Recently, The Ringer wrote a list of The 50 Best Rom-Coms of all time as part of their Rom-Com week. I love a good list, and I love to check things off of a list, so I decided to go through it and reorder it based on my personal opinions because, to be frank, I just simply do not agree with the order they wrote it!
I haven’t seen most of these movies, so I recommend checking out the original list to see all 50. My list is much shorter than theirs, because most of the movies that they chose are old, because the golden age of rom-coms was long ago! I could go in depth about how sad it is that nobody wants to make a good romcom anymore, but alas I will write this knockoff list instead.
15. Love Actually
Ringer Ranking: 24
I know that this movie is a Christmas Classic, and that everyone is ~obsessed~ but I hated it. If I were to make a top 50 romcoms list, I honestly doubt that this one would even make the cut. It’s tedious and boring at best, misogynistic at worst. The first time I watched it I honestly thought I was watching the wrong movie, because it did not live up to expectations at all.
14. To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
Ringer Ranking: 49
This is one of the very few movies on the list that I actually saw when it came out. I don’t think To All the Boys was a great movie, necessarily, but I do think that it will be a classic for a long time, given that it is one of the few RomComs of the 2020s. The plot was endearing, and both Lana Condor and Noah Centino did an excellent job, proving themselves as acting talents of their generation.
13. The Princess Bride
Ringer Ranking: 19
This is another classic that I don’t necessarily consider a great movie, but is a classic nonetheless. I thought it was a fairly good adventure plot with a cute romance subplot moreso than a romcom.
12. Silver Linings Playbook
Ringer Ranking: 47
Silver Linings Playbook is good because it has Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. Other than that, I once more would not have put it on this list at all. It was depressing. I was a huge Lawrence fan when this first came out because of The Hunger Games and my fangirl tendencies, but even that didn’t help this movie become one of my favorites.
11. 10 Things I Hate About You
Ringer Ranking: 44
This is the first movie on the list that I think deserves to be here. 10 Things I Hate About You was a solid romcom with great actors and a great premise. A classic.
10. Knocked Up
Ringer Ranking: 39
I don’t have much to say about this movie. I watched it and remember having fond memories of it at the time, but it didn’t necessarily stick. It was both funny, romantic, and had a hot cast, and that’s all I can ask for in a movie.
9. The Wedding Singer
Ringer Ranking: 9
I’m confused why this is the only Adam Sandler / Drew Barrymore movie on the list. I wouldn’t even rank it top three of the movies between the two of them. Sandler is funny in this movie, but the Sandler/Barrymore dynamic was far better in other movies. If I were to put one of them on this list, it would have been 50 First Dates, and I would have ranked it higher than #9.
8. How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Ringer Ranking: 43
I most definitely went back and forth on whether to put this movie higher. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is such a classic, and the plant scene will forever be engraved into my memory. Matthew McConaughey is an icon, arguably the best romcom male of all time. He carries the movie with his charm, and Kate Hudson an Kathryn Hahn are both funny and charming in their own right.
7. She’s the Man
Ringer Ranking: 41
She’s the Man is a soccer girl classic. Is it the best soccer girl class romcom? No. That goes to Bend It Like Beckham. But nonetheless, it’s a great soccer girl romcom and I love it very dearly. I am and forever will be an Amanda Bynes fan.
6. 13 Going on 30
Ringer Ranking: 40
I freaking love 13 Going on 30. It is so good. I saw this movie for the first time while sick with the flu in middle school, and I’ve seen it many times since then. Jennifer Gardner is just so fun to watch act, and the plot of this movie is irresistible, especially when I was a 13 year old myself.
5. Palm Springs
Ringer Ranking: 45
Palm Springs was a movie that I expected to be a waste of my two hours, but then turned out to be shockingly funny. It’s a Groundhogs Day-esque plot (notice that I’ve never actually watched that movie) but it felt original. I think this movie deserves a rewatch for sure.
4. Clueless
Ringer Ranking: 4
I didn’t watch this movie for the first time until about a year ago, and once I did I loved it. Clueless is so funny in a classic teen high school romcom type of way, and it doesn’t hurt that Alicia Silverstone is great in her role. Plus, the gum gif lives rent free in my head.
3. Pretty Woman
Ringer Ranking: 2
This movie was ranked at #2 in the Ringer poll, the highest of any film that I’ve actually seen, but it didn’t make it up to #1 on my list. I also felt like the Ringer people were a little… harsh, especially given how highly they rated it in their poll. The concept of prostitutes wanting to be “saved” by rich men who can swoop in and love them is actually pretty problematic; prostitutes are doing their job, and any affection that they show towards men is actually just a part of that job, just like any other service industry. Nonetheless, the movie was charming and as a child I wanted that level of romance in my life.
2. 27 Dresses
Ringer Ranking: 30
I love this movie. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Katherine Heigl is such a great actress, and she truly brings this role to life. I’m not sure why I love this movie so much, but of all the romcoms made during the romcom boom, this is top three for me for sure. I remember watching it and wishing that I had enough friends to be in 27 different weddings.
1. Crazy Rich Asians
Ringer Rankings: 32
I adored this movie. It was so cute and fun and beautiful. The set was pure opulence, and that made extremely fun to watch. The characters had substance and felt like complete, real human beings. It’s rare for the men and the women to both be fully developed in a movie. Normally directors have a tendency to choose one or the other, depending on their own gender and interests. Also, everyone was hot and the romantic tension felt real. I loved it. Best rom-com on the list, and potentially best romcom of all time.
Write Through the Night 