Yahoo Lifestyle 20 Valentine's Day Movies To Stream On Amazon Prime Video
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1.Carol (2015)
It's been called one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made, and now it's time to give Carol its V-Day flowers, too. Based on the novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, and beautifully reimagined by Todd Haynes (alongside playwright Phyllis Nagy), there is no better occasion to revisit this '50s-set romance between Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) and Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), the unlikely but energetically fused pair who are forced to upend their lives and become pseudo-outlaws to pursue a relationship. It is by no means your classic, feel-good love story — in fact, some will tell you it's not a love story at all — but don't let that be your only criteria for V-Day viewing. Maybe what your soul really needs is a devastating score from Carter Burwell and two acting giants at the top of their game saying things like "I like the hat."
Watch it on Prime Video.
2.Challengers (2024)
Zero-time Oscar nominee and multiple-time winner of my heart, this sweaty love-triangle film about having thighs (and also playing professional tennis) is a sure-fire way to turn up the temperature on any day — but especially Valentine's. Pair Luca Guadagnino's feast for the eyes with an actual feast of sugary-sweet churros and treat yourself to a perfect evening of hot, grunting rodents, sumptuous JW Anderson costuming, and the pulse-pounding music of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Three tickets for Challengers, please!
Watch it on Prime Video.
3.My Bloody Valentine (2009)
Last year, when Letterboxd shared its "most obsessively rewatched films on Valentine's Day" and it included three bloody horror films (plus, Gone Girl), it was cause to wonder if everyone was doing okay. It's hard to imagine we're doing much better this year. So, help yourself to this remake of the 1981 Canadian slasher — both included among the Letterboxd list — involving a pickax-wielding coal miner who goes on a Valentine's Day murder spree. Reviews at the time ranged from "gore you can believe in" to "It won't endure past the weekend." (We can now confidently say the latter was wrong; the 3-D film earned over $100 million at the worldwide box office and Blumhouse is currently developing a new installment.)
Watch it on Prime Video.
4.Groundhog Day (1993)
In his original review for Groundhog Day, the late Roger Ebert wrote that the film "finds its note and purpose so precisely that its genius may not be immediately noticeable. It unfolds so inevitably, is so entertaining, so apparently effortless, that you have to stand back and slap yourself before you see how good it really is."
To save you a slap, let this be your reminder that Harold Ramis' romcom about a man (Bill Murray) doomed to repeat the same day for all of eternity, has stood the test of time and inspired dozens of films — including the lockdown streaming hit Palm Springs — for a reason. It is simply that good!
Watch it on Prime Video.
5.Melancholia (2011)
If you'd prefer a bit of counter-programming on V-Day — let's just call it existential dread — then Lars von Trier's end-of-the-world epic which takes place at a wedding party against the backdrop of an impending cataclysmic planetary event, is an ideal way to spend two hours. A sobering reminder that romantic partnership can't always make us feel whole, this sweeping tale starring career-best work from Kirsten Dunst, has been regarded as one of the greatest films about depression ever made. (And one of the greatest films ever made, full stop.)
Watch it on Prime Video.
6.Past Lives (2023)
Another film that doesn't exactly scream candy-heart sayings like "XOXO BE MINE," or scream anything for that matter, is this understated Sundance indie from writer-director Celine Song. The film, which was sold to A24 and went on to earn two Oscar nominations including Best Pic, tracks the complicated emotional journey of its protagonist Nora (Greta Lee), a contentedly married 20-something Manhattanite, who unexpectedly reunites with a special childhood classmate from Seoul. Prepare yourself for some hard-hitting "what-if" questions about love, and the impossible choices we make, plus an incredible final shot that proves "bittersweet" is sometimes the most satisfying V-Day taste of all.
Watch it on Prime Video.
7.My Old Ass (2024)
"What-if" questions also happen to swirl around this Indie Spirit-nominated hidden gem from Megan Park. The story of a a teen named Elliott who, during a mushroom trip, meets her 39-year-old self (played by Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza, respectively) invites us all to wonder how we might course-correct if we encountered a more experienced version of ourselves. How does any of this amount to a good Valentine's Day flick? Well, there is also a smart, queer rom-com nested inside this film — also involving a boy named Chad whom Elliott is adamantly told to stay away from by her older self.
Watch it on Prime Video.
8.Drinking Buddies (2013)
If you thought Sideways was the only film that could use booze as a vehicle to plumb the depths of human intimacy, think again. This Joe Swanberg film, which Richard Brody (admiringly) called "a brilliant sleight-of-hand" upon its release, is as naturalistic and low-key as you'd expect from a Swanberg film, who is often associated with the mumblecore subgenre and largely improvised scripts. This time, though, he casts four well-established actors — Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick, Jake Johnson, and Ron Livingston — as the coupled-up "drinking buddies" who, over many meandering conversations at a Chicago craft brewery, a lake house, and beyond, find that their relationships are unfortunately... on the rocks.
Watch it on Prime Video.
9.Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Here's a depressing piece of trivia: Not since 2012's Silver Linings Playbook has a rom-com earned a coveted spot in the Best Picture Oscar race. (And let me qualify that by saying Playbook was... a bit light on the "com" if we're being 100.) It's hard to say whether this represents a general snootiness toward rom-coms as cinema, but it is notable that these recognitions were much more common in the '90s — when it wasn't so strange to see a crowd-pleasing flick like this one directed by Mike Newell and written by rom-com master Richard Curtis (Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually), welcomed into the fold. Four Weddings and a Funeral is responsible for launching Hugh Grant's career, so if you just saw Heretic and are interested in seeing the mischievous Brit in a very different register, or simply crave a romance with wit, hold the cheese, this one's for you.
Watch it on Prime Video.
10.Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)
Somewhere between "lobotomy cinema" and "a winning spin on royal rom-coms’ best tropes," exists this faithful adaptation of the bestselling romance novel by Casey McQuiston. It stars Taylor Zakhar Perez as the bisexual son of the sitting American president and Nicholas Galitzine as the British prince who he hates, loves to hate, and eventually just loves. I probably don't need to remind you, but Uma Thurman is also in this star-crossed tale as the aforementioned president. She has a Southern accent that, quite frankly, I'm still haunted by nearly two years later.
Watch it on Prime Video.
11.The Idea of You (2024)
It feels right to transition into another enjoyable, brain-off rom-com adapted from a popular novel and starring Nicholas Galitzine. Though, make no mistake: This is Anne Hathaway's movie. The Oscar-winning actor plays Solène Marchand (you read that right), an art gallery owner who stumbles into an age-gap romance for the ages while accompanying her16-year-old daughter to Coachella. Galitzine stars as Hayes Campbell, the hunky Harry Styles-esque frontman of the band August Moon who simply can't get enough of Solène from their very brief, accidental run-in. After a handful of dates with Hayes, the tabloids get wind of their relationship and the low-profile Solène is thrust into the public eye. Uh oh... she has a lot of explaining to do with her daughter now.
I will never quite be able to wrap my head around the fact that Michael Showalter directed this — a reminder that we all contain multitudes.
Watch it on Prime Video.
12.The Big Sick (2017)
Hewing closer to the type of of film we've come to expect from Michael Showalter is this rom-com starring Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan. The Sundance breakout — and indie winner at the summer box office — is based on the real-life story of Pakistan-born comedian Nanjiani who learned that his partner Emily (played by Kazan) had contracted a mysterious illness and would be put into a medically induced coma. Scene-stealing supporting performances from Ray Romano and Holly Hunter (inspired casting!), as well as the quippy Oscar-nominated screenplay from Nanjiani and real-life partner Emily V. Gordon, helped us all realize how starved we were for a fresh take on the rom-com in 2017. And guess what? We could still use more.
Watch it on Prime Video.
13.Moonstruck (1988)
You know what's missing from your Valentine's Day plans? Some piping hot, fresh bread and a big knife (!!!).
Surely, there is a very good reason that we are still returning to this Norman Jewison two-hander nearly four decades later. Of course, if I had to give it a stab (with my big knife) I'd say the giant performances from Nic Cage and Cher have something to do with it. Or, maybe deep down, we all crave a comfort watch — endlessly quotable dialogue, some eccentric characters, and a juicy forbidden love story — to distract us from our own lives. On Valentine's Day, this tonal oddity about an Italian-American widow who stumbles into a secret romance, is sure to slap even harder.
Watch it on Prime Video.
14.Blue Valentine (2011)
Filed under: Movies That Will Make You Grateful To Be Single This Valentine's Day, this indie-sleaze era weepie about the slow disintegration of a marriage tells you exactly what you're getting yourself into with its title. The impossibly cursed Derek Cianfrance project starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams (in an Oscar-nominated turn) uses a non-linear structure of flashback sequences to build out the story of a doomed couple, saddled with loss and addiction, who simply can't find their way back to each other. As legend has it, the actors went so deep into the toxicity of this fictional relationship that they had trouble speaking to one another after the film wrapped. Enjoy!
Watch it on Prime Video.
15.Something's Gotta Give (2003)
Regarded as one of the most Nancy Meyers-y Nancy Meyers movies to ever Nancy Meyers, Something's Gotta Give is the story of a divorced playwright Erica Berry (Diane Keaton) who not only wears a turtleneck but ceremoniously cuts one open with scissors during sex with Jack Nicholson's playboy Harry. There is other stuff too: Erica becomes romantically entangled with Keanu Reeves' Julian, a hot, young doctor tasked with taking care of Harry after his heart attack.
If you can't escape to a beautiful home in the Hampton's for the holiday to "write a play," surely streaming this film on Amazon Prime Video is the second-best thing.
Watch it on Prime Video.
16.The Fall Guy (2024)
This summer popcorn flick, which swung and missed at the box office despite an appealing four-quadrant marketing pitch and a cast which built on the Barbenheimer momentum with newly minted Oscar nominees Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, had industry folks questioning everything. Thankfully, with its availability on streaming, new audiences are now able to discover this surprisingly layered film. Or should I say films. The Fall Guy impressively manages to weave two movies into one — an action-packed epic with car chases, explosions, and stunts gone awry and a mushy love story of a director and a stuntman who very clearly belong together. A little something for everyone.
Watch it on Prime Video.
17.Top Five (2014)
If you are able to look past a few glaring missteps, Chris Rock's film which he wrote, directed, starred in, and hopefully didn't name (very bad SEO), offers up plenty to fall in love with. Described as Chris Rock's Annie Hall, this walk-and-talk rom-com about a stand-up-turned-fluff-movie-actor (Rock) who is being shadowed by a New York Times reporter (Rosario Dawson) unfurls effortlessly over the course of one day. Manohla Dargis — an actual New York Times reporter — wrote that the film was "blisteringly funny," going on to say that it is a romantic comedy "that’s also an extended riff on art, identity, authenticity and what it means to be a black entertainer."
Watch it on Prime Video.
18.Bridesmaids (2011)
Hold on for one more day 'cause it's gonna go your way! Saoirse Ronan's favorite movie is a hilarious two-hour romp filled with raunchy jokes, jealousy, explosive diarrhea, and tender lessons on friendship. It is also — and I often forget this — a story about a baker and a cop who fall in love.
The Paul Feig-directed blockbuster remains one of the most quotable rom-coms of the 21st century, and many of those quotes come from the lips of Melissa McCarthy. As the no-nonsense Megan, McCarthy pulled off the rare feat of scoring an Oscar nomination for a broadly comedic performance. More of that please!
Watch it on Prime Video.
19.My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
It feels like a small miracle that this Stephen Frears-directed film, shot in six months on a £600,000 budget, with a radically uncommercial story, ever got made (in the '80s, no less). And that's probably what has made it such a cult-classic to this day. In it, Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a young South London Pakistani man opens a laundromat and employs his childhood friend, a skinhead (Daniel Day-Lewis), who he becomes romantically involved with. Allegedly, Day-Lewis wrote Frears a letter, saying he would kill him if he was not cast in the movie as Omar's boyfriend, which I support.
Watch it on Prime Video.
20.In the Land of Women (2007)
This is entirely just a PSA to let you know that there is an Adam Brody and KStew rom-com from the mid-aughts that you likely have not seen. While I cannot in good faith recommend it as a piece of cinema — the New York Times disparagingly called it the "equivalent of a sensitive emo band with one foot in alternative rock and the other in the squishy pop mainstream" (wait that actually makes me like it more) — sometimes all you're really looking for is a taste of nostalgia. And, boy, does this film deliver on that front. A fresh-faced and fresh-off-of-The-OC Brody plays an aspiring screenwriter who can't seem to finish a screenplay (Nancy Meyers alert!) so he's writing soft-core pornography to make ends meet. After a breakup, he moves to Michigan to visit his grandma and winds up hooking up with a mother who lives next door (Meg Ryan) and her older daughter (Stewart). Any questions?
Watch it on Prime Video.
All these movies and more could be yours to watch for $8.99 per month when you subscribe to Prime Video, or you can sign up for Amazon Prime for $14.99 per month. Not so sure about a big commitment to a new streaming service? You can try out Prime Video free for 30 days (for new subscribers only).
