During the month of February many people without a significant other may find themselves feeling left out of the Valentines recreations. An on theme activity that can be done by yourself or with others is watching movies, specifically rom-coms. Many might think that rom-coms are cheesy, but never judge a book by its cover as some can tell amazing heartfelt stories. These movies will make you laugh, cry or possibly both at the same time so make sure to have a box of tissues on stand by.

“The Proposal” features both Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock and definitely has more comedic aspects to it but does still have a great unique romance story. Sandra Bullock plays Margret, a well known Canadian book editor who runs her team with an iron fist which makes her disliked by many on her staff. When she is informed that she is about to lose her work Visa she forces her assistant Andrew, played by Ryan Reynolds, to marry her in order to receive US citizenship. To make it look authentic, Margret goes with Andrew on his upcoming family trip to celebrate his grandma’s birthday where they also plan on getting married so his family can attend. As they spend more time together facing shenanigan after shenanigan they start to question how fake their feelings towards each other really are. A fun fact that makes this movie funnier is that in real life Ryan Reynolds is the one who is Canadian whereas Sandra Bullock is really from the US.

“10 Things I Hate About You” is an iconic rom-com with an all star cast containing Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Larisa Oleynik. The story follows the new kid Cameron played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt who instantly catches feelings for a girl named Bianca. The only problem is that Bianca isn’t allowed to date until her irritable older sister Kat played by Julia Stiles does. This causes Cameron to seek out Heath Ledger’s character Patrick who is the known school bad boy and is the only one daring enough to attempt dating Kat. This movie follows both the relationship between Cameron and Bianca as well as between Patrick and Kat. Cameron starts to question whether Bianca truly reciprocates his emotions whereas Patrick starts feeling genuinely attracted to Kat. This movie does contain some classic rom-com tropes but it still does a good job creating complex likable characters.

“(500) Days of Summer ” is another Joseph Gordon-Levitt classic that also features Zooey Deschanel . Tom, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt is surprised when his girlfriend Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel breaks up with him supposedly out of the blue. We follow him as he reflects and looks back on the 500 days that they were together to see what led to the eventual downfall of their relationship. As Tom starts to remember the flaws and red flags that existed in their relationship he also starts to remember what his passions in life truly are. “(500) Days of Summer” does a great job at separating itself from other rom-com movies with its unique form of storytelling. We get to see a timeline of events in their relationship and although it does skip from point to point it still feels very fluid. Love can definitely be one sided at times and although that doesn’t invalidate your feelings you can’t force someone to reciprocate them. A relationship should always be healthy and accommodate what both parties want and need, it’s not fair for someone to feel forced into something. 

“La la Land” stars both Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as aspiring artists living in California desperately trying to pursue their dreams. As their relationship grows it becomes clear that although they feel strongly towards one another, what they want for the future is vastly different. They must choose whether they will give up on one of their dreams in order for the other to pursue theirs or give up on the relationship. The complexity of the characters in “La la Land” is similar to that of the ones in “(500) Days of Summer,” where neither character is necessarily in the wrong. Can you really blame someone for not wanting to give up on their dream that they have had their whole life, even if they truly love the other? “La la Land” is a bit different compared to other entries on the list as it is a musical. This may automatically turn some people away from watching it but I would still give it a chance as the songs are integrated really well into the story so they flow naturally from scene to scene. Songs such as City of Stars really do capture the mood of the scene in an unexplainable way. 

Another iconic movie featuring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling that is more like your typical rom-com is called “Crazy Stupid Love.” During the movie we follow two main storylines that we find out are more connected than we think by the end. The first storyline we follow is about Steve Carell’s character Cal, who seems to be living a completely great life with his loving family until his wife played by Julianne Moore, who has been cheating on him demands a divorce. As he attempts to cope with this big change in his life he goes to a bar where he meets Ryan Gosling’s character, Jacob Palmer. Jacob is a young, suave, ladies man who decides to help the seemingly hopeless Cal move on from his ex wife. Jacobs’ whole ideology regarding relationships is completely out of line with Cal’s, as Cal believes in settling down and Jacob doesn’t. In our second storyline following Jacob this belief eventually changes when he meets Emma Stone’s character Hannah who he realizes he wants to spend the rest of his life with. The movie has some very iconic scenes in it that are guaranteed to make you laugh along with some shocking twists that will leave you surprised.