There’s nothing like a good love story in a movie. It tugs at our heart strings and has us rooting for the protagonists to end up together. We can see the chemistry on screen and it has us glued to the screen.
We’ve decided to collect 15 of the most romantic moments in movies ever and talk about them below. These are only the tip of the iceberg, so don’t be disappointed if your favorite is not on here. Now, let’s get on with the list!
1. THE NOTEBOOK: SLOW DANCING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET
One of the most romantic things a couple can do is slow dance. It’s ten times better when you’re slow dancing with just the two of you and no one else around, like in the middle of the street at night. It’s an intimate and highly memorable moment for anyone involved, so of course, this Notebook scene remains a fan favorite.
There are many romantic scenes in this movie, but we choose to settle for this one. On their first date, Noah asks Allie to dance with him in the middle of the street. After minor protests and reluctance, she gives in and takes his hand. They hold each other close while he hums a tune and look at each other with such tender love.
And it’s just the first date! This is before all the trials and tribulations to come that cements this movie as a tragic love story. The tender looks, and soft love truly seals the deal for the two, making this one of the most romantic moments in movies ever.
2. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: RAIN-SOAKED PROPOSAL
We should start a petition to make more love confessions in the rain. Even better – a desperate proposal in the rain fuelled by love. The irony is that we spend a certain duration of the movie hating Mr. Darcy and thinking of him as a snob. How easily that changes as he sweeps us off our feet with his declaration of love.
What brings together the moment is the dialogue and the yearning look of desperation in the faces of both Darcy and Elizabeth. Like, tell me this sentence, ‘You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, love, love you,’ doesn’t just take your breath away and sweep you off your feet instantaneously. You can, but I’ll tell you that you’re wrong.
And that is why Mr Darcy remains a beloved character. He’s been the poster boy for historical drama male leads for years. It’s particularly evident in Netflix’s Bridgerton series. A man who knows how to express his yearning will always be loved.
3. 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU: PUBLIC SERENADE
Let’s be real. If anyone serenaded you loudly in public, you would probably cringe and try to run away as quickly as possible. Truthfully, any sort of public proposal and display of affection is typically shunned by most people in real life. Well, Heath Ledger is the only exception to that rule.
Patrick puts together a performance of a lifetime to get Kat to forgive him. He steals a microphone linked to the school’s PA system, then starts a rendition of ‘Can’t Take My Eyes of Off You’ accompanied by the school’s band. In the middle of his singing, he gets chased around by the school’s security while dodging the security cameras mounted around the bleachers.
The scene is nothing short of a masterpiece for its casualty and spontaneousness, earning its place as one of the most romantic moments in movies ever. Heath Ledger easily wins everyone over with his charm throughout the film.
4. LOVE AND BASKETBALL: LOVE MATCH
How about a game of basketball to win over someone’s heart for the rest of their lives? Sometimes, you just can’t sit idly by while the love of your life is about to make the biggest mistake of his life by marrying the wrong person.
The night before his wedding, Quincy and Monica play a game of basketball with some high stakes. If Quincy loses to Monica, he won’t get married the next day. But as fate would have it, he wins the game. A heartbroken Monica decides to walk away before he says, ‘Double or nothing?’ which cements his decision to call off the wedding as he realizes her feelings for her.
Love and Basketball as a whole is a movie for friends turned into lovers, and this scene is the climax of it all. The chemistry between the two is obvious, and you even end up wondering why he decided to marry someone entirely different in the first place, especially when the love of his life is right there in front of him.
5. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY: I LIKE YOU
We’ve all dreamed of being accepted as we are, honestly and thoroughly, flaws and all. This confession scene in Bridget Jones’s Diary is precisely that, which effectively turns us all to mush. Furthermore, there’s a scene in the beginning where Bridget overhears a conversation between Darcy and his mother about how he will never date someone like her.
However, as the movie progresses, Mark confesses that he likes her despite all her faults during a dinner party where she happens to be the only single person. This scene shifts Bridget’s perspective on who Mark is, and she starts developing feelings for him. His nervousness is evident from the verbal diarrhea and stuttering, which makes this very real and adorable.
Plus this happens in the middle of the movie, after her failed relationship with Daniel. Mark feels like a plot twist as he comes barging in like a knight in shining armor. As a cherry on top, he even fights the two-faced Daniel later on, so that has to make it on our list of most romantic moments in movies.
6. WHEN HARRY MET SALLY: NEW YEAR, NEW RELATIONSHIP
It is a taste of a love-hate relationship where they are constantly on the borderline of a ‘will they, won’t they’ situation that leads to a satisfying and fulfilling conclusion. A girl typically dreams of their partners being their partners in crime and closest confidante. When Harry Met Sally gives us a glimpse of that.
Harry finds himself walking alone close to midnight on New Year’s Eve. Then he breaks into a run. At the same time, Sally leaves the party after feeling entirely alone. A breathless Harry walks up to Sally and starts confessing his love for her, going so far as to list everything he loves about her.
Additionally, the movie contains interviews of older couples discussing how they met scattered throughout, which deserves a special callout. These interviews are real-life stories that actors re-enact and add a heartwarming touch to the movie. You can’t have Harry Met Sally on this list of romantic moments in films without that special shoutout!
7. TITANIC: FLYING TOGETHER
There are a lot of romantic moments in Titanic, obviously, but this one is a sweet and vulnerable moment that we feel should be highlighted. However, shoutout to the nude painting scene and the door-clinging scene at the end as the two freezes in the ocean. Those are pretty romantic, too if you like some spice or a tear-inducing moment.
The scene is romantically set, with the wind blowing their hair and the beautiful picturesque sunset in the background. We can hear the instrumental version of Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’ start playing as Rose approaches Jack in front of the ship to talk to him. He shushes her and takes her hand, asking her to close her eyes.
He leads her and positions her with her eyes closed, a true moment of trust as he lifts her hands off the railing, and now she’s flying. She opens her eyes to a breathtaking scene, and we all sigh dreamily. It’s a shame the movie had to end the way it did.
8. HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU: THE EXCEPTION
This man essentially teaches her how to figure out if a man wants to date her or not, as she seems rather desperate. As time passes, they get closer as she calls him up or meets him to discuss her love life. This moment, in particular, is a big one because when she expresses her feelings for him, he rejects her, how the tables have turned.
Alex knocks on Gigi’s door and makes a silly excuse to see her again, playing by all the rules he had told her in the beginning. She keeps rejecting him and his advances, but he kisses her and whispers, ‘You are my exception,’ and we all just squeal a little bit inside.
It’s just a satisfying ending because he usually pulls the strings and rejects women, including Gigi. But when he finally falls in love, he understands what it’s like, and Gigi is the exception to his rule. It’s just a bummer that the whole movie isn’t about them but multiple stories intertwined.
9. 50 FIRST DATES: THE ENDING
Would you continue to fall in love with the same person every day? That’s the beautiful question 50 First Dates poses. The movie is about a woman with memory loss. She wakes up with her memories wiped clean every day and carries around a notebook to write down her experiences. As much as it is funny and heartwarming to watch throughout, the ending ties everything together.
Lucy brings Henry to a room filled with paintings of him and explains that she has been dreaming of him every day. He explains that she tried to erase him from her memories cause she thought she was holding him back by being together with him. They reintroduce themselves, kiss, and it cuts to her waking up and watching a tape of her getting married to him.
As she walks out of the room, she finds they’re in Alaska and meets her daughter for the first time again. She is overwhelmed with joy and love throughout, making it more beautiful.
10. LOVE, SIMON: FERRIS WHEEL KISS
This scene occurs later in the movie when all the conflicts have largely been resolved. Simon is now openly gay, and everyone has accepted him for who he is. This final task is to finally find out who his secret friend ‘Blue’ is in real life as he is in love with him. So he buys a stack of Ferris Wheel tickets and posts on a gossip confession site that he will be waiting there all night for Blue to show up.
A crowd gathers to watch him, and it gets hard to watch as he runs out of tickets. His friend comes up to try and save him from the embarrassment, then buys him one last ticket. Bram asks if he can sit with him, exposing himself as Blue. They talk and end up kissing at the top of the Ferris Wheel to everyone cheering.
At a time when teenage LGBTQ+ stories are not prevalent, Love, Simon is a fresh teenage movie that gives us all butterflies. Plus, it’s nice that it has a happy ending for once. This is the start of more representation of LGBTQ+ in mainstream media, especially for the younger generation, which is exciting.
11. JERRY MAGUIRE: YOU HAD ME AT HELLO
The atmosphere is tense with this one. Everyone seems to fall away in this moment, and only Jerry and Dorothy remain in the scene, even if we’re reminded that there are other people around. It’s a powerful and moving scene that will replay repeatedly in your mind even when the credits roll.
Jerry barges into a house filled with women who are busy sharing their sob stories and talking about how terrible men are. He only looks at the one person in the room he is there for and goes on a whole spiel about not feeling complete since she wasn’t there to share the moment with him.
His monologue and confession, the tears threatening to spill while his voice cracks, everything just feels so real. Dorothy stopping him mid-sentence to say, ‘You had me at hello,’ really cracks open the dam of tears everyone’s been holding in.
12. DIRTY DANCING: THE FINAL DANCE SCENE
A scene with an entire song created specifically for it will surely be a hit. Dirty Dancing is a timeless movie that gets a lot of love at any age. It just never gets old. As such, it naturally has one of the most romantic moments in movies right at the end.
Johnny appears during Baby’s talent show and performs the choreography they have been practicing all summer. You can feel the chemistry, joy, and tension between the two as they move together in perfect unison, complimenting each other’s moves. The crowd hyping them up and joining in simply adds to the atmosphere.
There’s something addictive about watching people lose themselves in dance with such passion and intensity. Years later, this scene still manages to put a smile on everyone’s faces. The energy is infectious, that’s for sure.
13. 500 DAYS OF SUMMER: IKEA DATE
A movie that has its viewers split on whether they loved it or hated it, we have the controversial 500 Days of Summer. Controversial not because of anything genuinely terrible, but more so the ideals of a relationship and the fact that different people have different opinions about what they want from one.
The Ikea date is precisely that. Tom and Summer go to Ikea and spend the day there roleplaying their life together as a married couple. It’s sort of an imagined version of what could have been in the future if they had stayed together. The scene is short and sweet, cementing Ikea dates as a thing for couples in real life.
500 Days of Summer is for the bittersweet romantics, and this is one of the many romantic moments in movies we can only aspire to have.
14. THE WEDDING SINGER: I WANT TO GROW OLD WITH YOU
Who would’ve thought Adam Sandler could be a recurring character in a list of romantic movie romantic moments? This comedian could get serious if he tried, truly. Here’s another Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore pairing, a timeless one at that.
Robbie finds himself on the same plane as Julia after he tells everyone in the first class suite his story about finding her. He plans a surprise serenade to say to her how he feels, singing a song he wrote specifically for her on his guitar. His voice comes on the intercom singing, then he appears, serenading her.
What brings a smile to everyone’s face is the lyrics of the song where he talks about growing old with her. And sure, in hindsight, the scene does feel a little cringy, but love trumps cringiness any day.
15. LOVE ACTUALLY: LANGUAGE BARRIERS AND A PROPOSAL
Love indeed transcends time, countries, and even languages. This is evident in Jamie and Aurelia’s growing closeness that ends in a charmingly awkward proposal. Sure, there are other parts of Love Actually that may be deemed romantic. It’s a movie about multiple relationships, after all. But this one does take the cake.
After returning to England, Jamie takes Portuguese classes and flies back to France to pursue Aurelia. He locates her house and speaks to her father, asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage, but she is not there. Together, Aurelia’s father and entire family bring him to where Aurelia works in a restaurant. Their eyes meet, and he begins his love confession and proposal in awkward Portuguese, the words stumbling and weird on his tongue.
To his surprise, Aurelia replies to him in English, and they both share a passionate kiss. The whole scene is beautiful and highly adorable. They both decided to learn the other’s language just to express their feelings. The level of dedication is what fills us up with so much joy.
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