Top Ten Romantic Movies for Valentine's Day

This is funny, romantic movies are the ones I usually run away from at full speed. Most of the romantic films are usually reek of utter cheesiness, and they typically deal with women who I have a huge crush on which makes me resent the men who steal their hearts. Those guys who work out at the gyms and have that six pack abs going on full display when they take their shirts off, why do the ladies go crazy over these guys? Anyway, enough about me.

I seized the opportunity to do this list because in the end, there are a few movies of this type that got me more than I usually admit. Plus, I wanted to see if I could throw a wrench into the works and see if I could possibly offer some different kind of films than the ones that usually end up on lists like these. Whether or not I succeed in doing so, I have yet to find out. Some of the films on this list may make me look like a hypocrite, but what the hell, I got something out of them.

Like other lists I have done, these movies are being presented in no particular order. The numbers are simply to make sure I stay on track and not lose count. Some may seem like obvious choices, but I hope that some of them will appear unusual.

So, let us set a course for romance!

1) When Harry Met Sally

Ok, you'll see this one on a lot of lists, but it is easy to see why. I saw it again recently for the first time in years, and it is still one of the most well written romantic comedies ever made. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan still shine brightly in roles that took their stardom to a higher level. It asks whether or not men and women can be friends with the sex part getting in the way, a question that is still inescapable all these years after the movie's world premiere. Despite it's age, it truly is a timeless piece that has not lost any of its ability to make us laugh and warm us up. Even Meg Ryan's orgasm is still the laugh riot after all these years.

My condolences to Rob Reiner who lost his mother a couple of months ago. She uttered one of the funniest lines in the film. If you haven't seen the movie, don't worry. You'll know which line I'm talking about when it comes up.

2) All Of Me

Rob Reiner's father Carl directed this 1984 comedy where Steve Martin plays a lawyer who ends up having one half of his body accidentally inhabited by Lily Tomlin's recently deceased character. Neither can stand each other at first, but they end up growing to like each other and love one another by the film's end. It's a great screwball comedy, and Martin and Tomlin make a great comedy team in it. After all these years, I still think that Martin was robbed of an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his performance in this movie. The scene where he has just been invaded by Tomlin and ends up having a tug of war with his own body remains one of the funniest scenes I have ever seen. Plus, his ex-wife Victoria Tennant heats up the screen in all the scenes they have together. No wonder they got married.

It's a really innocent comedy (PG rated), and the kind that Hollywood either doesn't make anymore, or does a lousy job of promoting and distributing. It's still really funny after all these years, and it doesn't feel all that dated.

3) Crazy/Beautiful

This movie stars Kirsten Dunst and Jay Hernandez as a pair of "star-crossed lovers" who come from opposite sides of the tracks. Jay's character is a straight laced Latino kid from East LA who has to take an hour long bus ride to the high school in the Pacific Palisades which will better suit him for a future he deserves. Kristen plays the messed up one who does things she should not be doing, and she falls for Hernandez at first sight practically.

If this sounds like your typical teenage romance movie, that was because it was advertised as such. But thanks to director John Stockwell, he manages to tread through this zone of clichés and manages to give us something fresh and genuine in terms of the characters and emotions that are on display. All the characters and the environments surrounding them feel genuine, and Stockwell avoids stereotypes that the movie could have easily fallen into. The fact that he also casts really kids who live in the cities the movie takes place in adds to a reality seldom seen in a romantic movie like this. It could have easily turned out to silly, so it's nice to see Stockwell avoid that trap.

"Crazy/Beautiful" also benefits from some truly excellent performances, the best coming from Kirsten Dunst in what I think is still her best role to date. She makes you feel her character's pain and vulnerability to where she breaks your heart. Her character may not be an easy person to like, but you root for her all the same. Dunst gives a very raw performance that is free from overacting and over emoting, and her scenes with the equally excellent Bruce Davidson pack a solid punch.

Incidentally, I do have a cameo in this movie that is one of those blink and you missed it ones. The scene where there is a big party at someone's house with a band playing away, you can briefly see me doing that lame jumping up and down dance that all white people do. Not too much to brag about, but seeing myself on the big screen was a thrill.

4) Before Sunrise/Before Sunset

This one is a tie, and for good reason. Both movies, directed by Richard Linklater, chronicles the coupling and conversations of two strangers who meet on a train and end up spending a wonderful day together. The majority of the action does involve two people talking. On paper this may sound boring, but Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy (so cute!) are so great together, and Linklater grounds their relationship in a world we clearly recognize as our own. Like Ethan and Julie, you don't want to see their time come to an end in either film. Their sadness and anxiety in leaving each other mirrors our own, and both films make you feel like you spent a fantastic people with two immensely cool people.

Most romantic movies have their two lovebirds running through the motions of a plot we instantly recognize from dozens of other movies, and we know that they will go from point A to Point B and come together in the end and "live happily ever after." Both "Before Sunrise" and its sequel "Before Sunset" are great examples of romantic movies that let the actions of the characters dictate the story instead of the other way around.

It's been too long since I saw these movies. I should seriously consider putting them at the top of my Netflix rental queue.

5) Bull Durham

It's been 20 years since this movie was released, and it still sizzles like it hasn't aged a day. The movie has a lot of fun with two of America's favorite pastimes, baseball and sex, as it follows minor league players Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins as they are seduced by Susan Sarandon in what I think is still her best performance ever. Some movies lose the power to arouse you, but not this one. On top of the great chemistry all the leads have with each other, the movie is a great look at how much fun and looser the minor leagues are than the majors. That's something that wasn't shown in many movies before this one came out. Plus, the relationships and sex scenes in the movie are some of the most original I have seen in any movie, be it with or without baseball.

Susan Sarandon's Annie Savoy is still one of the sexiest characters I have ever seen in movies, and it is a tragedy that she did not get an Oscar nomination for her performance. Her delivery of the voiceover narration and of her philosophy regarding the "church of baseball" is enough to make men sit upright and adjust themselves every five seconds.

Here's something funny: On his commentary track for the film, Ron Shelton talked about how studio executives at Orion Pictures didn't want to cast Tim Robbins in the movie. They felt that a woman like Susan Sarandon would ever fall for a guy like him, and Shelton then points out that Susan and Tim had two kids together and that he is godfather to one of them.

6) Knocked Up

One of the best (and funniest) movies of 2007, this is a comedy where the romance comes from the most inconvenient of moments. Katherine Heigl has a one night stand with Seth Rogen's character, a man who could not be more different from her. She ends up getting pregnant as a result, and they somehow manage to form a loving relationship that is believable even though they only just met. Like a lot of other movies on this list, this one gives us characters who are very down to earth and who we can recognize from our own lives, and it never feels unnecessarily manipulative.

I love the scene where Heigl and Rogen were trying to have sex, and he gets all concerned that the baby is going to get psychic damage from seeing his penis jutting up towards him (or her). If that scene is in another movie, then I have missed it dammit.

But I really love how that these two people did not feel like your typical couple, and that the way they come together and drive each other apart was a lot fresher than I see in other movies of this type. It's a great one to watch if you and your significant other want lot of laughs with a lot of heart.

7) Say Anything

No one else can create the kind of loving relationships between two characters the way Cameron Crowe does. "Jerry Maguire" and "Almost Famous" are fantastic examples of this but, but the Cameron Crowe movie of choice here is most definitely "Say Anything." It's yet another movie on this list that is filled with amazingly down to earth characters who lead complicated lives. John Cusack and Ione Skye seem like a highly unlikely couple, but they both make it work and you come to see that they really need each other in a world they are finally entering into as adults.

Cameron Crowe is a master of great dialogue, and there are little moments that speak volumes of how strong the relationship is between these two. When Cusack moves some broken glass out of Skye's way, it illustrates how he protects her so easily. Crowe also gives us several heartbreaking moments, and nothing seems to break the heart more when Cusack is on the phone with his sister telling her:

"I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen."

It doesn't matter if you are a man or woman, you will still get choked up when Cusack holds that boom box over his head while it plays Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes." That's still such a powerful moment after so many years.

8) Four Weddings and a Funeral

My parents once lived the lives of the characters in this movie. They went to weddings like these and took turns being the best man and maid of honor, and they made speeches where they picked on the bride and groom and their untold relationships with sheep. My parents laughed like crazy over this one, and their enjoyment of it shows how down to earth it is in a British way. I also love how this ended up being one of the more unpredictable romantic movies I had ever seen. You got to know the characters so well, and you desperately did not want to see them make a mistake that they would spend the rest of their lives regretting.

Hugh Grant is hilarious, and he gave a performance that acted as a template for many others he would give in the future. Andie McDowell is (dare I say) adorable as one of the very few Americans in the movie, and the movie has a great cast that moves the plot along from ecstatic highs to heartbreaking lows.

I need to watch this one again sometime.

9) True Romance

OH YES!! Tony Scott's cult classic from a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino is more popular now than when it first came out. Quentin has said that he saw the movie as a "real romantic movie," but I strongly disagree. Granted, it is a romance surrounded by extreme violence and chases, but the chemistry between Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette is so instantly strong that it creates a lasting impression that remains strong long after the movie has finished.

How many movies can you think of where a call girl is paid to meet up with a kung fu movie fan on his birthday, and then they fall hard for each other in the space of a few hours? Not many people get married after their first date, but with these two, it makes perfect sense. This one does not necessarily feature characters who are all that down to earth, but the movie creates such a genuine coupling between Slater and Arquette, and it is the glue that holds all the craziness of the movie together.

But what if Slater never ended up with Arquette in the movie? Well... He'll always have his love for Elvis.

10) Witness

Although this 1985 movie from director Peter Weir is billed as a thriller, it is also a movie dealing with forbidden love. Harrison Ford earned what is shockingly his only Oscar nomination to date for his role as John Book, a Philadelphia who is forced to hide an Amish woman and her son after they have witnessed a murder. This is one of those movies where what is said is nowhere as powerful as what is not said. There are many moments where Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis just stare at each other, and you can feel the passion they have for each other but are afraid to act on. To act on their feelings will end up changing their lives forever, and it won 't necessarily be for the better.

When they are hanging out by the car and they start dancing to one of Harrison's favorite songs as a kid, when he ends up catching her in the process of bathing herself, and their last moment together are largely wordless, and they are all the more powerful for it. When they do finally embrace, it's almost a relief as the sexual tension between the two just keep building and building throughout the movie's 112 minute running time.

A police thriller? Yes. But at it's heart, it's a romance between two people from different worlds.

So, I hope you all have a nice Valentine's Day. If you are still single, then I wish you a very happy Singles Awareness Day (which is every bit as important). Let's just this holiday goes by quickly, because it's bad enough that we don't get the day off of work.