Believe it or not, it’s that time of the year again. No, not Lunar New Year, but Valentine’s Day. For all the singletons or couples who prefer to stay home for a date night, Valentine’s Day would probably be the best time for you to check out some classic romantic movies. But if you’re just like us, you’d skip these cheesy romantic movies and look for unconventional romantic comedies, twisted romantic movies, or even some silly chick flicks instead.
Now, we don’t know about you but we noticed that the romantic genre has been taking over pop culture for quite a while now. I mean, just look at the TV series and the movies we’ve been watching these days. From sci-fi films to action movies to animated featured films, the romantic plot becomes an inevitable part of every movie we’ve seen. Not that we are complaining, but these scenes are typically based on the cliché formula: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy finds girl again, and they live happily ever after. Sounds boring, doesn’t it?
So, if you are bored of those typical romantic films, may we suggest you to watch these instead? 😉
1. “Love Me If You Dare”
“Love Me If You Dare” is a film I stumbled upon a couple of years ago and it is by far one of the best romantic movies I’ve ever watched. No, I neither speak French nor do I understand it. But just like every other foreign film I’ve watched, the language barrier doesn’t stop me. The film started out as a fun film, where the childhood friends Sophie (played by Marion Cotillard) and Julie (played by Guillaume Canet) play an outrageous game of truth or dare. As they grow older, the two fall in love with each other but are unable to leave their old habits behind for their love and happiness.
While the film has a romantic ending, it ended in a fairly twisted way. In fact, there are 2 alternate endings, which are shown consecutively. The opening scene seems to indicate that there’s only one ending for the movie and it’s bittersweet ending. In real life, the 2 actors began their own relationship on the set of the film and Cotillard gave birth to their son, Marcel, on 20th May 2011.
2. “Edward Scissorhands”
“Edward Scissorhands” is a classic romantic dark fantasy movie that we would watch every Christmas and still get goosebumps from it. Legendary filmmaker Tim Burton brought his favourite actor, Johnny Depp on board of this movie for the role as Edward, an artificial man with an unfinished creation of scissorhands. After being stumbled upon by a suburban family, he is taken back to a small town so that he can stay with them. The family has a teenage daughter named Kim (played by Winona Ryder), who was shocked by his appearance at first but later treated him nicely for his kind heart.
The 2 developed feelings for each other but by the end of the movie, they were separated because the town accused him for all the troubles that he had caused. Burton revealed that the movie was inspired by his childhood upbringing in suburban Burbank, California. The leading role of Edward has been connected to a number of Hollywood’s A-listers including Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Robert Downey, Jr., and William Hurt. It is also the 4th feature collaboration between Burton and film score composer Danny Elfman. “Edward Scissorhands” was a financial success and received numerous prestigious award nominations including the Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards, and the Saturn Awards. The movie also won the Hugo Award for “Best Dramatic Presentation”.
3. “Life After Beth”
If your date is up for some weird movies, but is not ready for gory stuff yet, we’d recommend you to watch this zom-com-rom-drama called “Life After Beth”. Starring Dane Dehaan and Aubrey Plaza, “Life After Beth” is about Zach, a boy who becomes devastated and depressed after his girlfriend, Beth dies unexpectedly. But life decides to give him a second chance as he discovers that Beth is still “sort of” alive. Perhaps the dead should remain dead because Zach soon realises that Beth is not the same girl he used to know. Thus, this causes him to make a decision before Beth and the rest of the zombies become more violent than ever.
While it shares a similar theme as “Warm Bodies”, the movie steers clear of the cliches that appears in the typical zombie films with some of the wittiest and the funniest dialogues we’ve ever seen. It is unclear why the deads were resurrected but it allows us to learn the different reactions people had towards the zombies.
4. “Her”
“Her” is a heart-wrenching rom-com that illustrates society’s dependence on advanced technology. Joaquin Phoenix, the former runner-up for Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” plays a man named Theodore Twombly (we know, it’s a weird name) who develops an unlikely relationship with Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), an intelligent computer operating system personified through a female voice. Directed by Spike Jonze, the movie was inspired by the idea Jonze conceived after reading an article about Cleverbot, a web application that uses an artificial intelligence algorithm to have conversations with humans.
The movie also stars Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, and Olivia Wilde. Due to the innovative twist, it became a critically-acclaimed film that received multiple awards and nominations including the 86th Academy Awards, the 71st Golden Globe Awards, the 66th Writers Guild of America Awards, the 19th Critics’ Choice Awards, and the 40th Saturn Awards.
5. “Scott Pilgrim vs the World”
Edgar Wright is a great director that brought us some of the best visual comedies in the film history including “Hot Fuzz”, “Shaun of the Dead”, and “The World”. But among all of the visual comedies he made, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” brings a fresh twist to the typical novel-turned-films. Based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series “Scott Pilgrim”, the movie is a 2010 comedy film co-written, produced, and directed by Edgar Wright.
Michael Cera stars as musician Scott Pilgrim, who must falls in love with a girl of his dream (literally), Ramona Flowers (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead). However, he must first defeat her 7 evil exes, who are actively trying to kill him whenever he goes near Ramona (surprisingly, Chris Evans plays one of the exes). We like how Wright directed the battle in a video-game style as it fully illustrates the battle as seen in the graphic novel. It may seems like the director didn’t take the film seriously but the director just used a different approach to bring us this ridiculously epic movie.
6. “They Came Together”
No one does romantic comedies better than these comedians who got together to star in this movie called “They Came Together,” a parody of the romantic comedy genre. Paul Rudd, who is set to portray the tiny-sized superhero in Marvel‘s upcoming “Ant-Man“, plays Joel, a corporate businessman whose company is threatening to close the small store run by Molly (played by Amy Poehler). Don’t you think that the storyline sounds familiar? Exactly. It sounds like “You’ve Got Mail”, the 1998 rom-com that stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
Directed by David Wain based on a screenplay by Wain and Michael Showalter, the movie infuses Showalter and Wain’s absurd approach to the rom-com genre. They mock the typical rom-com formula by exaggerating the problems in their relationship and basically making fun of the couple. SNL alum Bill Hader and Ellie Kemper as well as Max Greenfield from the comedy series, “New Girl” are also stars in the movie, further providing some of the funniest parodies we’ve ever seen.
7. “Let Me In” (US)/”Let The Right One In” (Swedish)
Let’s be real: What’s up with humans falling in love with vampires or werewolves in movies and TV series? Are we running of actual humans to love? Come to think of it, isn’t that a twisted love story? There’s no denying that these films often feature attractive model-like actors to portray the mystical creatures (though a vampire can actually look like this) but only some vampire-centric films managed to pull off the greatest love story of all time (read: “Only Lovers Left Alive”). But if you think these vampire-centric romantic movies are twisted, wait until you watch “Let Me In”.
This romantic movie stepped a little too deep into the darkness with its horrific vampire story. There’s a US remake of this Swedish film but personally, I love both movies as it tells the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who develops a friendship (and feelings) for a young girl, who turns out to be a vampire in the 1980s. Both horror and romantic elements are distributed equally in the movie, which is why I think it’s very well-executed. Even though we could predict that their relationship is not going to end up well, a small part of us hoped that this heart-breaking relationship was possible. Better prepare your tissues because this movie has a satisfying yet very, very sad ending.
8. “Lars and the Real Girl”
“Lars and the Real Girl” is straight-up creepy and it’s not because it’s a horror film. It’s because in this movie, Ryan Gosling the oh-so-charming actor couldn’t find a girlfriend and so he bought a life-size sex doll to become his girlfriend. Now, here’s what’s wrong: Gosling couldn’t find a girlfriend. We call this bulls**t. But of course, this is just a character he plays in Craig Gillespie’s comedy-drama film.
This film is one of the weirdest movies I’ve ever watched but it is a very well-executed film. The fact that the entire town goes to great lengths to protect this precious “relationship” just stunned me. Thus, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the script has received an Oscar nomination. While it’s slightly disturbing, the movie is a comedy with a dark approach to a sweet relationship.
Honourable Mentions:
- Harold and Maude
- The Princess Bride
- Blue is the Warmest Colour (NSFW)
- Amélie
- Only Lovers Left Alive
So, what are you planning to watch this Valentine’s Day? Think we missed out a few great films in this list? Share your list with us in the comments box below 😉
