The 20 Best Romance Movies You Need to See in 2025
Because who doesn't enjoy a good love story?
Is there anything better than a good love story? Everyone needs to be swept off their feet at least once in their lives, but as we wait for our Mr./Mrs./Mx. Right, romance movies can provide the heart-fluttering feels (and occasional tearjerkers) we need.
2025's slate of romance films offered viewers a diverse selection of courtships, flings, and endgame relationships, from hilarious romantic comedies to heartbreaking dramas to several highly anticipated queer movies. Below, find the best romance movies of 2025 that arrived in cinemas and on streaming this year.
'Wish You Were Here'
Release date: January 17
Starring: Isabelle Fuhrman, Mena Massoud, Jennifer Grey, and Kelsey Grammer
The love story: Make sure to bring tissues for this emotional romance from director Julia Stiles(!), based on Renée Carlino's 2017 novel. After she has a perfect, romantic night with a mysterious stranger named Adam (Mena Massoud), Charlotte's (Isabelle Fuhrman) search for answers uncovers a devastating secret.
'Marked Men: Rule + Shaw'
Release date: January 22
Starring: Chase Stokes, Sydney Taylor, Alexander Ludwig, Ella Balinska, Evan Mock, Matthew Noszka, and Natalie Alyn Lind
The love story: If you have a penchant for sexy franchises like Fifty Shades or After, here's your next guilty pleasure. Shaw Landon (Sydney Taylor) has been in love with Rule Archer (Chase Stokes) since they were teenagers, but thought they could never bridge the good-girl/bad-boy divide. Come for a sexy tattooed Chase Stokes, stay for...a tattooed Stokes.
'Heart Eyes'
Release date: February 7
Starring: Olivia Holt, Mason Gooding, Gigi Zumbado, Michaela Watkins, Devon Sawa, and Jordana Brewster
The love story: If Valentine's Day wasn't brutal enough, this horror rom-com takes place in a world where the Heart Eyes Killer attacks romantic couples on the day of love. When co-workers Ally (Holt) and Jay (Gooding) share an unexpected kiss, they become the serial killer's next targets.
'Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy'
Release date: February 13 on Peacock
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Jim Broadbent, Gemma Jones, Isla Fisher, and with Colin Firth and Hugh Grant
The love story: Legendary rom-com heroine Bridget Jones returned in time for Galentine's Day this year. Recently widowed (sob!), the newly single mother navigates dating for the first time in years, and even strikes up a romance with a younger man played by The White Lotus's Leo Woodall.
'La Dolce Villa'
Release date: February 13 on Netflix
Starring: Scott Foley, Maia Reficco, Violante Placido, and Giuseppe Futia
The love story: Netflix's V-Day release this year follows a father and daughter having a joint Under the Tuscan Sun moment. Eric (Scott Foley) follows his daughter Olivia (Maia Reficco) to Italy to supervise her renovation of a one-euro villa, and each has their own dreamy summer romance.
'Picture This'
Release date: March 6 on Prime Video
Starring: Simone Ashley and Hero Fiennes Tiffin
The love story: Ahead of her little sister's wedding, photographer Pia (Simone Ashley) receives a fortune: She will meet the love of her life within her next five dates. Hoping that career success will come along with love, she goes along with her family's matchmaking. But there's someone she can't stop thinking about: her ex Charlie (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), who's also in the wedding party.
'Black Bag'
Release date: March 14
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Regé-Jean Page, Marisa Abela, Naomie Harris, Pierce Brosnan, and Tom Burke
The love story: Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as a super-hot, devoted spy couple in a Steven Soderbergh movie? Sold. This action-drama sees their loving marriage be tested when one of them (Blanchett) is suspected of treason.
'The Life List'
Release date: March 28 on Netflix
Starring: Sofia Carson, Kyle Allen, Sebastian de Souza, and Connie Britton
The love story: When her deceased mother (Connie Britton) tasks her with completing a "Life List" to get her inheritance, Alex (Sofia Carson) revisits her childhood dreams and gets closer to the will executor (Kyle Allen), making sure she checks off the entire list.
'A Nice Indian Boy'
Release date: April 4
Starring: Karan Soni, Jonathan Groff, Sunita Mani, Zarna Garg, and Harish Patel
The love story: Out gay doctor Naveen (Karan Soni) has always kept his dating life separate from his family...until he falls head over heels with his eventual fiancé Jay (Jonathan Groff). This queer rom-com follows the pair and Naveen's family as they come together to throw the Indian wedding of their dreams (complete with tons of Bollywood references).
'The Wedding Banquet'
Release date: April 18
Starring: Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Bowen Yang, Han Gi-chan, Joan Chen, and Youn Yuh-jung
The love story: Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone), and Min (Han Gi-chan) and Chris (Bowen Yang), are two queer couples facing financial and immigration issues while living in Seattle. So what better way to solve everything than a wedding plot? Follow the hijinks ahead of Angela and Min's fake traditional Korean wedding in this loose remake of the '90s movie of the same name.
'Lost in Starlight'
Release date: May 30 on Netflix
Starring: Kim Tae-ri and Hong Kyung
The love story: This Korean romance movie is absolutely adorable, telling the love story between a scientist dreaming of the stars and a down-to-earth musician (Hong Kyung). When they meet right before Nan-young's (Kim Tae-ri) space voyage, the pair "embark on the longest-ever long-distance relationship—one that bridges Earth and Mars."
'Materialists'
Release date: June 13
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Marin Ireland, Louisa Jacobson, Sawyer Spielberg, and Zoë Winters
The love story: After her Oscar-nominated debut Past Lives, filmmaker Celine Song helmed this movie about another complicated love triangle. Inspired by Song's past work as a matchmaker, Dakota Johnson plays a luxury matchmaker named Lucy, who has a handle on figuring out other people's love lives but struggles to work out her own when she meets a wealthy older man (Pedro Pascal) and reconnects with a former flame (Chris Evans). This one examines love from many angles—value, marriage versus romance, cynicism, and earnestness—giving you much to think about the nature of dating.
'Love, Brooklyn'
Release date: August 29
Starring: André Holland, Nicole Beharie, DeWanda Wise, Roy Wood Jr., Cassandra Freeman, and Cadence Reese
The love story: In this romantic indie film, André Holland, Nicole Beharie, and DeWanda Wise play "three longtime Brooklynites navigate careers, love, loss, and friendship against the rapidly changing landscape of their beloved city," per the film's description.
'Preparation for the Next Life'
Release date: September 5
Starring: Sebiye Behtiyar and Fred Hechinger
The love story: Bing Liu's adaptation of Atticus Lish's novel of the same name follows the unlikely romance between Aishe, an undocumented Uyghur woman working under the table in N.Y.C.'s Chinatown, and Skinner (Fred Hechinger), a white Army veteran living with PTSD. As the two societal outsiders find comfort in each other, their love is tested by their respective struggles to survive.
'The History of Sound'
Release date: September 12 on Mubi
Starring: Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor
The love story: An LGBTQ+ period romance in which Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor fall in love amid the New England folk music scene circa WWI? Yes, please!
'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey'
Release date: September 19
Starring: Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Kevin Kline, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Hamish Linklater, Lily Rabe, and Jodie Turner-Smith
The love story: In Kogonada's follow-up to After Yang, Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie are two strangers whose meet-cute at a mutual friend's wedding is extended into a supernatural journey into their pasts. As they unpack their respective trauma and hesitancy towards love, viewers wait for them to realize that even if they hurt each other, it may be worth the risk.
'Plainclothes'
Release date: September 19
Starring: Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey
The love story: In this forbidden romance based on true events, an undercover police officer (Tom Blyth) struggling to fit in is tasked with entrapping and arresting gay men in 1990s New York...until he falls in love with someone he meets on the job (Russell Tovey).
'Regretting You'
Release date: October 24
Starring: Allison Williams, Mckenna Grace, Dave Franco, Mason Thames, Scott Eastwood, and Willa Fitzgerald
The love story: Brace yourself for a messy romance from the mind of Colleen Hoover. When Morgan (Allison Williams) was young, she became pregnant by her boyfriend Chris (Scott Eastwood)...but she was secretly in love with her sister Jenny's (Willa Fitzgerald) boyfriend Jonah (Dave Franco). Fast-forward 17 years to when Chris and Morgan are married parents to Clara (Mckenna Grace), while Jenny and Jonah have recently reunited and welcomed a baby. An unexpected tragedy rocks their lives, at the same time that Clara begins her own teenage romance with Miller (Mason Thames).
'Wicked: For Good'
Releases: November 21
Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Ethan Slater, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum
The love story: Whether you're a Gelphie believer or not (if not...what are you doing?), the second half of Wicked is when the Glinda-Fiyero-Elphaba love triangle comes to a head. Prepare to have "As Long As You're Mine" stuck in your head for all of December 2025.
'Eternity'
Releases: November 26
Starring: Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner, John Early, Olga Merediz, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph
The love story: In this fantasy rom-com, the afterlife is made of countless realms, and the recently deceased typically have one week to decide where to spend eternity. When Larry (Miles Teller) and Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) die one after the other, Larry expects to spend forever with his wife of 65 years. But there's someone else in the mix: Joan's war-hero first love (Callum Turner), who's been waiting just as long for her to arrive.
