Summary

• The best friends-to-lovers romance movies span from disposable rom-coms to iconic classics with excellent chemistry between lead actors.
• Always Be My Maybe, Yesterday, and Just Friends showcase different aspects of the friends-to-lovers trope, with humor, heart, and relatability.
• Shared experiences, unresolved feelings, and real-life issues are the core elements that make friends-to-lovers movies like Silver Linings Playbook and When Harry Met Sally so impactful.

Friends-to-lovers stories have enthralled audiences for generations and have acted as the basis for countless iconic romance movies. From intense dramas to lighthearted rom-coms, friends-to-lovers narratives can capture the full scope of human relationships as they walk the fine line between platonic friendship and the slow, undeniable allure of newfound love. With so much history between the characters and a relationship with its foundations in friendship, these stories resonated because humans deeply relate to them.

The best friends-to-lovers romance movies were vast and varied, as some could be described as disposable rom-coms while others ranked among the greatest movies of all time. These stories relied heavily on the chemistry between the two main actors, who had to ensure their newly realized romance felt both believable and understandable. While this was a genre full of tropes and cliches, the best friends-to-lovers romance movies rose above their repetitive style to reinvent themselves anew each time.

15 Always Be My Maybe (2019)

Estranged childhood friends reconnect later in life

The best friends-to-lovers romance movies often involved childhood friends who reconnected with each other later in life, and that was exactly the case for Always Be My Maybe. With exceptional performances by Ali Wong and Randall Park as lifelong best friends who lost touch after their brief teenage fling ended badly. After not speaking for 16 years, the two reconnected, and the unresolved remnants of their long-dormant romance returned once again in this clever, funny, and sentimental rom-com.

14 Yesterday (2019)

Friends become lovers in a world where nobody re The Beatles

While Yesterday primarily told the story of a struggling musician who realized he was the only one who ed The Beatles and became famous singing their songs, the film's emotional core came from its friend-to-lovers romance. Yesterday involved singer-songwriter Jack Malik being managed by his childhood friend Ellie Appleton, who was the only person who truly believed him, even before he found a way to exploit The Beatles to his own benefit. With layers of untold feeling between the two, Yesterday was an insightful romance bolstered by a great soundtrack.

13 Just Friends (2005)

Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart pick up their friendship ten years later

Just Friends told the story of Chris (Ryan Reynolds), a high schooler secretly in love with his best friend, who left his hometown after confessing his feelings and being humiliated. Ten years later, the once obese Chris transformed himself into a handsome womanizer, returned to his hometown, and was forced to confront his unresolved feelings. As an enjoyable, broad comedy, Just Friends doesn’t break any new ground in the rom-com genre, but it had a great cast and was a lot of fun.

12 13 Going On 30 (2004)

Teenage fantasy becomes reality

With plenty of nostalgia and self-empowerment messages, 30 Going on 30 was a fantasy rom-com about a 13-year-old girl whose wish came true and who awoke to find herself 17 years older. With the newfound freedom of adulthood, Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) reconnected with her childhood best friend, Matty Flamhaff (Mark Ruffalo), and the two soon fell for one another. As a heartfelt look at the awkwardness of teenagehood, the pitfalls of unrequited love, and the need to be true to oneself, 13 Going on 30 was a smash success.

11 My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)

Lifelong friends must face their true feelings for one another

My Best Friend’s Wedding was a classic rom-com starring Julianne (Julia Roberts) and Michael (Dermot Mulroney) as childhood friends who vowed if they were both unmarried by 28 then they would marry each other. However, three weeks before Julianne’s birthday, Michael revealed his engagement to another woman (Cameron Diaz), and she’s forced to confront her true feelings. A classic tale of unexpressed love, My Best Friend’s Wedding was a highly entertaining friends-to-lovers story that delivered on all fronts.

10 I Want You Back (2022)

Charlie Day and Jenny Slate excel in this friends-to-lovers story

I Want You Back was one of the best rom-coms in recent years that told the hilarious story of two recently dumped strangers, played by Charlie Day and Jenny Slate, who teamed up to sabotage the new relationship of their exes. In classic friends-to-lovers style, the two found a connection through their mutual heartache and, before long, found a romance brewing. With a strong cast and well-rounded characters, I Want You Back may have had a stereotypical formula, but it was executed so exceptionally well that it didn’t matter.

9 Set It Up (2018)

Matchmakers find themselves drawn to each other in this friends-to-lovers story

Two overworked employees hatch a plan to make their bosses fall in love in Set It Up, a perfect example of a match-up movie in which the matchmakers were unaware of their own burgeoning romance. With a strong ensemble cast, Set It Up was a Netflix rom-com that hit all the right notes and proved that with a strong script and great performances, a movie doesn’t need to be original to still leave a lasting impact. As an enjoyable crowd-pleaser, Set It Up delivered everything one could want from a straight-to-streaming romance.

8 Love, Rosie (2014)

Childhood friends face their feelings

Rosie (Lily Collins) and Alex (Sam Claflin) have been best friends since they were five years old and, by all s, were perfect for each other, but circumstance kept them apart in Love, Rosie. Based on a novel by the Irish author Cecilia Ahern, Love, Rosie was a cliched-laden story propped up by the charm of its lead performances. With sometimes sloppy storytelling and a predictable plot, this film could have easily fallen flat on its head, but there was just something about Love, Rosie that made it intensely watchable.

7 Reality Bites (1994)

A slacker classic twist on friends-to-lovers clichés

Most friends-to-lovers movies were told as sentimental rom-coms, so it was refreshing to see the narrative play out in the slacker 1990s classic Reality Bites. As a film depicting the disenchanted lives of a group of wayward 20-somethings, the emotional core of Reality Bites was the non-relationship between Lelaina (Wynonna Ryder) and Troy (Ethan Hawke.) While the pair had trouble expressing their feelings, their love for one another bubbled to the surface after the unwanted introduction of a yuppie love interest played by Ben Stiller.

6 One Day (2011)

A friends-to-lovers story told over two decades

Although the recent Netflix adaptation of David Nicholls’ novel One Day has overtaken the 2011 film as the definitive depiction of this story, that’s not to say there was not a lot to enjoy in Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess’s version of Emma and Dexter’s love story. With a story that spanned 23 years, One Day was the textbook definitive of a friends-to-lovers story that will make viewers laugh, cry, and feel everything in between. As a poignant and sentimental of how friendship turns into something deeper, One Day was a triumph.