When the leaves start falling from the trees and there’s a chill in the air, it’s officially cuffing season. Couples hunker down to hibernate through the long, dark months of winter. Curling up with a crush is a good way to survive the toughest months of the year, made all the cozier when there’s a romantic movie to inspire cuddles.
There’s a romance for every season, and cuffing season is no different. These romances are the movie equivalent of snuggles; they’re meant to spread warmth like a chunky cable knit sweater that knows how to hug back. For movies that are as comfy as they are cozy, look no further.
'Sleepless In Seattle' (1993)
Jonah, a cute, precocious little boy calls in to a radio show and tells the host about his dad Sam (Tom Hanks), a recent widower whose loneliness is causing insomnia. When Sam takes over the call, he pours his heart out, insisting his late wife was his one true love. Among the many female listeners who fall in love with Sam’s heartfelt story is Annie (Meg Ryan), who hopes Sam will meet her at the top of the Empire State Building if only he was ready to take a second chance at love.
This movie may be pushing 30, but it still warms the heart’s cockles. Sleepless In Seattle references movies from The Dirty Dozen to An Affair To Remember and picks apart how movies set unrealistic expectations about love and romance. But it does this while unselfconsciously setting the bar even higher. For one of the most romantic movies ever made, Sam and Annie only share about two minutes of screen time together, and they never even kiss. Director Nora Ephron knows that true romance is one heart yearning for another.
'Sweet November' (2001)
Sara (Charlize Theron) is beautiful and eccentric. Nelson (Keanu Reeves) is a self-absorbed workaholic. When they cross paths at the DMV, she makes him an offer he can’t refuse: a month-long love affair that will change his life. Resistance is futile.
Sara is, of course, every manic pixie fantasy come to life. She devotes her life to fixing broken men one month at a time before releasing them back into the wild, ready to find true love. But poor Nelson can’t help himself; he falls in love for real. Sweet November is technically a bad movie, but it’s one of the most enjoyably bad ones, stuffing an entire lifetime’s worth of romantic clichés into a single month. This movie is made to pluck heartstrings, so viewers should prepare to emote.
'Nappily Ever After' (2018)
When Violet Jones (Sanaa Lathan) expects a proposal and gets a puppy instead, she realizes it’s time to make some changes in her life. On her post-breakup journey of self-love, she starts attracting the kind of man (Lyriq Bent) that she deserves, but it’s putting herself first that really lights her fire.
Nappily Ever After is a romance tied into culture, identity, and acceptance. It’s told compellingly through a Black woman’s experience of femininity, hair, and cultural standards of beauty, but the film’s got universal themes of authenticity and personal courage that apply to women everywhere. Nappily Ever After’s true love story is the one between Violet and herself.
'Blue Jay' (2016)
Former high school sweethearts Amanda (Sarah Paulson) and Jim (Mark Duplass) run into each other randomly in their hometown one day and spend the rest of it together, reminiscing about their past. Both Paulson and Duplass give incredible performances as they rip into what once made their relationship special, quickly falling into a familiar rhythm with undeniable chemistry.
It seems so easy and instinctual between them, so obvious they’re destined for each other that viewers root for them to figure it out before it’s too late. But Blue Jay doesn’t shy away from the darker side of love - Amanda and Jim eventually show each other the scars on their hearts and dissect the reasons they allowed their love to die. Can love be resurrected? And more importantly: should it be?
'When Harry Met Sally...' (1989)
Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) have been friends for years, as evidenced by their ease with each other and the rapid-fire, unselfconscious banter between them. Over the span of more than a decade, they weave in and out of each other’s lives, always skirting around the issue of whether men and women can be friends, always wondering if sex would ruin this nice thing they have going on.
When Harry Met Sally... is about falling in love slowly, with conversation rather than sex. Ryan and Crystal are at the top of their games, burning through dialogue that shows just how treasured these characters are by the script. These two clearly share a connection neither can replicate in their romantic relationships. Banter builds intimacy and a teasing playfulness that sparks chemistry; the wit between Harry and Sally is the stuff of legends.
'Far From Heaven' (2002)
Cathy (Julianne Moore) is the picture-perfect 1950s housewife with a perfect family and enviable social standing. But when she stumbles on husband Frank (Dennis Quaid) kissing another man, she goes into a tailspin that leaves her questioning everything. She finds solace in a taboo - interracial - relationship with her gardener, Raymond (Dennis Haysbert), which only tilts her world even further on its axis.
From director Todd Haynes, Far From Heaven is an impressive period piece that explores the fallout of finding love outside social expectations. Crossing the barriers of sex and race, Cathy and Frank’s marriage hides a lot of secrets, but exposing them to each other ushers in an era of honesty that helps them cope with other consequences.
'The Lake House' (2006)
A lonely doctor and a sad architect have both owned the same unusual lakeside house. They exchange love letters and grow close, but begin to suspect that while at some point they’ve occupied the same space, they perhaps don’t exist in the same time.
The premise is definitely more convoluted than any romance needs to be, but audiences have long since decided that Sandra Bullock and Reeves should appear together in as many films as possible, and that sending love letters across time is only marginally less plausible than a speeding bus that’s also a bomb. The internet loves to fuss over Keanu’s fragile heart, and Bullock has reigned as American’s Sweetheart since 1994 with nary a blip. Science aside, The Lake House is as perfectly charming as its leads, and is the perfect kick-off to a Keanu-Bullock marathon for a rainy autumnal weekend.
'The Broken Hearts Gallery' (2020)
Lucy (Geraldine Viswanathan) has finally turned emotional hoarding into an art form. During her latest post-breakup blues, she’s inspired to create a gallery for people to leave the tokens they’ve accumulated from past relationships. Turns out, Geraldine isn’t the only one who’s been hanging on to love souvenirs, and a movement is born.
Viswanathan is an incomparable gem, and she’s got great chemistry with Dacre Montgomery. However, the true triumph of The Broken Hearts Gallery is Lucy’s relationships with her girlfriends. Boys come and go, but meaningful friendships and the pursuit of passion is more than enough, whether romance follows or not. This movie goes down like a hot toddy on a cold night.
'While You Were Sleeping' (1995)
Chicago transit worker Lucy (Bullock) is in her tollbooth when she sees her secret crush fall from the platform into the path of an oncoming train. Lucy manages to save his life, but in the ensuing chaos, she is misidentified as his fiancée, and liking how it sounds just a little too much, she doesn’t correct them. As her crush languishes in a coma, it becomes way too late for Lucy to confess the truth to his family, so she keeps going along with it, even as his brother Jack’s (Bill Pullman) suspicions grow.
Every list of romantic movies needs a silly one, and While You Were Sleeping just may be the ultimate in cheese. Bullock, however, is a delight; so luminous on screen her light hasn’t dimmed in 30 years. While this movie is equally sweet any time of the year, its magic seems particularly well-suited to cold evenings curled up with thick socks, mulled wine, and someone special.
'Straight Up' (2019)
Todd (James Sweeney) and Rory (Katie Findlay) are platonic soul mates; they complete each other intellectually and emotionally, though his being gay gets in the way of the physical side. Still, two out of three isn’t bad. It’s more than most people get. But as Todd explores his identity and sexuality through seeking comfort and intimacy from a woman, his queer friends worry about him and what this all means.
This is a romance that discards established definitions and traditional roles to find new ways for two people to form attachments and to be close. The film’s lack of labels puts the onus back on the individuals that make up any given relationship, and how best to meet their needs and address their loneliness. Straight Up embraces fluidity and rejects romance as the only way to have a meaningful relationship. The film fills a gap in queer narratives and recognizes the validity of experiences falling outside the L and the G.