21 Movies Every Holiday Rom-Com Fan Absolutely Must Watch

The most feel-good lineup you could ask for.

1. Love Actually

Universal

It's a holiday classic for a reason. Even if it's not perfect, it's hard to resist the intertwining love stories of a bunch of bumbling Brits. Between Hugh Grant's dancing and Emma Thompson's crying, you experience the full range of human emotion, but crucially are left with the warm and fuzzies.

2. The Princess Switch

Netflix

Vanessa Hudgens plays not one, but TWO characters in this ridiculous, and ridiculously fun, rom-com. It's basically The Prince and the Pauper, but make it CHRISTMAS. Thanks to the two storylines, the movie has double the tropes, double the romance, and double the fun.

3. The Knight Before Christmas

Netflix

Vanessa Hudgens is really making Netflix holiday movies her thing, and tbh it's a great move. In this one, she plays a modern woman who falls in love with a medieval knight who has travelled through time. Again, it's ridiculous, but completely enjoyable.

4. The Holiday

Universal

Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet indulge in a bit of wish fulfillment and switch lives for a little while, finding romance and friendship and ~themselves~ along the way. Honestly, The Holiday is criminally underrated, especially because it gives us Jude Law at his peak dreaminess doing the Mr. Napkin Head thing.

5. Snowed Inn Christmas

Lifetime

Lifetime churns out dozens of holiday movies every year, and this is without a doubt the best of them all. Bethany Joy Lenz and Andrew Walker play journalists who hate each other and are competing for a job when they get stranded in a small town and are forced to spend a bunch of time together. You can predict where it goes from there, but you might be surprised by how damn charming it is.

6. A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish

Warner Bros

This is literally (LITERALLY) the Christmas edition of A Cinderella Story. So if you're a fan of those movies, it's obviously a must-watch. Be warned: There's some very badly auto-tuned music and a plot that makes no sense. But there's also an adorable dog and Gregg Sulkin's dimples, so it all balances out really.

7. While You Were Sleeping

Buena Vista

In the canon of '90s rom-coms this one doesn't get talked about nearly enough. It's Sandra Bullock at her best playing a lonely but romantic woman who is mistaken for an unconscious man's fiancée and winds up falling for his brother. Which is way less creepy than it sounds.

8. Snow Bride

Hallmark

If Snowed Inn Christmas is Lifetime's best holiday movie, then Snow Bride is perhaps Hallmark's top offering. Katrina Law plays a tabloid journalist who goes undercover and winds up in a fake dating plot with the son of a prominent political family. The chemistry between the leads grounds the over-the-top story and makes it highly watchable.

9. A Christmas Prince

Netflix

Can you believe there are now THREE A Christmas Prince movies in the world?! While they're all fun to different degrees, the first movie, in all its camp glory, has remained the best. Rose McIver plays another undercover journalist, this time digging up dirt on a prince. Naturally, they fall in love.

10. Christmas Inheritance

Netflix

Eliza Taylor charms her way through this Netflix movie, in which she plays a heiress who gets sent to a small town for the holidays to learn the meaning of Christmas, or life, or maybe both. Along the way she meets and falls for a Regular Guy™️ played by Jake Lacy.

11. Jingle Belle

Lifetime

Tatyana Ali plays a woman named Belle who – wait for it – writes jingles! She's suffering from writer's block, so she goes back to her hometown, where she reunites with her high school sweetheart. Like most Lifetime offerings, it's super cheesy but also pretty cute.

12. Bridget Jones's Diary

Universal

Yes, Bridget Jones's Diary absolutely counts as a holiday movie – just look at that ugly Christmas sweater (which doesn't stop Colin Firth from being totally swoon-worthy, of course). He's at his Darcy best (or perhaps second best, after 1995's Pride and Prejudice) here, begrudgingly falling for Renée Zellweger's messy but charming Bridget. Remember, he likes her just as she is.

13. The Spirit of Christmas

MarVista

Also known as the Hot Ghost movie. It's about a Hot Ghost who only haunts this one building at Christmas and the real estate agent who has to find a way to evict said Hot Ghost so she can sell the damn building. Except that, owing to the Hot in Hot Ghost, she finds herself attracted to him and suddenly she's more focused on solving a paranormal mystery. It's WILD and completely addictive.

14. The Mistletoe Promise

Hallmark

Like many great holiday rom-coms, this one involves fake dating. Jaime King and Luke Macfarlane play a couple who meet at the mall, and for their own reasons that Totally Make Sense (in the world of holiday rom-coms, if not in real life) they pretend to be in a relationship. Sparks fly, naturally.

15. Let It Snow

Netflix

This is an ensemble teen rom-com starring Kiernan Shipka, Odeya Rush, Jacob Batalon, Liv Hewson and, randomly, Joan Cusack. The story is a bit uneven but a lot of fun. It takes place all in one day/night, and features plot lines including best friends to lovers, unrequited love, AND a celeb dating a normie (the best of the lot, FYI).

16. You've Got Mail

Warner Bros

It may not seem like a holiday movie at first glance but it's been unofficially adopted as one by many. There are a few significant holiday scenes in it, plus it just has the right ~vibe~ for a holiday rom-com: warm and cozy. If two people falling in love over email feels weirdly outdated now, the chemistry between Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks remains timeless.

17. My Christmas Love

Hallmark

A children's book author drags her best friend/collaborator back home for the holidays and her sister's wedding. While there, she starts receiving mysterious gifts and goes on a quest to figure out who her mystery admirer is. It's less predictable than you might think, plus it has a great big heart and excellent banter between the leads.

18. The Christmas Contract

Lifetime

This is worth watching for the mini One Tree Hill reunion alone, but it's also a pretty cute story – once again featuring fake dating. This time Hilarie Burton pretends to be with her best friend's brother, played by Robert Buckley, in order to make her ex think she's moved on. Which is a relatable excuse if ever there was one.

19. A Christmas Movie Christmas

UpTV

If you're obsessed with holiday romances – which is likely if you're reading this list – then you should definitely check out this one, which is both a holiday romance and a satire of them all at once. Two sisters get sucked into the world of a cheesy holiday movie and have to deal with the requisite baking competitions, holiday party disasters and, of course, very handsome men with dimples.

20. When Harry Met Sally

Columbia

When Harry Met Sally takes place over a period of many years, but with the final scene happening at New Year's, it totally falls into the holiday rom-com category (don't @ me). It's the ultimate friends-to-lovers story, and quite possibly the greatest rom-com of all time. At the very least, Harry's love declaration is one of the very best.

21. Last Christmas

Universal

Last Christmas is actually more of a dramedy than rom-com, but it will totally boost your mood regardless. Emilia Clarke plays Kate, a woman whose life is a bit of a mess after a near-death experience left her feeling directionless and a bit hopeless. Enter Henry Golding to charm the pants off of her and put her on the path to happiness. It's CUTE.