Best Rom-Coms to Stream This Week

Rob Reiner directed and Nora Ephron wrote one of the ’80s’ more quotable films that star Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as friends who become lovers. Kate Muir of The Times (U.K.) said of the film, “Quite possibly the greatest romantic comedy since ‘Some Like It Hot.'” “When Harry Met Sally…” has a Freshness rating of 90% among Rotten Tomatoes critics, and an 89% rating among audiences. IMDb users gave the film a 7.6 rating of 10.

This rousing Broadway musical brought to the big screen won an Oscar (Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment, Ray Heindorf). It stars Robert Preston as the amiable con man out to steal money from an Iowa town while romancing the town librarian (Shirley Jones). The film is best remembered for its finale “76 Trombones” featuring a marching band. The movie holds a 94% Freshness score on Rotten Tomatoes, and 85% of audiences liked the musical.

Director John Ford’s valentine to his ancestral Irish home won him his fourth and final Academy Award. The movie, about a retired American boxer who finds love with a high-spirited redhead in the village where he was born, stars John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. “The Quiet Man” holds a Freshness rating of 90% among Rotten Tomatoes critics, and 91% among adoring audiences.

“Groundhog Day” was the perfect comedy vehicle for Bill Murray. The “Saturday Night Live” alum played a cynical weatherman covering Groundhog Day for a local television station. He finds himself reliving the same day over and over, and in the process rediscovers his humanity. Critics Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes calls “Groundhog Day” “Smart, sweet, and inventive.” Critics gave the film a Freshness score of 96%, and 88% of audiences liked the movie. More than 564,000 IMDb users gave the film a ranking of 8.0 out of 10.

Michel Hazanavicius directed and wrote this homage to silent movies about the tumbling fortunes of a silent screen actor and the rising to stardom of a young actress at the dawn of talking movies who develop a relationship. “The Artist” was only the second silent film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. (“Wings” was the first silent film to win Best Picture.) Critics Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says the movie is “a clever, joyous film with delightful performances and visual style to spare.” Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a Freshness score of 95%, and 87% of audiences liked the movie. More than 225,000 IMDb users gave the film a ranking of 7.9 out of 10.