Here Are the Most Romantic Christmas Movies Ever Made (original) (raw)
Updated Dec 22, 2023, 8:46 PM EST
Meredith Loftus is a TV Lists Editor at Collider. As part of the Lists team, she creates both trending and evergreen list topics in order to engage Collider's active audience. Prior to this, she was a Features Author focused on both movie and TV topics. In addition to her editing role, she has covered major events for Collider, including San Diego Comic-Con and D23. Meredith has also conducted interviews with creatives across the entertainment industry. Some of her favorites include Margot Robbie, Luke Thompson, Yerin Ha, Gilmore Girls' Scott Patterson, Jon M. Chu, and the cast of Superman & Lois.
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‘Tis the season to… watch movies? As we are well and truly in the throws of the holiday season, it's high time to engage in all our favorite festive activities to help us celebrate the most wonderful time of the year during the coolest time of the year. And what’s the best way to keep warm during this chilly time? Why, by putting on an ugly sweater, snuggling with someone special, and watching a festive movie, of course! But which romantic holiday movie should you watch? It’s an oft-intimidating canon, with childhood classics and Hallmark cheapies alike — let alone factoring in what provides the best romantic ambiance. Luckily, Collider has your back. We’ve crafted a list (and checked it twice) of the 14 most romantic Christmas movies you can watch whether it's with your other half, the entire family, or by yourself.
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Are you a fan of You’ve Got Mail, the early-Internet-centered romcom starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as bookstore owners who hate each other IRL but grow to love each other over email? Then you simply must see The Shop Around the Corner, the Christmas-set classic that directly inspired You’ve Got Mail. From classic German-turned-Hollywood comedy director Ernst Lubitsch (Heaven Can Wait), The Shop Around the Corner stars James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan as two workers at a Budapest shop who have two versions of crackling chemistry with each other. One marked by “real world” arguments, perfectly crafted takedowns, and the best Transatlantic accents you’ll ever hear (Sullavan’s work in her famous “Mr. Kralik, I don’t like you,” speech is both inimitable and super-fun-to-imitate). And the other marked by passionate, overtaking, cup-runneth-overing love — just, you know, only communicated via anonymous letters.
When Stewart and Sullavan read each other’s letters to themselves, lensed in beautiful soft focus by cinematographer William H. Daniels, it’s absorbingly beautiful and titillating! Later, when Lubitsch puts his stars on a date with their suitors — still without the other person realizing who they’ve actually been communicating with — it just pops with comedic energy that makes you realize what Mrs. Doubtfire took some of its cue from. Plus, at the risk of spoiling, its ending is… very romantic. If you’re looking for a “classy Christmas date night,” prepare yourself some spiked hot chocolate, put on your nicest sweaters, and throw on The Shop Around the Corner. You will feel 200% more classy, instantly. — Gregory Lawrence
Release Date
January 12, 1940
Cast
James Stewart
Alfred Kralik
Margaret Sullavan
Klara Novak
Frank Morgan
Hugo Matuschek
Joseph Schildkraut
Ferencz Vadas
Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand each other, without realizing that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
If you haven’t seen It’s a Wonderful Life in a while, I want to give you one warning: It’s much, much darker than you remember. James Stewart’s George Bailey is a desperate man driven to suicide on Christmas Eve. This is not an exaggeration or usage of a distasteful metaphor: George Bailey literally wants to jump off a bridge and die on Christmas Eve. And as you might expect from a desperate, suicidal protagonist, he behaves erratically during much of the film’s first act. He’s tempted by the evils of capitalism at his job, he bitterly snaps at his children, he just doesn’t have the joy of Christmas in his heart, goshdarnit! But then, his guardian angel Clarence (Henry Travers) arrives and shows George the highlights of his life. And we see the love story between him and Mary Hatch, played with aching empathy by Donna Reed. And the film’s reputation as a romantic masterpiece (in addition being just a, y’know, all-around masterpiece) starts snapping into focus. The journey of their love story is rife with iconic moments that will procure the necessary “awws” and couch snuggles they’re designed to procure.
But what I love the most about _It’s a Wonderful Life_’s love story (beyond everything else I love about this perfect, perfect movie) is its willingness to be real. Director Frank Capra might get knocked for being overly idealistic or even corny in his pictures, but his Wonderful Life depicts a shocking amount of stark depth. Clarence winds up showing George what life would be like without him, and George comes back to the real world a changed man, and everyone is happy again. But in the interim, we saw real pain, real agitation, real despair. These feelings don’t immediately fly away when one falls in love — or when one plans a silly, casual Christmas movie date. They’re in us all. But when one is really in love, they’re just a little more manageable with a teammate. For this reason, It’s a Wonderful Life is, and will likely continue to be, the perfect romantic holiday film. — Gregory Lawrence
Release Date
January 7, 1947
Runtime
130 minutes
Director
Frank Capra
Writers
Frank Capra, Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich
An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Sandra Bullock finds herself in a pickle after she saves the life of her dream man (who doesn't know she exists), Peter (Peter Gallagher), on Christmas Day. Due to a miscommunication, his family thinks that she is his fiancée when they meet in the hospital while Peter is in a coma. What could be more complicated? How about falling in love with Peter’s brother, Jack (Bill Pullman), while trying to keep the lie going? Even though While You Were Sleeping isn’t a traditional Christmas film (the climax doesn’t take place at Christmas), the romance between Lucy and Jack gives audiences the warm fuzzies found in the most romantic Christmas movies. — Meredith Loftus
The Preacher’s Wife (1996)
**The Preacher’s Wife**stars Courtney B. Vance as Reverend Henry Biggs, a Baptist pastor struggling with his faith, which in turn affects his family. When he prays to God for help, his answered prayer comes in the form of the suave angel, Dudley (Denzel Washington). Though Dudley helps Henry realize the most important things in his life, it doesn’t come without some flirtation between Dudley and Henry’s wife, Julia, played by Whitney Houston. Whether you ship Julia with her husband or her family’s guardian angel, The Preacher’s Wife is a heartwarming reminder of how love is at the center of the Christmas season. — Meredith Loftus
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Serendipity (2001)
The classic rom-com Serendipity is, in fact, a Christmas movie. Jonathan (John Cusack) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) have their magical meet-cute while Christmas shopping five days before the holiday. They spend a wonderful night together, but after Sara attempts to give Jonathan her phone number, the wind takes it away; she believes it’s fate telling them it’s not meant to be. From their enchanted meeting, the wonder of Christmas lingers between the two as they find their way back to each other years later. Whether you believe in fate or not, Serendipity is destined to remain one of the better Christmas rom-coms you'll find. — Meredith Loftus
Love Actually (2003)
If Elf is “lightly problematic,” Love Actually kinda dives headfirst into problematic-town without any in-character apologies whatsoever. Writer/director Richard Curtis gives us casual fat-shaming. It gives us a troubling Colin Firth relationship rife with issues of language barriers and power dynamics. In arguably its most iconic image, Andrew Lincoln pours his heart out to Keira Knightley with a series of cue cards that inadvertently reveal our world’s problem with male entitlement, the idea of “stalking” as “expressions of love,” the “nice guy” syndrome, and yes, some more casual fat-shaming. And yet… I cannot help but love this dumbass movie with my whole dumbass heart. Curtis’ use of vignettes is to his advantage. Each sketch is able to cut right to the heart of the matter, giving us the filmic equivalent of listening to a “greatest hits” Christmas album, with no auxiliary filler. I also enjoy the different emotional tenors each vignette is able to communicate, from the relative zaniness of Martin Freeman and Joanna Page’s fully nude meet-cute to the nuanced melancholy of Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson’s slow-burn discovery of an affair. This broad approach, while likely contributing to Curtis’ casual problematics, combines with the “British pride” vibe of the whole film (especially Prime Minister Hugh Grant’s story) to give Christmas — and love — a universal, wide-sweeping feeling. One that’s not difficult to allow yourself to get caught up in. Just like love, actually. — Gregory Lawrence
Release Date
November 7, 2003
Runtime
135 minutes
Director
Richard Curtis
Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England
Elf (2003)
“Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color?” When we think about the 2003 Will Ferrell-starring contemporary Christmas classic Elf, we tend to think about the various comedic shenanigans and outlandishly childlike proclamations Ferrell gets into and shouts. But it’s important to remember that at the center of Jon Favreau’s lovely, hilarious, heartwarming picture… is love. Specifically, between Buddy and his polar opposite -- Jovie, a cynical, beaten-down department store elf played with refreshingly deadpan charm by Zooey Deschanel. However, I’ll offer a fair warning: One of their first “meet-cutes” is awkward and borderline problematic by design. Buddy hears Jovie singing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in the store’s shower and follows the sound of her voice to sing the counterpart. But when both parties realize what’s going on, Buddy immediately covers his eyes, flees the room, and bonks his head on the wall on the way out. After an earnest apology, where Jovie is convinced Buddy couldn’t have meant anything harmful by the naive encounter, the two go on one of the most delightful New York City Christmas dates ever rendered on-screen. They get the world’s best cup of coffee (actually terrible), visit a litany of big ol’ Christmas trees (actually wonderful), and even smooch! I love Buddy and Jovie’s Christmastime relationship because they each earnestly add something the other person is missing to each other’s lives. Buddy gets Jovie out of her cynical rut and gets her singing -- literally! And Jovie gets Buddy to acclimate to the joys of the real world, helping him grow up without “growing up.” As for their final image, alongside Bob Newhart? It’s just the sweetest Christmas card-ready thing you could ever dang see. — Gregory Lawrence
Release Date
October 9, 2003
Runtime
97 minutes
Director
Raised as an oversized elf, Buddy travels from the North Pole to New York City to meet his biological father, Walter Hobbs, who doesn't know he exists and is in desperate need of some Christmas spirit.
The Family Stone (2005)
What’s a trip home for the holidays without some family drama? The Family Stone plays on the classic trope of bringing the significant other over to meet the family for Christmas; in this case, it’s Everett (Dermot Mulroney) bringing Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) to meet his family made up of all-star actors like Craig T. Nelson, Diane Keaton, and Rachel McAdams, to name a few. While there’s a bit more family drama that Meredith’s being thrown into, the romance gets more complicated when Everett starts to have feelings for Julie (Claire Danes), Meredith’s younger sister, and Meredith starts to fall for Everett’s brother Ben, played by Luke Wilson. In addition to being a great family drama, The Family Stone has a queer subtext that's given the film a new legacy. — Meredith Loftus
Release Date
December 16, 2005
An uptight, conservative businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life.
Just Friends (2005)
Before Ryan Reynolds was the merc with a mouth, he starred alongside Amy Smart in this Christmas rom-com. Just Friends explores what the friend zone is (before we even had the term!) as Reynolds’ Chris unexpectedly comes home for the holidays and reunites with his high school best friend and crush. Though he’s accompanied by an eccentric pop star (Anna Faris) who wants to date him, Chris realizes that he’s always been in love with his best friend and has to risk leaving the friend zone in order to get his dream girl. — Meredith Loftus
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Last Holiday (2006)
Queen Latifah is off to make the most of her holiday in Last Holiday. When Georgia Byrd receives a terminal diagnosis, she decides to use her remaining time to sell her possessions and live it up at an upscale hotel in the Czech Republic. While she’s there, Georgia dazzles the guests, charms the employees, and changes lives in the process. Though she catches the eye of a senator, played by Giancarlo Esposito, her heart belongs to her co-worker (LL Cool J). Thankfully, he’s also spurred into action to reveal his feelings for Georgia after she abruptly quits her job. Last Holiday is the type of movie that inspires you to live in the moment and also find love along the way. — Meredith Loftus