Usually I try to match these Top 5 lists to something that is going on or the head space I'm in. Don't think for a minute that is the case this week. Romance is that last thing on my mind and the thought of these movies makes me a little sick at the moment. But I needed a Top 5, so I reached into my files and pulled this one out. It was originally based on Entertainment Weekly's list of the top Modern Romance Movies (they defined modern as anything released in the last 25 years). I decided to do my version of that list. Here it is. By the way, when I wrote the original I included a side note that I still stand by. It said... I don't believe in the importance placed on "true love" in any of these movies except maybe #1. I feel there is to much emphasis on this notion in today's society which causes people to rush into foolish relationships. None the less, I do enjoy the emotions that they stir up...
5) Braveheart
Sure, it's a great war movie about a people's fight for freedom and has some classicly gory battle scenes, but let's not forget what pushes the plot along, Wallace's love for his murdered wife. Take away the amazing landscapes and the ispirational speeches and the funny Irishman, and you have a wonderfully romantic movie. This story is all about the lengths a man will go to for love or to avenge that lost love.
4) Return To Me
I don't know that most people know or remember this movie but it really got to me. It starred Minnie Driver and David Duchovny. Duchovny's wife dies and is an organ donor who's heart goes to Driver. The two meet and fall in love, Duchovny unaware that Driver has his wife's heart. Interesting twist to the classic love story. Very well done. It paints a great picture of relationships between men and women, whither it's Driver and Duchovny or Driver's best friend and her husband or the old people in the bar. The movie also has one of the saddest scenes I've ever seen. After the wife dies, the couples dog refuses to leave the front door because he is waiting his dead master to come home. Heart breaking!
3) When Harry Met Sally
I've lived my life by this movie's theory. As Billy Crystal says early in the film, men and women can't be friends, eventually sex gets in the way. Of course there are many corollaries to the theory, but I think it stands up. Just a great movie about two people who can't deny the inevitable. I think we all hope to have someone like this in our lives at some point. Where there's chemistry there, there's chemistry there. Why fight it?
2) The Princess Bride
At this point, this movie falls one year short of fitting into the 25 year limit, but I don't care, I'm keeping it in anyway. I don't feel I have to do much explaining on this one. If you don't think this is one of the greatest movies ever made, I don't have much to say to you. Funny, exciting, tender, this movie has it all. A wonderful story about true love, set in the perfect place for it (a fictional world, because true love like this isn't real).
1) Say Anything
A John Cusack classic, written and directed by the master of modern romance, Cameron Crowe. A great story about the imperfections of love and intentions. It raises great questions about what is worth fighting for and what is not and showcases the dangers of putting loved ones on a pedestal. Plus, what girl never dreamed of having a Lloyd Dobler pining after them?
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