Romance movies aren’t dead. They’ve just evolved. The 2020s brought films that refused to fit into traditional rom-com boxes. Some featured older women having better sex than expected. Some involved literal cannibals finding love in the apocalypse. Some were stop-motion musicals where the romance felt earned instead of manufactured. Here are the best romance films of the past 5 years, and I’m telling you, they’ll ruin standard romance stories for you.
We Live in Time (2024) might be the decade’s biggest tearjerker. Florence Pugh plays Almut, an up-and-coming chef who falls for Tobias (Andrew Garfield). But the film doesn’t show you just one chapter of their relationship. It jumps between when they first met and fell in love, their experience dealing with pregnancy, and Almut’s devastating battle with cancer recurring. What makes it work is the non-chronological storytelling. You see pure joy and loving bliss right next to pain and division. Their relationship isn’t cleaned up for cinema. It’s messy and real. Pugh and Garfield both deliver incredibly emotional performances that hit way harder because they never feel like they’re acting.
Bones and All (2022) did what seemed impossible: made a love story about cannibals genuinely moving. Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell play young cannibals who’ve been hiding their true nature from society. When they meet, they finally feel whole because they don’t have to pretend. The film isn’t shy about its queer themes either. The cannibalism becomes metaphorical—people consuming each other because they’re desperate for connection. Luca Guadagnino directed this, and the cinematography is absolutely nauseatingly gorgeous. The score alone makes you feel the romance and the bloodshed simultaneously.
Hit Man (2024) proves Richard Linklater still understands romance better than almost anyone. Glen Powell plays a fake hitman for police stings who falls for a client. Adria Arjona is his love interest, and their chemistry is electric. Linklater films have always worked because of charm and actual dialogue. These two just riff off each other, and you believe they’re falling in love in real time. It’s the kind of Netflix original that actually works because Linklater’s signature style—charm, comedy, genuine romance—elevates every scene.
Queer (2024) is completely different. Daniel Craig plays an American expat in Mexico City who’s emotionally isolated despite sleeping with men constantly. He meets Eugene (Drew Starkey) and suddenly feels actual passion and connection. But the film doesn’t shy away from Lee’s toxic and repressive attempts at creating an inevitably failing relationship. It’s a somber portrait of desire and longing, not a sweet love story. Luca Guadagnino directed this too, and it’s got that same uncomfortable depth as Bones and All. Craig balances jealousy, lust, and genuine care with precision.
Licorice Pizza (2021) from Paul Thomas Anderson is aggressively weird. It follows two people in 1973 San Fernando Valley, but there’s a massive age gap that makes the relationship deeply uncomfortable while also kind of sweet. Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman give performances that feel stolen from real life. The film finds that balance between making the relationship compelling and genuinely unsettling. Anderson’s always been good at relationship dramas, but this one’s his most daring.
Fire Island (2022) adapted Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to Fire Island Pines, the legendary queer retreat in New York. A group of queer best friends gather annually, hoping for love and connection. But desire and drama overwhelm their friendships. What makes it work is that it fully embraces queer chaos instead than sanitizing it for general audiences. It’s fun, emotional, and doesn’t apologize for being messy.
West Side Story (2021) from Steven Spielberg took the Romeo and Juliet story and adapted it for modern times. The music, the choreography, the cinematography—everything serves the romance. Spielberg’s first and only musical feels right at home in the genre. It blends music and romance to create the best musical of the 2020s. The tragic romance hits harder because the visual execution is flawless.
For All Mankind isn’t strictly romance (it’s more alternate-history sci-fi), but the relationships that develop across four seasons hit emotionally because they’re grounded. This show cares about characters, which means their romantic moments matter.
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