The best romantic comedies on Netflix right now

Perhaps the greatest indicator that Jennifer Lopez was the biggest movie star in the world for a brief period in the early aughts is that she got Ralph Fiennes to do a romantic comedy. In Maid in Manhattan, Lopez plays Marisa Ventura, a struggling single mom who works as a maid at a high-end Manhattan hotel.

When hotel guest and senatorial candidate Christopher Marshall (Fiennes) mistakes Marisa for a wealthy socialite, the two spend a magical evening together. As you might expect, a meet-cute leads to a dramatic reveal. Marisa and Christopher must decide if they can overcome their extraordinary differences to find their happily ever after.

Christina Milian stars in Meet Me Next Christmas, a family-friendly Netflix original rom-com. Milian plays Layla, a young woman in pursuit of a fairytale romance. Desperate to get her hands on the town’s hottest ticket — the sold-out Pentatonix Christmas Eve Concert — Layla joins forces with the help of a handsome ticket concierge (Devale Ellis). What starts as a search for tickets, however, soon evolves into a bit of Christmas romantic magic as Layla and her handsome new beau find their way to the show.

In Along Came Polly, Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston star in this mid-2000s rom-com classic about polar opposites who just happen to attract. Reuben (Stiller) has carved out a nice life by always playing it safe. However, his childhood friend, Polly (Anniston), lives life on the edge. When a chance encounter reunites them, Reuben finds he’s inextricably drawn to Polly, not just for her beauty, but for the way she lives.

We would not be surprised if there is an eventual English language remake of the French comedy, I Am Not an Easy Man. In the meantime, this is an ideal example of why subtitles were invented. Vincent Elbaz stars in the film as Damien, an unapologetic womanizer. However, a head injury lands Damien in a world that he barely recognizes. In this apparent alternate universe, women have all of the power, and Damien is routinely mocked and sexually harassed by the opposite sex. The lone bright spot is a novelist named Alexandra (Marie-Sophie Ferdane), because she and Damien may be kindred spirits.

The Knight Before Christmas is basically a Hallmark Channel movie that was just made for Netflix instead. So, it’s a standard time-travel romantic flick that just happens to take place around Christmas. But there’s something charming about this earnest flick that doesn’t even really try to get all of the historical facts right. In the distant past, a young knight named Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse) goes on a quest that ultimately leaves him stranded in the far future. That would be the present for us. It’s almost love at first sight for Brooke Winters (Vanessa Hudgens) when she accidentally smacks Sir Cole with her car. While Brooke initially believes that Cole lost his memory, she finds herself drawn to his genuine warmth and his good old-fashioned chivalry.

The Half of It takes a bit of inspiration from Cyrano de Bergerac and makes the formula its own. In this case, Leah Lewis (Ellie Chu) plays the Cyrano role, as she reluctantly agrees to help Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) pursue the girl of his dreams, Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire). The problem is that Aster is already the girl of Leah’s dreams. But to make ends meet, Leah agrees to coach Paul so he can get closer to Aster. Of course, Paul and Leah get close as well. But the film never loses sight of who Leah really wants to be with, or what she wants out of life. Leah can’t get everything she desires, but she does have a transformative experience that allows her to grow and become the person she was always meant to be.

Someone Great isn’t a typical romantic comedy, and that’s one of the reasons the film’s primary romance ends early. On the verge of a cross-country move, Jenny Young (Gina Rodriguez) is blindsided when her longtime boyfriend, Nate Davis (Lakeith Stanfield) breaks up with her. Distraught, Jenny turns to her best gal pals, Blair Helms (Brittany Snow) and Erin Kennedy (DeWanda Wise); both of whom have troubled romantic entanglements of their own. To complicate matters, Jenny can’t seem to escape Nate’s shadow. Jenny has to determine if she even wants Nate back. But it’s the friendship between the three women that really turns this film into an uplifting story.