I’m sure you are reading this with an eye towards tonight. Which romantic movie to pick for Valentine’s Day? You know, after your dinner and in between your dessert…wink, wink 
Anyone can pull out Sleepless In Seattle or The Notebook.
Here are some romantic movies that work just as well on V-Day.
PRELUDE TO A KISS – Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan star in this 1992 romantic fantasy film. Despite her pessimistic outlook on life, Rita Boyle (Meg Ryan), a liberal, free-spirited aspiring graphic designer who earns a living as a bartender, falls in love with and marries Peter Hoskins (Alec Baldwin), the conservative employee of a publishing house. At their wedding, the couple is approached by Julius (Sydney Walker), a lonely, elderly man who requests permission to kiss the bride. When he does, their spirits switch places, leaving Peter with an aged man’s soul inside his newly wed bride. Whether or not he can see beyond the physical and embrace the beautiful soul he loves, Julius will agree to return to his cancer-riddled body by kissing Rita again.
500 DAYS OF SUMMER – Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel make an adorable couple in this surprise hit of 2009. I saw this for the first time two valentine’s ago and I loved it. It’s an offbeat romantic comedy about a woman who doesn’t believe true love exists, and the young man who falls for her. Her name is Summer and they last 500 days. Get it?
MUSIC & LYRICS – Between Hugh Grant’s anxious mumbling and Drew Barrymore’s toddler speech, the two make a charming pair. Grant plays a washed up 1980′s pop singer who is given a chance to compose a chart-topping hit for an aspiring teen sensation. Though he’s never written a decent lyric in his life, he sparks with an offbeat younger woman, played by Barrymore, with a flair for words. This 2007 movie is not great, but it’s cute and fluffy enough to work.
A BEAUTIFUL MIND – This 2001 Academy Award winning film doesn’t make you think of anything involving romance, but it’s hidden in there. Russell Crowe is brilliant as a anti-social mathematician who does secret work in cryptography,until his life takes a turn to the surreal and nightmarish. Jennifer Connelly plays his loving wife who never leaves his side. One of my all time favorite films.
A GOOD YEAR – You don’t think of romantic comedies with Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott, and maybe this is why it flopped, but A Good Year is a beautiful movie to watch. This 2006 film is about a cold British investment broker who inherits his uncle’s chateau and vineyard in France. He discovers a new laid-back lifestyle and true love in the form of a then unknown Marion Cotillard.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS – This modern day take on the Dickens’ classic finds the hapless Finn (Ethan Hawke) as a painter in New York pursuing his childhood love (Gwyneth Paltrow) who is very distant towards him. This 1998 movie is for any guy who has ever chased a girl, only to have her constantly push him back.
