photo credit: Natalia Favila Inacua
To get into the month of love, here’s a personal ranking of a few popular rom-coms, and my take on them.
One of the rom-coms on the list is, “10 Things I Hate About You”, and this movie is a well-known classic rom-com. I went in, not expecting much from a movie filmed in 1999, but I was quickly proven wrong. The plotline is basic, but the acting and portrayal of the basic black-and-white characters were perfect.
The movie starts with a new male student, who wants to date the typical pretty girl, but her father bans her and her twin sister from dating. This punishment leads to the new guy plotting to get the twin sister to date, by using the rich kid and a “delinquent” kid.
In the end, the new kid does get the twin sister to date the delinquent, and they eventually really fall in love, while the new kid also gets the popular girl.
Now while this was a basic enemies-to-lovers story, it hit all the spots of a rom-com, by making me laugh out loud several times, while also portraying a realistic romance, therefore making it first on my ranking, with 5 stars.
Second on my list was, “Purple Hearts”. This had an enjoyable troupe: a fake marriage as well as enemies to lovers.
Diabetic and singer, Cassie Salazar works to make ends meet. One day she approaches her Marine friend with the idea of a fake marriage so she can get health insurance but is ultimately rejected.
However, they both soon get married, due to financial issues, his being that he owed a man drug money. Morrow is deployed and they keep up the marriage ruse and form a shaky bond.
Morrow gets injured, and the two move in together; they maintain the fake marriage until the drug dealer sends a sign that he wants the money from Morrow.
Soon, the fake marriage is outed, and Morrow pleads guilty and lies to protect Salazar. On the day Morrow goes to jail, Salazar confesses her love for him, and they make the marriage real.
This troupe was perfectly played out, and the acting portrayed good feelings of dislike, coupled with the feeling of care which gradually leads to love. The movie also has a nice balance of portraying both of their realistic financial issues.
The movie did a very good job also showing how not every couple is all sunshine and rainbows but shows how couples fight. Overall, this movie was a solid four stars, and it balanced all the aspects of a good rom-com.
Third on my list was, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”. This movie was pure rom-com; it portrayed the much-needed romance cringe and comedy, and as a book reader, it was a good adaptation.
The character development of the male love interest, Peter Kavinsky, was very nice to watch, as he went from using Lara-Jean Covey, the main character, to get back at his ex-girlfriend, to loving Covey.
The movie also has several realistic elements of having toxic exes, and relationship issues and showing what first-time relationships look like. Personally, it will be a classic that I watch often, and it also deserves four stars.
In fourth place is, “Choose Love”. It generated a lot of hype being an interactive romance movie where we could help pick the guy that the main character, Cami Conway, ended up with.
I particularly didn’t enjoy this movie that much, I felt like all three male characters had their own agenda with the main character, each one representing a slice of the life she wanted, which I didn’t like.
I also wouldn’t say I liked how one choice immediately made one guy the final choice, which was annoying at the same time.
However, I did like how the watchers had some control over what was happening, and it was a different experience from watching a normal movie, I would give it 3 stars.
Overall, my final ranking is based on my interests and likes, but all four movies portrayed romance realistically while also keeping the carefree romance element. I would recommend any one of these movies to get into the Valentine’s mood or to just watch for fun.
