The Feel-Good Guide to Sports, Travel, Shopping & Entertainment

MAIN Home Life Holidays Valentine's Day Romantic Movies

One way to spend – or end – a special Valentine's Day is sitting in the flickering light of your favorite romantic movie. Whether you are cuddling with your sweetie or sharing popcorn with a friend, watching the actors in a love story step through heartbreak into everlasting love is always heart warming.

You may smile, but the kind of forever love that stars in these movies renews the hope and romance in your life. The Hollywood sets and drama may not be a very realistic view of relationships, but the dreams of happiness are still sweet.

Romantic movies are not usually Oscar-winning dramatic films, but light hearted flights of fancy designed to take you on a pleasant trip to what might be. The settings are often far away places, but might be the house next door. The point is that romance can be kindled anywhere and the fires of passion are just as likely to burst into flame in your local park as in Paris.

Some folks with more "sophisticated" tastes may scoff at those who love to get comfy and cuddle up with a good romance movie in the DVD, but it works better than candlelight for making you feel romantic.

So, on Valentine's Day, or just any time you're looking for something to get you in the mood for love and romance, try out one of the all time best picks for romantic movies. You'll find these on most lists of fave chick flicks that guys also secretly love to watch...

Our Top 5 Picks for Most Romantic Movies Ever

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Released in 2004, here's a truly modern Hollywood romance that doesn't gloss over the petty annoyances and downright disappointments of true love. The story unfolds as Clementine (Kate Winslet) and her love interest Joel (played by a subdued Jim Carrey) both decide to have memories of one another erased from their minds in a sci-fi medical procedure. As fate would have it, they are slowly drawn together again as each begins to remember special moments what made them fall in love in the first place. Sigh...

Sleepless in Seattle - Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan star in this long-distance comedy romance. Need we say more? It all begins when the concerned young son of a widower calls into a national talk show with a wish that his lonely dad (Tom Hanks) finds a new wife. Listening into the broadcast is our heroine (Meg Ryan) who becomes obsessed about possibly finding the man of her dreams. This being Hollywood, of course, the ending is a gloriously happy one when (in the film's final minutes) the star-crossed couple find true love atop the Empire State Building in New York City.

Princess Bride - This hit 1987 film combines a handsome hero (Carey Elwes) and a beautiful damsel in distress (Robin Wright). For good measure, along the way it also introduces an odd movie cast (including comedian Billy Crystal and ex-wrestler Andre the Giant) that helps re-introduce classic Hollywood slapstick to a whole new generation. Of course, in the end it's all about love, "twu love."

Singing In The Rain - We love movies about movies. A movie musical about movies? Even better. This classic also makes the Top 10 Hollywood movies ever made, and with good reason. Starring Gene Kelly, a young Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor, the film follows the lovable trio's adventures through early Hollywood. All the while it manages to stick to its boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl script that makes it more worthwhile. Best moment: Gene Kelly high kicking it through a puddle of joy in the title song.

Casablanca - Rick loves Isla, and Isla loves Rick -- not to mention first husband Victor Lazlo, the freedom fighter. What starts off in Paris ends up in occupied Casablanca with enough danger, intrigue, and romance to fuel several movies. The high octane classic stars Humphrey Bogart (as Rick) and Ingrid Bergman (as Ilsa) at the pinnacle of their careers, and carrying off a famously improvised plot with aplomb. Filmed in glorious black and white, this is Hollywood gold.

More about romantic movies around the Web:

AFI's 100 YEARS...100 PASSIONS - The American Film Institute lists the blue ribbon selection of the 100 greatest romantic movies celebrating "matters of the heart in a whole different way—more heartbreaks, heartaches and hearts bursting with love." They also have lists for a few other categories that make for a fun movie night at home.

Top French-Language Romantic Movies - They say that French is the language of love. You may want to sample a few of the best romances French cinema offers - in the original language. That's a Valentine's Day treat!