a new perspective on love:
1. “The Age of Adaline” (2015) is a romantic fantasy film that follows Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively), who has been 29 years old for almost eighty years after an accident changed her life. Because of this, she has never allowed herself to be vulnerable with anybody until she meets Ellis Jones (Michiel Huisman). Her secret is threatened to be exposed after a weekend getaway to meet Ellis’ parents.
2. “The DUFF” (2015) is based on a 2010 young adult novel by Kody Keplinger. Bianca (Mae Whitman) is desperate to reinvent herself after realizing that she is known at school as the Designated Ugly Fat Friend, also known as the DUFF. Meanwhile, her two closest friends are popular and pretty. Wesley (Robbie Amell), who was Bianca’s childhood friend, decides to help her in her effort to reinvent herself.
3. “Grease” (1978) is a romantic musical comedy that follows Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) and Danny (John Travolta) who had a romance-filled summer together. The two go their separate ways but are reunited when they realize they go to the same high school.
4. “The Kissing Booth” (2018) is a Netflix original based on the 2012 young adult novel by Beth Reekles. The Evans and Flynns have been long-time family friends. Elle Evans (Joey King) and Lee Flynn (Joel Courtney) have been best friends since birth, but Elle’s feelings for the older Flynn brother (Jacob Elordi) deepen as her junior year of high school begins.
5. “Love Hard” (2021) is a Netflix original romantic comedy that follows writer Natalie Bauer (Nina Dobrev). Natalie documents all the bad dates she has had using a dating app. When she gets matched with Josh Lin (Jimmy O. Yang) from New York, she feels a deep connection to him and decides to visit him in his hometown for Christmas. That is when she realizes she has been catfished, and Josh isn’t the person she thought he was.
6. “My Girl” (1991) is a coming-of-age comedy-drama film about 11-year-old Vada Sultenfuss (Anna Chlumsky). Vada finds comfort in her best friend Thomas J. (Macaulay Culkin) when her widowed dad falls for a new woman.
7. “Purple Hearts” (2022) is a Netflix original romantic film based on the 2017 novel by Tess Wakefield. Singer-songwriter Cassie Salazar (Sofia Carson) and U.S. Marine Luke Morrow (Nicholas Galitzine) decide to get married out of convenience in order for them to receive benefits.
8. “Set It Up” (2018) is a Netflix original romantic comedy about Harper Moore (Zoey Deutch) and Charlie Young (Glen Powell). Harper is the assistant of a former journalist Kristen Steven (Lucy Liu). Charlie is the assistant of venture capitalist Rick Otis (Tay Diggs). Harper and Charlie are overworked by their two demanding bosses Kristen and Rick, so they decide to set the two up on a series of dates to get them off their backs.
9. “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” (2018) is based on the 2014 young adult novel by Jenny Han. Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) is a high school student who writes love letters. The love letters are addressed to her five crushes for whom she never plans to express her feelings. When she notices her letters have been mailed, her life is thrown for a loop.
10. “When We First Met” (2018) is a Netflix original romantic comedy about Noah Ashby (Adam Devine), who gets placed in the friend zone after spending the night with the girl of his dreams Avery Martin (Alexandra Daddario). When the opportunity arises for him to go back in time and do everything differently to be the guy of her dreams, he takes it with open arms, making it his mission to do everything perfectly.
