People say the romantic comedy is dead, and to them I say: Look harder. Love actually is all around, and there are more new rom-coms than you think. They just sometimes happen to be direct to streaming service and your couch, where the cabernet is by the bottle and the popcorn is microwavable rather than steaming up (and cracking up) your local movie theater. That’s annoying and concerning, don’t get me wrong. It’s so much more fun to laugh with a crowd and then, months later, relive those moments at home on your umpteenth rewatch. But it doesn’t mean that Hollywood has abandoned the best genre. Plus, maybe the fun we had with Barbie will convince people to go to the theater for more comedies again. It's great to laugh and cry and AWWWWW with other people, right??
Movies are never going to run out of hilariously contrived ways for love interests to meet and then *not quite* fall in love until the very end because of all these pesky obstacles in the way of their true feelings. It’s simply not going to happen! Rom-coms are always a little bit predictable, but they’re always a little bit different too. That’s a feature, not a bug. Any connoisseur knows all that really matters is when the actors have ~chemistry~. You can love a trope or hate a trope all you want, but it’s all in the execution. Honestly, the chemistry and romantic comedy elements of the live-action The Little Mermaid in 2023 were... top tier?? But that was only like 1/3 of the movie, so we can't list it.
This year is off to a promising start with some upcoming 2023 romantic comedies that feature tried-and-true movie stars you’ve loved for ages. There are some adaptations that can guide your book club’s next pick as well as some original stories that will keep you guessing even though you’re kinda-sorta already 100 percent sure you know who’s going to end up with who. Check out our list of the 15 best romantic comedies of 2023, below.
Shotgun Wedding
Release date: January 27 on Amazon Prime Video
Destination weddings come with a lot of added pressure on the bride and groom despite a gorgeous setting. What if you get cold feet after all of your friends and family have traveled to another country? And what if, on top of that, all of your friends and family are in a hostage situation? It’s too much!!!!
Your Place or Mine
Release date: February 10 on Netflix
It’s like The Holiday and When Harry Met Sally made a rom-com baby.
At Midnight
Release date: February 10 on Paramount+
*Taylor Swift voice* Meet me at midnight...
Somebody I Used to Know
Release date: February 10 on Amazon Prime Video
Alison Brie stars in this rom-com she cowrote with her husband Dave Franco. It has all the tropes you know (a workaholic woman returns to her hometown and reconnects with an ex, you know the drill) but is modern AF and maybe even polyamorous??
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Rye Lane
Release date: March 17 on Hulu
This romantic comedy is a major contender for my Hidden Gem of the Year Award. It's so cute. It's about two people who connect over bad breakups and just kind of wander London while they fall in love. Me and who??
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One True Loves
Release date: April 7
Based on a Taylor Jenkins Reid novel (just the writer of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & the Six, NBD), this rom-com stars Phillipa Soo, Simu Liu, and Luke Bracey. It's about a woman who gets engaged after her husband is presumed dead... but then turns up. The absolute drama!
Ghosted
Release date: April 21
This action romantic comedy stars Chris Evans and Ana de Armas as a spy and the guy she met at the farmer's market who accidentally gets caught up in an international incident. If you're used to seeing Evans in Marvel movies... well, first watch What's Your Number and The Nanny Diaries. Then watch this, because he really has off-the-charts guy-next-door energy. I'm talking, like, the hometown love interest in a Hallmark Christmas movie level.
Love Again
Release date: May 5
Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Sam Heughan star in this romantic comedy with a morbid (but in a sweet way) twist. Priyanka plays a widow who starts texting her dead fiancé’s phone as a therapy exercise, and Sam plays the man who gets assigned the dead man’s number. It’s based on the novel Text for You, by Sofie Kramer, which was made into a German film in 2016.
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Elemental
Release date: June 16
Did Pixar make a romantic comedy? Yep. So you’re telling me I’m going to cry my eyes out? Well, so be it.
No Hard Feelings
Release date: June 23
You might not, and probably should not, be rooting for the couple in this rom-com to figure it out and just kiss already. It's about an elder millennial (affectionate) who gets hired by helicopter parents summering in her hometown to seduce their teenage son. This movie is so so funny, pretty smart in what it ultimately has to say about sex and intimacy, and still follows a lot of the romantic comedy beats you expect from a movie like this. So as long as you're okay with an unconventional happily ever after, put this on you list.
Past Lives
Release date: June 30
Hear me out: this movie is heavier on the rom than the com, but all romance lovers absolutely must watch it in 2023. There are funny moments, I promise. It's a cerebral A24 movie about a woman remembering and reconnecting with her childhood crush that will have you feeling feelings you didn't even know you could feel. I'm so serious.
Red, White, & Royal Blue
Release date: August 11 on Amazon Prime Video
Casey McQuiston’s “enemies to fake friendship to lovers” book about a Prince of England and a First Son falling in love is coming to the big screen. Or since it’s Amazon Studios, maybe just the small screen. You know what I mean.
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Love at First Sight
Release date: September 15
Commercial flights don't necessarily strike me as romantic or sexy, but the characters played by Haley Lu Richardson and Ben Hardy fall for each other in the sky in this movie. Then, when they land, they can't find each other! Classic rom-com shenanigans and low-stakes obstacles! I'm sat!
Anyone But You
Release date: December 15
*runs over* DID YOU KNOW THIS IS AN ADAPTATION OF MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?! The girlies who loved rom-coms based on classic lit back in the '90s and 00s are living, because Shakespeare's messiest bitches are getting the modern treatment.
And Mrs
Release date: TBD
I'm fascinated by the idea of this movie so I'm putting a pin in it and hoping it does actually come out in 2023. This romantic comedy called And Mrs is about a woman who decides to go on with her wedding even though her fiancé has just died. It stars Billie Lourd, Aisling Bea, and Colin Hanks. It looks so different?? I'm intrigued.
