2025 was a really strong year for movies and it’s exciting to know that 2026 is shaping up to be a huge year as well. All genres were represented well in 2025, from horror to comedy to sci-fi, and more. That includes romance, which is a genre that gets unjustly overlooked by many.
However, some of the best films of 2025 sit in the romance genre, or at least have romance play the biggest part of the story. These top-tier romances include movies from acclaimed filmmakers, indie gems, international animated fare, and long-awaited sequels, making for a varied bunch.
The Map That Leads To You
One thing that a lot of romantic films tend to do is to cast actors who have shined on TV shows geared at teenagers. The Map That Leads to You pulled that feat off by casting KJ Apa of Riverdale fame and Outer Banks star Madelyn Cline as its leads.
The movie is an adaptation of J.P. Monninger’s novel of the same name and follows Heather Mulgrew as she travels across Europe with her friends before starting her perfectly planned life. While there, she meets Jack and falls for him, throwing all of those plans into chaos.
The Map That Leads to You succeeds in the romantic moments, boosted by the solid chemistry between Cline and Apa. Reviews were mostly mixed but fans of the genre are sure to find a lot to like about this film.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
Kagonda is one of the most underrated yet impressive rising filmmakers in Hollywood. His directorial debut, Columbus, was great, as was the follow-up After Yang. He went a different route for his third project, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.
This film is a romance that blends with the fantasy genre. The story centers on two strangers who have a chance meeting at a mutual friend’s wedding, only to then get swept up on an adventure allowing them to relive important moments of their past.
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey also benefits from having two incredible lead actors in Oscar nominees Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell. Although reviews weren’t sparkling for this box office flop, watching those two together is engaging and this has the makings of becoming a cult classic.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy
It feels like more people should talk about how impressive the Bridget Jones film series is. The first movie, based on a 1996 novel, came out in 2001 and was both a critical and commercial hit. However, nobody expected it to become a franchise that lasted more than two decades.
Fans have been following Renée Zellweger’s character for a big chunk of their lives and 2025 saw the arrival of the fourth installment, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. The story sees the now widowed Jones balancing several aspects of her life and finding potential new romances.
It’s rare for the fourth entry in a series to be so well-received but Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy actually has the highest Rotten Tomatoes rating of the franchise at 89%. Zellwegger is as good as she’s ever been and it’s interesting to see her choose between her son’s teacher and a younger man.
The Threesome
Sometimes, romance movies aren’t always about the happiest of endings or the fairy tale stories that we grew up with. Often, it’s more realistic to look at the messier, more realistic side of things which is just what The Threesome does.
The Threesome tells the story of Olivia, Jenny, and Connor, who have the titular threesome one night. Connor and Olivia start to date and Olivia gets pregnant before Jenny shows back up to reveal that she is also pregnant. From there, alliances, relationships, friendships, and more are tested.
It’s not at all your traditional romance story and while the tale begins with something scandalous, there’s a ton of heart involved. Zoey Deutch and Ruby Cruz are standouts as Olivia and Jenny, bringing both a level of realism and endearing aspects to the film.
Lost In Starlight
It has been the case for a long time but it’s great that more and more people have come to understand that fantastic cinema comes from South Korea. There are a bunch of films worth checking out each year from the country and one of the best in 2025 was Lost in Starlight.
We don’t often discuss great animated romance films, yet Lost in Starlight fits that bill. Set in 2050, this story centers on an astronaut headed for Mars and a musician whose dreams have been broken as they fall in love. It perfectly blends sci-fi with a touching tale of love.
The animation style of Lost in Starlight is gorgeous and might even be more beautiful than the story itself. Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho called the movie “a masterpiece that takes you around the universe,” and that is an accurate description.
Love, Brooklyn
One of the many indie films to make this list is Love, Brooklyn. This is a movie that is captivating from start to finish, thanks to the story at the center, the incredibly talented cast, and the steady hand of Rachael Abigail Holder in her directorial debut.
Love, Brooklyn is, as you’d expect, set in Brooklyn, New York. The story focuses on three friends: Roger, Nicole, and Casey, as they navigate their careers, bonds, heartbreak, and more. When two of the three struggle romantically, the third one sacrifices their own love life to help them.
This is a character-driven romance that is emotionally honest in a way that’s refreshing. André Holland, Nicole Beharie, and DeWanda Wise are fantastic together and really carry this film. Ultimately, reviews were strong and everyone should seek this out.
Materialists
Celine Song is absolutely a filmmaker to watch when it comes to telling modern romance stories. Her feature debut, Past Lives, was critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated, and announced her arrival to the world. Materialists is her sophomore effort.
From the start, Materialists grabbed audiences because of its charming cast. Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans all bring life to their complex characters and their performances all received praise from both critics and moviegoers.
Materialists follows Lucy, a matchmaker who helps others find love but not herself. She finds herself torn between her ex-boyfriend, who is a waiter due to his struggling acting career, and a new, wealthy man in her life. It’s steamy, real, and you’re hooked the entire way through.
A Nice Indian Boy
Technically, A Nice Indian Boy inititally was released in 2024 but that was only during a run at South by Southwest. It received its wider release in early 2025 and quickly proved itself to be one of the best rom-coms in recent memory.
The LGBTQ+ story is based on the play of the same name and centers on an Indian-American doctor named Naveen who brings his fiancé Jay, a white man who was adopted by Indian parents, home to meet his family. Cultures clash, sparks fly, and there’s just so much to love here.
A Nice Indian Boy works because of its wholesome and realistic portrayal of this romance. The chemistry between Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff is genuinely a delight to watch and that’s why the film holds an outstanding 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which ranks among the best of any release from the past year.
Eternity
Like so many other movies listed here, Eternity finds a way to mix romance with another genre. In this case, it’s fantasy, as the vast majority of the movie is actually set in the afterlife after the main characters have passed away.
Eternity focuses on Joan, a woman who dies of terminal cancer, as she reaches the afterlife. Her husband Larry dies soon after but her first husband Luke, who died at war, is also there. Now, Joan must choose which one of her husbands she wants to spend the rest of eternity with.
Reviews for Eternity were strong and one of the best aspects was the cast, as Elizabeth Olsen is fantastic, while Miles Teller and Callum Turner also deliver strong performances. The film has an interesting conundrum at its core, making it one of the most intriguing films of the year.
Hamnet
Chloé Zhao is back with a bang. She has directed some fantastic films and rose to prominence when she won Best Director for the Best Picture winning Nomadland but has been relatively quiet since she directed the less favorably received Eternals in 2021.
Thankfully, she has returned with Hamnet and it’s clear that she’s still one of the best filmmakers out there. Hamnet is based on the novel of the same name, which tells a largely fictional story of the marriage between Agnes Hathaway and William Shakespeare and how the death of their son impacts them.
While the loss of the titular Hamnet is the focal point, the romance between Agnes and William is what it’s all about. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are powerhouses in this movie, making you fall in love with them as much as they are in love with each other. Hamnet is an incredible film, even if it can be heartbreaking,
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