Bring out the googly eyes and tissue box. It’s time to fall in love at first stream.
Don’t let the Valentine’s season pass without binging through this well-curated list of nostalgic and new films not worth missing.
1. Austenland
If you had the chance to live a life à la Pride and Prejudice, would you take it? Jane Austen fanatic Jane Hayes (Keri Russell) took that chance when she blew her life savings to fly to the fictional Austenland resort in England.
She trades her modern clothes for Regency garb as she and several guests reenact Austen’s romances, complete with a guaranteed romantic experience. But meeting the disinterested and sarcastic Mr. Henry Nobley (JJ Feild) sets tempers flying between the two of them—could he be the Darcy she’s been looking for?
Where to stream: Netflix
2. One Day
Fans of the original film starring Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway can breathe a sigh of relief. This television adaptation based on David Nicholls’ novel is a devastatingly beautiful interpretation.
Much like its predecessor, the miniseries follows the story of two graduating university students, Dex (Leo Woodall) and Emma (Ambika Mod), who spend the night together following their rites in the morning. What began as a one-night stand spans twenty years of their lives interconnecting and finding themselves in each other’s timelines.
Where to stream: Netflix
3. Down with Love
Take a trip back to the sixties with this tribute to the era’s romantic films. If you love Rock Hudson and Doris Day, you can expect to enjoy this from beginning to end. Down on her luck, aspiring author and “reformed feminist” Barbara Novak (Renee Zellweger) puts out her book Down With Love. Its premise suggests that women free themselves from commitment, empower themselves, and decline love in place of chocolate.
This puts all men in uncomfortable and vexed positions, most especially womanizer Catcher Block (Ewan McGregor). When they meet under curated circumstances, will Catcher be the end of Barbara’s movement?
Where to stream: Disney+
4. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
The series, filmed à la The Office and Modern Family, follows a group of students in fictional East High (where the original movies were filmed) produce and recreate a theater version of High School Musical.
Expect beautifully sung renditions and original songs, a young Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett pre-driver’s license drama, and raw teenage emotions (watch out for Rodrigo’s intimate performance of “I Think I Kinda You Know”). Plus, viewers can also enjoy the next seasons where the group stages Beauty and the Beast, Frozen, and High School Musical: Senior Year.
Where to stream: Disney+
5. Red, White, and Royal Blue
If you are looking for the perfect enemies-to-lovers steamy rom-com, you’ve found the right one in this.
Based on Casey McQuiston’s book of the same title, the story follows two powerful individuals—charming First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) whose first meeting ends in PR chaos (and misunderstood despising!). But when they are forced to be friends to rectify the situation, they find themselves in tense complications.
Where to stream: Prime Video
6. Daisy Jones and the Six
Fans of Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac can find themselves in an emotional turmoil in this musical miniseries set in the seventies. Aspiring singer-songwriter Daisy Jones (Riley Keough) wishes to escape her traumatic past and ends up being the lead singer opposite the elusive Billy Dunne (Sam Claflin) and his band.
Filmed in documentary style, the series follows the rise and fall of the band along with the controversial romance between Jones and the married Dunne. Watch for the performances and stay for the soundtrack.
Where to stream: Prime Video
7. Ticket to Paradise
Julia Roberts as a divorced couple who team up to sabotage the wedding of their daughter. Photo from the Everett Collection
Divorce did not come easy for David (George Clooney) and Georgia (Julia Roberts) Cotton, and they are quite satisfied with their arrangement to simply never speak to each other again (except when they made a scene at their daughter Lily’s graduation).
But after Lily’s (Kaitlyn Dever) whirlwind romance with Balinese farmer Gede (Maxime Bouttier), she rings them up to say she’s getting married. What follows is a chaotic yet touching reunion of two lovers who would rather be anywhere but Bali, but maybe the magic there is enough to bring—or tear apart—two people.
Where to stream: HBO Go
8. The Sex Lives of College Girls
Photo from HBO Max
If you are in need of a raunchy Galentines-themed pick, you are in for a treat! Produced and created by Mindy Kaling, the series follows four students who end up being roommates at Essex College in Vermont—the sex positive aspiring comedy writer Bela (Amrit Kaur), the wealthy legacy lesbian student Leighton (Renee Rapp), US senator’s daughter and soccer aficionado Whitney (Aiyah Chanelle Scott), and the innocent working student Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet). It’s kind of like Sex and The City except it’s set in college.
Where to stream: HBO Go
9. Mr. Malcolm’s List
Set in 1800’s England, a young woman named Julia Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton) falls victim to a humiliating rejection by Mr. Jeremy Malcolm (Sope Dirisu). When asked why he rejected her, he simply said that she did not make the list of requirements he had in mind for a bride.
In a revenge-induced act, she enlists her friend Selina Dalton (Freida Pinto) and trains her to be the perfect bride, then eventually break his heart.
Where to stream: Apple TV
10. Lessons in Chemistry
Bonnie Garmus. Photo from IMDb
The best kind of love is self-love, and in this series, Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson) embraces that with gusto. Based on the novel of the same name by Bonnie Garmus, the series is set in the male-dominated 1960s.
Elizabeth gets fired from her lab tech job and embraces her new role as the host of a show called Supper at Six, aimed at educating housewives with science.
Where to stream: Apple TV
