10 Classic Rom-Com Movies That Need Modern Reboots

Summary

• Rom-coms remain popular due to their universal appeal and perfect date night viewings.
• Classic rom-coms like “10 Things I Hate About You” deserve modern reboots for younger audiences.
• Hollywood’s greatest love stories like “Pretty Woman” and “When Harry Met Sally” may benefit from updated adaptations.

Rom-coms remain one of the most enduring and popular genres of film out there, with movies stretching back to the beginning of Hollywood, and some of the classics could use a reboot. Romantic comedy movies are potentially the most universally accessible style of film, with something in each film that attracts a broad variety of audiences. It’s also one of the best hybrid genres, having become so popular that it stands out and appears more often than either romance or comedy movies as a single genre.

Rom-coms also have a long and rich history in Hollywood, becoming one of the first trending and popular themes for movies, even during the silent and black-and-white eras. Throughout the decades, these movies have continued to be the perfect viewing for a date night, with the potential to blow up at the box office or hit the top 10 on a streaming service for cozy nights at home. But some of the best rom-coms ever made were released decades ago, and modern audiences deserve to see the story retold.

10 10 Things I Hate About You

1999

10 Things I Hate About You is the most recent entry featured on this list at just 25 years old, but the movie is one of the all-time greats and a must-watch for rom-com fans. Interestingly, the film was an adaptation of a much older story by the great bard himself, William Shakespeare, and his play, The Taming of the Shrew. The 1999 adaptation is one of the most up-to-date adaptations, but whether the original story or this one is used to create a modern retelling, the story is excellent and would make a fantastic reboot.

9 Pretty Woman

1990

Pretty Woman is one of the most well-known stories in film, but perhaps among modern audiences, one of the least viewed. Richard Gere and Julia Roberts have incredible chemistry in this tale of two worlds colliding, but there are some elements of the 1990 movie that modern audiences may struggle to connect with. Updating the story for a modern reboot could be the perfect way to introduce one of Hollywood’s greatest love stories to a new generation of movie fans.

8 When Harry Met Sally

1989

Legendary rom-com director, Rob Reiner, directed Sleepless in Seattle, a movie about two friends who slowly develop a romance over 12 years. Through chance encounters that could be fate, an emotional love story that spans years is revealed with wonderful performances from Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. Movies similar to this, such as the Before series, have been made, but Sleepless in Seattle’s romance and comedy charm are unrivaled. As a result, it needs to be recreated to bring the story from 1989 into the modern day.

7 Roman Holiday

1953

Audrey Hepburn’s film debut is also one of the most celebrated rom-coms of all time. Hepburn won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA for her performance as the Princess in this charming rom-com from 1953. The film sees a princess and a reporter falling in love, which derails their prior responsibilities. This type of premise has been repeated, but none have been executed quite as well as Roman Holiday, making it another perfect film to get a reboot.

6 Sleepless In Seattle

1993

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan already had great success in rom-coms before shooting Sleepless in Seattle together, so when the pair were matched for this project about long-distance love, it was a perfect coupling. Most of the movie has the couple communicating from a distance with each other, by phone, but the relationship and bond they share is incredibly compelling. Both actors perfectly capture the love between relative strangers, and create a brilliant romance with plenty of moments to laugh and cry throughout.

5 Four Weddings And A Funeral

1994

Hugh Grant has long been praised as an iconic rom-com actor, with that stereotype only dissipating in the last decade or so, but the film that cemented that status for him was Four Weddings and a Funeral. The film became the highest grossing British movie of all time upon release as it racked up almost $250 million against a budget of $4.5 million (via The Numbers). As the title suggests, it follows four weddings and a funeral, and the relationships that are forged throughout with beautiful intricacy and the excitement of new love throughout.

4 There’s Something About Mary

1998

There’s Something About Maryleans more heavily into the comedy than it does the romance, but with the talented Ben Stiller leading opposite his co-star, Cameron Diaz, it works in perfect unison. A film about the friendzone, and the one that got away that would work incredibly well in a modern setting, with updates to technology and more playfulness around terms like friendzone. This movie is iconic, and if it were made today with contemporary rom-com actors, it would likely be a smash hit.

3 City Lights

1931

Charlie Chaplin is one of the all-time great contributors to Hollywood during its infancy. Having written, directed, produced, starred in, and doing most of the work for many of his titles alone, Chaplin was a large part of what made film popular to begin with, and he inherently understood what audiences wanted to see. With City Lights, Chaplin created a career-defining film, with perfectly balanced comedy that stands tall as one of the greatest rom-coms to this day. However, many modern audiences may struggle with classic black and white, or lack of dialogue, which makes it perfect for a reboot.

2 The Apartment

1960

The Apartment was released in 1960, at a time when rom-coms were still one of the most widely celebrated genres, and as a result, it was the recipient of 10 nominations at the Academy Awards, of which it won five. With the recognition of talented creators in this space, it was much more common for filmmakers to put in the work to make a rom-com stand out from the crowd, as opposed to simply rehashing the same old ideas. The Apartment certainly stands out as one of the more unique entries, and would greatly benefit from a modern reboot.

1 It Happened One Night

1934

While many films between the 1930s and 1960s appear much more tame and moderate than modern pictures in terms of what is allowed in film, It Happened One Night came during the brief window known as pre-Code. Pre-Code movies were films which included audio, and avoided the restrictions of a film code policing the use of profanity, sexual promiscuity or innuendo. As a result, films like this feel a lot more familiar and modern. The movie may be lost to time if Hollywood doesn’t seize the opportunity to reboot the story, which is one of rom-coms all-time greats.