Troy Barnes GIF party! (co-starring Abed, obvs)

Cutest.

I wish I was this happy on my birthday every year.

Baby Boomer Santa!

Troy and Abed looking cheesy!

Awesome.

I find myself doing thumbs up like this even though I'm pretty sure no one gets why I'm thumbs-upping like a dork.

50 Favorite Romances: Wrap-up

Well, kids, we made it. I listed out my 50 Favorite Romances. Did I miss any of your favorites? Have I included too many you hated? Check out the master list below: 

1. Much Ado About Nothing (1993) 
2. It Happened One Night (1934) 
3. When Harry Met Sally... (1989) 
4. A Room With a View (1985) 
5. Persuasion (1995) 
6. Gone With the Wind (1939) 
7. Two for the Road (1967) 
8. While You Were Sleeping (1995) 
9. The Princess Bride (1987) 
10. Philadelphia Story (1940) 
11. The Remains of the Day (1993) 
12. Penelope (2006) 
13. A Man and a Woman (1966) 
14. Mostly Martha (2001) 
15. A Walk in the Clouds (1995) 
16. My Man Godfrey (1936) 
17. The Sound of Music (1965) 
18. Casablanca (1942) 
19. Charade (1963) 
20. Monsoon Wedding (2001) 
21. In the Mood for Love (2000) 
22. Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001) 
23. Say Anything (1989) 
24. Love Story (1970) 
25. The New World (2005) 

Just a bonus picture from Anastasia. The restrained affection is glorious, as is Yul Brynner's bald head.

26. (500) Days of Summer (2009) 
27. Vibes (1988) 
28. The Last Station (2009) 
29. Splendor in the Grass (1961) 
30. What’s Up, Doc? (1972) 
31. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) 
32. Shakespeare in Love (1998) 
33. Brief Encounter (1945) 
34. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) 
35. Roman Holiday (1953) 
36. Love, Actually (2003) 
37. Strictly Ballroom (1992) 
38. The Painted Veil (2006) 
39. Corrina, Corrina (1994) 
40. Anastasia (1956) 
41. Moulin Rouge (2001) 
42. Sabrina (1995) 
43. The Village (2004) 
44. Moonstruck (1987) 
45. Forget Paris (1995) 
46. Amelie (2001) 
47. Firelight (1997) 
48. The Wedding Singer (1998) 
49. The Goodbye Girl (1977) 
50. The Way We Were (1973) 

Break it down by decade, you say? OF COURSE I'M GOING TO DO THAT. Number of films per decade:
1930s: 3
1940s: 3
1950s: 2
1960s: 5
1970s: 5
1980s: 6
1990s: 12
2000s: 14

I'm a little embarrassed that so many of them are recent, although it makes sense: I was born in the late 80s, so of course the 90s and early 2000s are going to be loaded with films I grew up with and shaped my taste in romance. At least I've got a couple per decade since the existence of talkie movies. 

Out of curiosity, I also decided to find out how if there were any popular years for me:

Years with 2 films chosen:
1987
1989
1993
1998
2004
2006
2009

Years with 5 films chosen:
1995
2001

I think we all already knew 1995 was probably the best year ever for movies including Persuasion, While You Were Sleeping, A Walk in the Clouds, Sabrina, and Forget Paris making my personal cut. But I'm surprised 2001 was that prolific. Turns out 3 were foreign films (Monsoon Wedding, Mostly Martha, and Amelie) in addition to Moulin Rouge! and Bridget Jones's Diary.

So anyway, those are my thoughts. It is finished.

50 Favorite Romances: 46 - 50

Also check out 1 - 5, 6 - 10, 11 - 15, 16 - 20, 21 - 25, 26 - 30, 31 - 35, 36 - 40, and 41 - 45.

46. Amelie (2001)

You mean she would rather imagine herself relating to an absent person than build relationships with those around her?

Adorable, impeccably designed film about an introvert who learns how to care about other people and get out of her head. There's a spectacular cast of supporting characters that are unbelievably French and quirky, but in the end, the movie belongs to Audrey Tautou, her hard to pull off short bangs, and big eyes. Her delight in carrying out ridiculous schemes or fear when confronted with the reality of making a move on the photobooth scrapbooker she becomes enamored with is all shown in her eyes. Completely satisfying from start to finish, with the added bonus of a magical and tres French soundtrack.

47. Firelight (1997)

Firelight makes time stand still. When you put out the lamps and sit in the firelight's glow there aren't any rules any more.

Have you ever been watching/reading Jane Eyre and though, "I wish there was a lot more sex"? Then this is the movie for you. Charles Godwin's (Stephen Dillane) wife is comatose and needs an heir, so he hires a young French woman (Sophie Marceau) to spend three nights with him and bear his child. By the end of the third night, they're both enjoying themselves more than they're willing to admit. However, they don't see each other until years later when the woman wants to track down the daughter she gave birth to. She finds work at the Godwin house as a governess (isn't it always?) to find an angry father and a bratty child. Will the governess win them over in the end? Of course. Is this an incredibly grim movie with unexpected moments of modernity? Yes. Did I discover this film on the Oxygen Network? Obviously, but it's much better than one would expect. Watch it.

48. The Wedding Singer (1998)

Sir, one more outburst, I will strangle you with my microphone wire.

The Wedding Singer is the perfect TBS, Saturday afternoon movie. You don't have to think too hard, but it doesn't make you feel dumber. It's also one of the rare moments when Adam Sandler manages to play an endearing and funny character. It probably helps that Drew Barrymore is at her bubbly best, and the 80s angle feels a bit more fresh here than in other film. Mostly, it's a sweet "friends end up falling for each other because, no duh, her fiance is the worst" story. Not to mention a drunken Steve Buscemi, Chaka Khan singing Jon Lovitz, comedy perennial Allen Covert, and Boy George loving Alexis Arquette. Classic.

49. The Goodbye Girl (1977)

You know I love listening to you talk. I hate living with you but your conversation is first rate.

Can we talk about how attractive 1970s Richard Dreyfuss is? Because he is. He plays actor Elliott Garfield who moves into an apartment with newly single Paula McFadden (Marsha Mason) and her daughter Lucy (Quinn Cummings) after a subletting mishap. Personalities clash--Paula hates actors and Elliott can't help but be stubborn about everything--but they end up bringing out good things in each other. Neil Simon's snappy dialogue is something you don't see in film anymore, so it's a treat watching The Goodbye Girl.

50. The Way We Were (1973)

When you love someone, from Roosevelt to me, you go deaf, dumb, and blind.

Might as well end with the sappiest movie I could think of. It's the tragic story of two people that probably shouldn't have gotten together, but end up mostly just wasting each others' time. So Katie (Barbra Streisand) was some socialist nerd in college and Hubbell (Robert Redford) was some golden boy who everything came easy for. After college they meet when Hubbell's in the service during WWII and they hook up. Katie basically pushes him into a relationship and things keep happening. There's lots of arguments about changing personalities, and I can never decide if it's realistic or ridiculous. I just know I like it. But let's be real, the real star of the show is Barbra's song:



Fin.

50 Favorite Romances: 41 - 45

Also check out 1 - 5, 6 - 10, 11 - 15, 16 - 20, 21 - 25, 26 - 30, 31 - 35, and 36 - 40.

41. Moulin Rouge (2001)

Never fall in love with a woman who sells herself. It always ends bad!

Did anyone go into this movie thinking it was going to be terrible because a lot of its promotional ads used this horrendous version* of "Lady Marmalade"? And then the first half hour was so ridiculous you didn't know what was happening, but once Ewan McGregor starting belting "Your Song," you kind of loved it? At the end of the day, this really is a downer of a love story, but it's so pretty and it remains the only successful pop-songs-to-musical musicals I've ever seen. It helps that it's about show business in the first place, but they also chose some great music. This movie would be noteworthy even if "Roxanne" were the only scene--with the growling vocals, passionate dancing, the tragic cross-cutting, Christian's new, harmonizing verse to the song--I would still say this film is worth it. That Moulin Rouge  manages to have so such emotional resonance for how melodramatic and frantic it is, is amazing.

42. Sabrina (1995)

- I never thought of you as a dancer.
-I'm crazy about it. They call me Bojangles at the office.

I'm always bummed that Harrison Ford didn't do more romantic comedies, but maybe that's what makes Sabrina so effective. Ford plays Linus Larrabee, head of the family business. He's so all business that he wears ugly bowties. His younger, more charismatic brother, David (Greg Kinnear), attracts the attention of the chauffeur's frumpy daughter, Sabrina (Julia Ormond). Sabrina spends some years abroad in Paris and comes back totally hot, distracting David from his finacee who happens to be in business with the family's company. Linus decides to save the business by seducing Sabrina away from his brother, only he starts falling for her (WHO KNEW THAT WOULD HAPPEN?). It's done in a relaxed and socially awkward way that ends up being endearing, hitting emotional beats that make sense. And let's be real, Dana Ivey as the assistant Mack steals the show.

43. The Village (2004)

It is all that I can give you.

I feel like I should apologize for this selection because popular opinion is that this was where Shyamalan went off the rails. While I don't think it's a perfect movie, it's got a lot going for it, including some effective scary scenes that give this film an interesting mixed-genre feel. It's also got a sweet romance between Ivy Walker (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix). Maybe I'm a sucker for romances set in more formal eras of courtship, but their humorous and endearing coupling manages to gloss over the excessive and confusing twist back before there was a twist in the movie but then it isn't actually a twist back because the first twist was right in the first place. My point is this: Shyamalan makes hand holding thrilling. Outside of a Korean drama, you'd be hard pressed to find something so chaste be so effective, and effective this film is.

44. Moonstruck (1987)

We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die.

So much fighting, so much love making, so many dogs howling at the moon. This film is just plain fun if you like listening to multiple generations of Italian people argue about relationships. It also reminds you of when Nicholas Cage could harness his crazy into a weirdly attractive and hilarious role and teaches you that Cher is kind of awesome. Plus, there's a makeover scene. CASE CLOSED.

45. Forget Paris (1995)

Here, have some bread. Everything will look better after bread.

Apparently 1995 was a good year. In Forget Paris, Debra Winger is an American working in Paris who meets an NBA referee played by Billy Crystal. We learn about their romance through mutual friends telling their story to one friend's new fiancee. Their story is at times romantic and funny, and then stressful and sad as they're shown navigating compromise, taking care of her father, infertility issues, and throwing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar out of a game. Mixed in is old school Crystal humor, but it works well here. Winger and Crystal aces at creating realistic chemistry, and the supporting cast telling their story is a delight, new people coming in at each break from the story and giving us characters that feel comfortable and fully formed.  I would give this movie a hug.


*Where Christina decimates all other female voices in an effort to prove once and for all that her voice is abrasive and unblendable? And for some reason Missy Elliott shows up at the end?

50 Favorite Romances: 36 - 40

Also check out 1 - 5, 6 - 10, 11 - 15, 16 - 20, 21 - 25, 26 - 30, and 31 - 35.You should also check out my sister's list since she's decided to try to make a more awesomer one. You be the judge.

36. Love Actually (2003)

Let's go get the shit kicked out of us by love.

I don't know that I have much to say about this movie except that I almost OD'd on it in college because this movie is so full of warm fuzzies. Some of the storylines fall flat (the one including January Jones's dead eyes), but the Laura Linney/Rodrigo Santoro story KILLS ME every time. Girl, get yourself a hot Brazilian man! Anyway, it's charming, cheesy, and sweet, with just enough surprisingly dirty humor that is works. Plus, Christmas.

37. Strictly Ballroom (1992)

I have to help Wayne with his Bogo Pogo.

When I first saw this movie in the early 2000s, I think it took me a while to realize this movie was set in the early 90s because ballroom fashion is always beyond-the-pale bizarre. Anyway, Scott Hasting (Paul Mercurio) lets his the old guard of the ballroom scene down when I starts dancing his own steps. The only one who believes in him is Fran (Tara Morice), a frumpy beginning dancer. They begin to practice together and fall in love and everyone learns lessons and there are a lot of sparkles. It's frantic enough to be amusing and save a very predictable plot.

38. The Painted Veil (2006)

As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue.

In college I was a writing tutor, and the most satisfying session I ever had was with a girl writing a psych paper about The Painted Veil. We bonded about how adorable Edward Norton was and all the small moments where he awkwardly shows affection toward the woman he married. I think I eventually told the girl that she needed to cut down her paper to just the key moments in the film that proved her thesis even though it was like killing her children. However, you never have to feel like you're killing your children as you watch Naomi Watts learn to love Edward Norton despite the fact that she was sleeping with Liev Shreiber on the side. Crazy what China and cholera can do for a couple.

39. Corrina, Corrina (1994)

-You know, Billie Holiday does a better version.
-No one's better than Louis.

My sister also included this on her list of favorite romances, so it must be a classic. Corrina (Whoopi Goldberg) becomes the housekeeper to a widower Manny Singer (Ray Liotta) and his selectively mute little girl Molly (Tina Majorino). The Singers are both still mourning the loss of a wife and mother, and of course Corrina helps them learn to be happy and love again. Mostly, I'm always so surprised Ray Liotta is in this movie considering that he's best known for gangster films. Seeing him in a Hawaiian shirt jumping on a pogo stick is a little jarring, but that's okay. I'll allow him to wear cardigans and make up jingles about pudding with an assist from sassy Whoopi.

40. Anastasia (1956)

The poor have only one advantage: they know when they are loved for themselves.

Y'all, I carry a large torch for Yul Brynner. As Bounine (kind of a proto-Dmitiri*), he's strict and always has a plan. He's training lost soul and possibly crazy Anna Koreff (Ingrid Bergman) to act as the presumed-dead Princess Anastasia of Russia to claim money from the Dowager Empress. Things get muddy as Anna starts to believe she is Anastasia, and those around her start to question what's reality as well. In between some rather slowly paced moments, Bounine and Anna share some fiery exchanges and a few flirtatious ones. There's not much of a thread to their relationship, but it works for me. Besides, if it means I get to watch Yul dance, play guitar, and simply just walk across a room, I'll watch it all day.


*The 1997 version of Anastasia just barely didn't make this list. It's basically a romcom with creepy undertones and glossy history.

50 Favorite Romances: 31 - 35

Also check out 1 - 5, 6 - 10, 11 - 15, 16 - 20, 21 - 25, and 26 - 30.

31. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)

He always said you could fight with somebody and still like him.

Here's proof that Martin Scorsese can direct women without the male gaze. Ellen Burstyn plays newly widowed mom Alice Hyatt, trying on a new life and new career in a new town. She has some missteps in romance and finding a job, but eventually lets David (Kris Kristofferson) into her life. It's not an easy transition, and there's some tension with Alice's child (Alfred Lutter III plays one of the most kid-like kids I've ever seen in movies*), but they make it work. This recap is cheesier than I mean Alice to sound. Since it's Scorsese, it's much grittier and has some genuinely terrifying moments. I appreciate that most about this movie, besides 1970s Kristofferson.

32. Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Comedy, love, and a bit with a dog. That's what they want.

I could watch Joseph Fiennes look like he's in love all day. As Shakespeare, he's rather charming as a frenetic writer/actor who falls in love with a cross-dressing woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) who wants to be in the theater despite her gender. Blah blah blah, there are arranged marriages and since it's an all-star British cast, Colin Firth's character is getting shafted and Judi Dench is shrill and Geoffrey Rush is there. What makes this film so delightful are the Shakespeare in-jokes. They manage to use many of his techniques for humor and drama (hidden identities, forbidden love, puns, double entendres, humor mixed with tragedy, allusions to Shakespeare's other works) without being cloying. That's quite a feat. 

33. Brief Encounter (1945)

It's awfully easy to lie when you know that you're trusted implicitly. So very easy, and so very degrading.

There's something very British and restrained about Brief Encounter. It's a film about possibility and choices. Laura Jesson (Cecelia Johnson) is a married housewife who meets an also married doctor (Trevor Howard) on the train during her weekly trip into town. They enjoy each other's company and meet up again. The slowly realize they're falling in love and have to make a decision about where their relationship is heading. Not much happens in the film, but that doesn't make it less effective. It means we get to live inside Laura's brainspace as she works through the events of the last few weeks and how significant it was for her to be interested in someone new.

34. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

My embarrassing admission is I really like that you're nice right now.

Science fiction as I wish it was used more often: to highlight the human condition** in a heightened world. In this world, Joel (Jim Carrey) gets the memory of his recent ex Clemintine (Kate Winslet) removed from his brain. But as he's in the process, he realizes he doesn't want to forget the memories, because all the good ones are going, too. The quirky supporting cast also supports the messiness of love and posits that some relationships are inevitable.

35. Roman Holiday (1953)

I've never been alone with a man before, even with my dress on. With my dress off, it's most unusual.

Audrey Hepburn plays Princess Ann of Madeupland who goes off on a holiday all by herself for the very first time. She lives out her dream with the help of a newspaper man Joe Bradly (Gregory Peck) with an assist from bearded photographer Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert). Mishaps, blackmail, and wholesome fun are had by all, all while Ann and Joe grow an attachment to each other. It's one of the sweeter tales of journalist-only-hangs-out-with-girl-for-a-story-but-then-falls-in-love, and I like it. The ending is bittersweet and real to the characters. I'll always wish for a Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck and the facial features to pull of Audrey's short haircut. Sigh. If only.


*Meaning, he's kind of super weird and gets annoying, but is also surprisingly smart and sometimes intentionally funny.
**Feel free to slap me through the screen for that phrase.