Good Date Movies

Tuesday, February 24, 2009 at 11:45 pm
By Shane Rivers

Good date movies give you the opportunity to cuddle up with the one you love. If you’re really lucky, good date movies may also lead to making out, roaming hands and maybe even an unplanned pregnancy or two.

Top date movies can come in all shapes and sizes, from action and adventure to romantic comedies and musicals. But whatever form they take, you can be sure that they’ll always leave you in the mood for love.

In the article below, I’ve gathered together a number of lists for the best date movies. The next time you have to select a film for you and your partner, just grab one of the following. This will allow you to avoid getting stressed out, and that extra energy can be used for the post-movie activities.

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AFI 100 Top Love Stories

Released in 2002, the following list is known as AFI’s 100 Years…100 Passions. When is comes to the all-time best love stories, this list simply can’t be beat. In fact, if you can get someone to watch one of these movies with you in a darkened room, you’re almost guaranteed to score.

  1. Good Date MoviesCasablanca
  2. Gone with the Wind
  3. West Side Story
  4. Roman Holiday
  5. An Affair to Remember
  6. The Way We Were
  7. Doctor Zhivago
  8. It’s a Wonderful Life
  9. Love Story
  10. City Lights
  11. Annie Hall
  12. My Fair Lady
  13. Out of Africa
  14. The African Queen
  15. Wuthering Heights
  16. Singin’ in the Rain
  17. Moonstruck
  18. Vertigo
  19. Ghost
  20. From Here to Eternity
  21. Pretty Woman
  22. On Golden Pond
  23. Now, Voyager
  24. King Kong
  25. When Harry Met Sally…
  26. The Lady Eve
  27. The Sound of Music
  28. The Shop Around the Corner
  29. An Officer and a Gentleman
  30. Swing Time
  31. The King and I
  32. Dark Victory
  33. Camille
  34. Beauty and the Beast
  35. Gigi
  36. Random Harvest
  37. Titanic
  38. It Happened One Night
  39. An American in Paris
  40. Ninotchka
  41. Funny Girl
  42. Anna Karenina
  43. A Star Is Born
  44. The Philadelphia Story
  45. Sleepless in Seattle
  46. To Catch a Thief
  47. Splendor in the Grass
  48. Last Tango in Paris
  49. The Postman Always Rings Twice
  50. Shakespeare in Love
  51. Bringing Up Baby
  52. The Graduate
  53. A Place in the Sun
  54. Sabrina
  55. Reds
  56. The English Patient
  57. Two for the Road
  58. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
  59. Picnic
  60. To Have and Have Not
  61. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
  62. The Apartment
  63. Sunrise
  64. Marty
  65. Bonnie and Clyde
  66. Manhattan
  67. A Streetcar Named Desire
  68. What’s Up, Doc?
  69. Harold and Maude
  70. Sense and Sensibility
  71. Way Down East
  72. Roxanne
  73. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
  74. Woman of the Year
  75. The American President
  76. The Quiet Man
  77. The Awful Truth
  78. Coming Home
  79. Jezebel
  80. The Sheik
  81. The Goodbye Girl
  82. Witness
  83. Morocco
  84. Double Indemnity
  85. Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
  86. Notorious
  87. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
  88. The Princess Bride
  89. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  90. The Bridges of Madison County
  91. Working Girl
  92. Porgy and Bess
  93. Dirty Dancing
  94. Body Heat
  95. Lady and the Tramp
  96. Barefoot in the Park
  97. Grease
  98. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
  99. Pillow Talk
  100. Jerry Maguire

While all of these are great love stories, some are going to get your partner fired up more than others. You can bet on movies such as Body Heat, Ghost and Titanic to do the trick, but you might be wary of selecting King Kong, The Hunchback of Notre Dame or Vertigo. And if your partner does get turned on by hunchbacks, you may have found yourself a real keeper.

AFI Top 100 Movies

In addition to their special list devoted to love stories, the American Film Institute also releases a list of the 100 greatest movies every decade. If you want to see how well top date movies stack up against other cinematic masterpieces, just take a look:

The definition of a date movie can be a little fuzzy sometimes, but I tried to distill the list down to the best options. Three classic romances made the top 10 with Casablanca, Singin’ in the Rain and Gone with the Wind, while The Graduate and It’s a Wonderful Life helped round out the top 20.

Titanic, one of the best date movies of all time, also came in at #83. I was surprised that It Happened One Night didn’t rank any higher, especially considering all the Oscar wins it had under its belt.

Netflix Top 100 Movies

Netflix keeps a list of their most popular movies, so I thought I’d include it to give you an idea of which top date movies the average Americans are watching. Keep in mind that this list changes all the time.

The Notebook is a film which seems to have strange supernatural powers over women. If you want to get your girlfriend in the mood for some lovemaking, just pop this one into the DVD or Blu-ray player. As long as you have most of your teeth, that should be all that’s required.

MTV Movie Awards – Best Kiss

Each year, the MTV Movie Awards give out a prize for the Best Kiss. If a movie’s got great kissing, there’s a good chance that it’s a great date movie, right? Here are some of the nominees over the past decade.

10 Top Date Movies from Simply Romantic Ideas

The website Simply Romantic Ideas is filled with all kinds of ways to enhance your love life. Part of this is knowing the right romantic movie to select on a stay-at-home date night. Here are the 10 movies they recommend most.

Ghost (1990)

The Notebook (2004)

A Walk To Remember (2002)

Titanic (1997)

Casablanca (1942)

Grease (1978)

Dirty Dancing (1987)

Pretty Woman (1990)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

Far and Away (1992)

Not a lot of stretches on this list, as names like Casablanca, Ghost and Titanic will pop up again and again on every list of good date movies. Also notice that The Notebook is listed, once again demonstrating its magical ability to get women all worked up.

Box Office Mojo Top 100 Date Movies

The folks over at Box Office Mojo were nice enough to list their 100 top date movies. The usual suspects are included, but you’ll also find some hidden gems which you might not be familiar with.

  1. Titanic
  2. Ghost
  3. Pearl Harbor
  4. Jerry Maguire
  5. An Officer and a Gentleman
  6. Cold Mountain
  7. Out of Africa
  8. Brokeback Mountain
  9. The Notebook
  10. City of Angels
  11. The English Patient
  12. The Horse Whisperer
  13. The Bridges of Madison County
  14. Legends of the Fall
  15. Dirty Dancing
  16. Hope Floats
  17. Far and Away
  18. The Blue Lagoon
  19. P.S. I Love You
  20. Message in a Bottle
  21. The Lake House
  22. Up Close and Personal
  23. Sommersby
  24. A Walk in the Clouds
  25. Urban Cowboy
  26. Romeo + Juliet
  27. Meet Joe Black
  28. Always
  29. Sense and Sensibility
  30. Nights in Rodanthe
  31. A Walk to Remember
  32. The Piano
  33. Autumn in New York
  34. Bounce
  35. For Love of the Game
  36. Dying Young
  37. The Accidental Tourist
  38. The Age of Innocence
  39. Children of a Lesser God
  40. Random Hearts
  41. Endless Love
  42. The French Lieutenant’s Woman
  43. Great Expectations
  44. Shadowlands
  45. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
  46. Sweet November
  47. Angel Eyes
  48. Against All Odds
  49. Shining Through
  50. A Room with a View
  51. Say Anything
  52. Bed of Roses
  53. Untamed Heart
  54. Some Kind of Wonderful
  55. Love Affair
  56. White Palace
  57. crazy/beautiful
  58. Mad Love
  59. In Love and War
  60. Snow Falling on Cedars
  61. Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
  62. The Wings of the Dove
  63. Love Jones
  64. Falling in Love
  65. The End of the Affair
  66. Here on Earth
  67. The Scarlet Letter
  68. Possession (2002)
  69. Somewhere in Time
  70. Mr. Jones
  71. Mississippi Masala
  72. Before Sunset
  73. Before Sunrise
  74. Persuasion
  75. Jane Eyre (1996)
  76. A Walk on the Moon
  77. Fire with Fire
  78. Dangerous Beauty
  79. Beyond Borders
  80. Mrs. Soffel
  81. Playing by Heart
  82. Breaking the Waves
  83. Blue Sky
  84. The Man in the Moon
  85. Return to the Blue Lagoon
  86. Washington Square
  87. Wide Sargasso Sea
  88. Deja Vu (1998)
  89. Charing Cross Road
  90. Love Field
  91. Anna Karenina (1997)
  92. Firelight
  93. Passion of Mind
  94. Guinevere
  95. All the Real Girls
  96. Jude
  97. Swept from the Sea
  98. Dogfight
  99. Every Time We Say Goodbye
  100. Waking the Dead

This is a solid list filled with a lot of quality romance films and date movies. Flicks like Mrs. Soffel and Urban Cowboy have been overlooked on other lists, but it appears that nothing gets past the writers at Box Office Mojo. If you love happy endings, stay away from City of Angels at #10.

AskMen.com’s Top Date Movies

AskMen’s list of good date movies gives a male perspective on the subject. While we’ve seen many of the titles before, a few new movies are included.

  1. There’s Something About Mary
  2. Four Weddings and a Funeral
  3. Pretty Woman
  4. Say Anything
  5. Swingers
  6. Titanic
  7. Cocktail
  8. Reality Bites
  9. Sleepless in Seattle
  10. Ghost

I would’ve never guessed that Reality Bites would make the list. I haven’t seen it in years, but I can’t shake the feeling that it would seem awfully dated now (kind of like Singles). It’s good to see Pretty Woman rated at #3, as it’s always seemed like the quintessential modern romance to me. Notice that The Notebook is not included, proving that men are immune to its strange powers.

Independent Film Channel’s 50 Greatest Sex Scenes

God bless the Independent Film Channel! Their writers sifted through hours of steamy cinematic sex scenes and compiled this list of the hottest ones. While good date movies don’t have to have a sex scene, there’s really no substitute for getting you and your partner in the mood.

  1. Ken Park (2002)
  2. Laurel Canyon (2002)
  3. Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2007)
  4. The Dreamers (2003)
  5. Sex Lies and Videotape (1987)
  6. Breaking the Waves (1996)
  7. Poison (1991)
  8. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990)
  9. High Art (1998)
  10. High Fidelity (2000)
  11. The Lover (1992)
  12. The Piano (1993)
  13. Shortbus (2006)
  14. Shaft (1971)
  15. Boogie Nights (1997)
  16. Network (1976)
  17. The End of the Affair (1999)
  18. The Last Seduction (1994)
  19. Being John Malkovich (1999)
  20. Storytelling (2001)
  21. Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
  22. 9 Songs (2004)
  23. Henry and June (1990)
  24. Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
  25. Out of Sight (1998)
  26. Female Trouble (1974)
  27. The Cooler (2003)
  28. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
  29. The Wayward Cloud (2005)
  30. The Kiss (1896)
  31. Bound (1996)
  32. Sex and Lucia (2002)
  33. Unfaithful (2002)
  34. Body Heat (1982)
  35. Coming Home (1978)
  36. Get Carter (1971)
  37. Team America: World Police (2004)
  38. Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
  39. The Night Porter (1974)
  40. Ecstasy (1933)
  41. Young Frankenstein (1974)
  42. The Big Easy (1987)
  43. Secretary (2002)
  44. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
  45. Betty Blue (1985)
  46. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
  47. Risky Business (1983)
  48. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
  49. A History of Violence (2005)
  50. Don’t Look Now (1973)

I’m thrilled to see that Donald Sutherland is one half of the greatest sex scene ever. When I think of pure, unbridled sexuality, I immediately think of Donald Sutherland.

All kidding aside, there are plenty of unusual choices on this list. While I wouldn’t suggest Team America or Get Carter to fire up your lover, movies such as The Last Seduction and Sex Lies and Videotape should more than make up the difference.

My Mom’s Top 20 Romantic Movies

No list would be complete without 20 good date movies which have my mother’s stamp of approval. Still, this could be a handy guide if you’re looking to court a woman over the age of 50. Listed in no particular order:

  1. Pretty Woman
  2. First Knight
  3. The Wedding Date
  4. A Walk in the Clouds
  5. The Wedding Planner
  6. Maid in Manhattan
  7. Dance With Me
  8. Dirty Dancing
  9. Open Range
  10. The Replacements
  11. Jersey Girl (1992)
  12. While You Were Sleeping
  13. Never Been Kissed
  14. Ever After
  15. Working Girl
  16. Notting Hill
  17. Monster-In-Law
  18. 50 First Dates
  19. Quigley Down Under
  20. The Lake House

I should also mention that my mother won’t watch a movie unless it ends well. That means you can enjoy the above movies with your lover and not worry about the main character drowning in a storm or getting backed over by a logging truck.

Now that you’ve got an idea of some of the best date movies and romantic films currently available, all that remains is to find someone you’re attracted to, dim the lights, and prepare to do your best Barry White impression.