Welcome to February, the month dominated by Galentine's day and Valentine's day. To honour amazing BFFs in rom-coms, the first part of our list is movies with strong, supportive friendships. Things look (more than a little) different this year for these holidays, so we wanted to balance out our list with some *socially distanced* movies as well.
Someone Great
Netflix Canada
If you’re going through a break-up, the two best friends from Someone Great are exactly who you want by your side. This movie stars Gina Rodriguez as Jenny, a music journalist living in New York City who is about to leave for San Francisco - and has recently been broken up with by her boyfriend of nine years. Follow Jenny and her two best friends through adventures spanning all of the Big Apple, acknowledging that love, while not always lasting, can be meaningful, impactful, and defining.
- Kate and Alexa
Aquamarine
Criterion On Demand
Who didn’t want to be Sara Paxton, glamorous and confident, in this movie? A childhood classic for anyone growing up in the 2000s (with some of the questionable tropes), Aquamarine follows the growing friendship between a “fish out of water” and two long-time best friends, moments before one makes a big move. Of course, it wouldn’t be a romantic comedy without some love, but the centre of this movie is female friendship and support, the type that spans continents and oceans.
- Alexa
Ibiza
Netflix Canada
Stressed out from her demanding job at a PR firm in New York City, Harper is excited when she gets the opportunity to go to Barcelona on a business trip - only for her two best friends to invite themselves along and encourage all the drinking and partying they can fit into one weekend. At a nightclub in Barcelona, Harper has an immediate connection with Leo, a gorgeous (and adorably awkward) DJ, and ends up following him to - you guessed it - Ibiza! Prepare for lots of EDM, flashing lights, and living vicariously through everyone dancing with strangers.
- Kate
Amazon Prime
If you haven’t seen this movie, what’re you waiting for? Bridesmaids is a story about friendship, enemies, crazy bridal showers, and getting back up after hitting rock bottom. Annie Walker’s childhood best friend Lillian is getting married, and she’s the maid of honour. One problem: Lillian also has a new best friend, Helen, who is everything that Annie is not: put together, extremely rich, and excellent at planning a bridal shower. As the two women fight over who is Lillian’s *true* best friend, they have cute encounters with a charming state patrol officer, and bond with the three other (eccentric) bridesmaids.
- Kate
You've Got Mail
Criterion On Demand, Netflix Canada
You’ve Got Mail is a 90’s classic starring the Western media screen’s biggest duo: Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Based in New York, the main character, Kathleen Kelly, owns a whimsical children’s bookstore at risk of being put out of business by the large corporate Fox Books opening around the corner. Enter Joe Fox (of Fox Books) whose family tries to put small bookstores out of business. They hate each other from the start. The twist? Joe and Kathleen have been corresponding anonymously via email, pouring out their hearts and their problems to each other. This movie is very cute, has clever dialogue, and is about falling in love with someone remotely - making it perfect for your pandemic-era Valentine’s day!
- Emma
Five Feet Apart
Criterion On Demand, Amazon Prime
Absolutely fitting for the pandemic, Five Feet Apart leans toward romantic drama over romantic comedy. Its opening lines outline the importance of touch, what everyone is feeling and appreciating after the year we have had. It should be noted that this movie had general criticism for dangerous behaviour and romanticizing a disease - it’s not perfect, and the last message is a bad fit for this time. However, as it follows a set of star-crossed lovers divided and connected by illness, this movie illustrates the lengths romance can cross.
- Alexa
Love, Rosie
Amazon Prime
Love, Rosie is a heartfelt and sincere romantic movie based on the novel “Where Rainbows End,” published in 2004. It's important to realize that this movie doesn’t have any plot twist, it doesn’t have some complicated drama, and you definitely know based on the trailer that the two leads, Rosie and Alex, end up together. While it has a predictable plot, it’s still a must-watch because the characters have their own flaws and are truly three-dimensional as they are reflected by the choices and mistakes they make. All the scenarios they experience are very relevant to our lives, such as romances that go wrong, tough times, and conflicts of character.
- Ruiying
One Day
Netflix Canada
Sometimes it’s about the people, but sometimes, it’s about the timing. One Day follows Anne Hathaway’s and Jim Sturgess’ characters as they navigate their adulthood, with and without each other, on occasionally divergent-seeming paths. If you’re patient with some questionable accents and seemingly-without-reason characters fighting their attraction (despite their palpable push and pull!) this movie will resonate with you. This is not a romantic comedy, but it’s a movie about a type of love that changes you.
- Alexa
Letters to Juliet
Netflix Canada, Amazon Prime
✨This is your sign to pour out your heart in a handwritten letter✨ If you don’t end up sending it, maybe 50 years later, someone will find it and bring it to the recipient - and perhaps there’ll be more than one confession along the way 🤔 On a trip with her fiancée, Sophie (played by a jovial and optimistic Amanda Seyfried) finds a letter written 50 years ago denoting a missed chance at love. Set in scenic Italy with a snobby lawyer grandson on her heels, she takes on the mission of returning it to the recipient and finding love herself. A story of love lost then found, and love built along the way.
- Janelle and Alexa
Definitely, Maybe
Amazon Prime
Although not physically distanced, this movie distances its romantic leads across time, as Will Hayes tells his young daughter the story of how he met her mother (I wonder where I’ve heard that concept before…) who is also Will’s soon-to-be ex-wife. You could almost call this movie a period piece since a lot of it takes place in the 90s, where cell phones were becoming widespread, and Will is working on Bill Clinton’s election campaign in New York City. The most fun part of the movie might be seeing if you can guess the ending: which of Will’s three love interests he ended up with! If anyone’s curious, I only got it about half right.
- Kate
Everything, Everything
Criterion On Demand
This movie is almost like a mash-up of Midnight Sun and The Boy in the Plastic Bubble and The Fault in Our Stars. While I wouldn’t say this was my favourite movie to watch all month, it certainly is creative and charming. Maddy Whittier (Amandla Stenberg) is a teenager diagnosed with SCID - severe combined immunodeficiency, causing her to live her life within her house as any bacteria or virus she comes in contact with could potentially be fatal. Her only escape and entertainment is web surfing until she meets Olly (Nick Robinson), her new next door neighbour. If you have already watched the trailer then you can guess what happens, but if not, there's a surprising twist at the end. If you have nothing else to watch and you're itching for something sweet, sappy, and surprising then I would recommend watching Everything, Everything!
- Emma
Midnight Sun
Criterion On Demand, Netflix Canada
Chock-full of cheesy romance, questionable acting, and even worse representations of a rare disease, Midnight Sun follows Katie (Bella Thorne), who lives with Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP) a condition that prevents her from going out in the sun. While playing guitar at the train station one night, she meets the boy she’s been watching through her window for years, and romantic montages ensue! Despite the movie’s general cheesiness, brace yourself for some surprisingly emotional moments with Katie’s dad 🥺.
- Kate
Honourable Mention
If you want more content about strong female friendships, this is the show for you. And if you're really invested, there are the movies too :)
Sex and the City
This is definitely not PG-13, but it covers lots of love stories in New York City. Often entertaining, comedic but also often frustrating, Sex and the City follows four women through their relationships in their thirties. While, as you can imagine, love often drives plots and storylines, Sex and the City is underpinned by the friendship of these four women who love each other unconditionally, much like family.
- Alexa
Book Recommendation
To balance out our honourable mention, here is an end-of-the-world zombie romance!
Warm Bodies
Very different from the movie adaptation, Warm Bodies oddly has depth and nuance in the way it describes the thoughts of R, a zombie with a strange love of music and awareness of his decay and humanity. Reinvigorated by his companionship with Julie, a girl who is alive (in every sense of the word), their connection begins to reshape the end of the world. Alexa, one of the execs, really enjoyed reading it and found its whole doomsday vibe fitting for the pandemic (though hopefully we’ll get past that soon!)
- Alexa
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