Rom Coms that are Actually Good

Everything is horrifying. Let's watch films

Make it stop (the constant war, I mean). And I’m sat here writing a little listicle. I want to think about something that isn’t a matter of life and death, as the skies turn ashen and leaves fall sodden from the trees.

So here are some romantic comedies that are actually good.

In theory, I like rom-coms, but in practice, I want it all: chemistry and funny writing and a relationship that feels real. Usually one of these feels strained, and I finish watching feeling like I’ve eaten too much sugar. Rom-coms often feature two gorgeous actors with as much frisson between them as a dildo hurled at a passing car, or act as a front for a certain kind of life. Everyone’s house is so shiny and airbrushed that it sucks the reality from the room. Sure, romantic comedies are partly about fantasy, but love is an everyday reality. I’d like to see more of the kind of rom-com that’s growing some moss around the edges - everyone muddling / struggling through, finding love along the way. Oh, there it is.

Anyway, despite all these limitations, let the list begin.

1. Rivals (2024)

   I’ve never read Jilly Cooper, but Rivals won me over, despite the fact that the central romance - between Rupert, a rich arsehole, and Taggie, a soft-hearted chef - was hard for me to root for. Rupert is a fox-hunting Tory who works for Maggie Thatcher. He’s not attractive, Taggie, he’s just a bastard. But it’s a true ensemble cast with lots to enjoy. Rivals understands the vulnerability of desire, it’s got a sense of humour, and it’s pro- women getting what they want.

2. Nobody Wants This (2024)

   About the star-crossed relationship between an agnostic podcaster and a hot rabbi. A lot of shiny houses in this (are podcasters really this rich? Christ, maybe I should start one). However, I believed that they were really attracted to each other, and the dialogue was spontaneously funny and sparky.

   However, the main reason why this is on my list was the bond between the ‘loser siblings’ of the central characters, played by Timothy Simons and Justine Lupe (aka Willa from Succession), who are drawn to each other without knowing why. Ambiguous in a way that rom-coms do not usually allow (it’d be refreshing, wouldn’t it, if they just turned out to be friends?). Justine Lupe was secretly pregnant during filming, which meant she was dressed in lovely loose flowing clothing, looked spectacularly relaxed and stole the show.

3. Rye Lane (2023)

   This feels like a love letter to London. Rather than the edited version you see in Richard Curtis films, this felt like the city that exists. The love story was cute, but what I really enjoyed was the transmitted excitement of being young and out all night.

4. Fleabag (Series 2, 2019)

   The Hot Priest ran so the Hot Rabbi could walk (why are we yearning over religious men now?)

5. Amélie (2001)

   Friends have told me they find Amélie annoying, but I watched this at an impressionable age and loved her. The first time round I missed the hint that she’s manic-pixie-ing her way through the world to cope with despair (at her mother’s death at the start of the film). She’s not just doing whimsical things for kicks, she’s an artist. Nino was beside the point. I wanted to be Amélie.

6. 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

   Gave me a crush on Heath Ledger that persists to this day, even though he’s dead. That paintballing scene, my god.

7. While You Were Sleeping (1995)

   The premise (woman falls in love with man who is in a coma) made me think that this would be bad in a funny way. In fact it’s really good. Makes you believe that a coma could be a romantic event.

8. Pride and Prejudice (BBC, 1995)

   As a millennial Austen fan, this will always be the adaptation. Joe Wright’s 2005 film could never. I first saw it aged nine, and was gripped, especially when Mr Darcy is so overcome by his feelings that he can’t focus on his swordplay and has to jump into a lake.

9. When Harry Met Sally (1989)

   A no-brainer, but most rom-coms struggle to do what When Harry Met Sally does apparently effortlessly. Those lovely run-on conversations, between Harry and Sally, that Nora Ephron wrote brilliantly, feel so rare.

10. A Room With A View (1985)

    A literary adaptation that is quite possibly better than the book. Sorry E. M. Forster, I do love you, but everyone in this is perfectly cast, and it features star turns from Maggie Smith and Julian Sands (RIP). Like a dream you’re sad to leave. Laughter and soul.

11. What am I missing? Don’t say Love Actually, it’s shit.

News

Dangerous Enough was longlisted for the Laurel Prize, which meant I gave a reading in Yorkshire Sculpture Park while my toddler whispered “mummy?” from the sidelines like a ghost in a horror film. It made me feel like a real poet (why do we want external validation to feel ok about what we do? The book didn’t change at all, but at least three judges thought it was good). The other poets on the longlist were fab, and you should check them out. The great John Burnside won, posthumously, for his collection Ruin, Blossom.

I wrote a love poem to John Keats in this anthology by Sidekick Books.

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