The 20 most romantic Christmas movies

The Bishop’s Wife is the very definition of a Hollywood crowd-pleaser. Cary Grant is his usual charismatic self as Dudley, an angel who intervenes to help a struggling bishop. Along the way, he begins a quasi-romance with the bishop’s wife, played by the radiant Loretta Young. Of course, she ends up staying with her husband (played by David Niven), so there’s something ever-so-slightly bittersweet about the film. Nevertheless, it’s filled with romantic Christmas charm. Aside from everything else, there’s a unique pleasure in seeing Cary Grant having so much fun playing an angel, even as the film also wears its religion lightly on its sleeve.

Sleepless in Seattle is the perfect meeting of various talents. It not only features a director who was a master of romantic comedy (Nora Ephron), but it also features one of the best all-time big-screen pairings in Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The plot kicks off on Christmas Eve when Tom Hanks’ Sam Baldwin talks on the radio about his sadness about losing his wife and one of the listeners is Meg Ryan’s Anne Reed. The two strike up a remarkable romance, but it's predicated on missed opportunities, at least until the finale. What’s remarkable is the extent to which the chemistry between Hanks and Ryan is palpable, even though they spend most of the film apart. 

Judy Garland possessed one of the most magnificent voices in the history of Hollywood, and her talents are very much on display in Vincente Minnelli’s classical musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Esther Smith is part of a large and loving family, and she clearly has feelings for the boy-next-door, John Truett. The film has many romantic moments, and no one could ever forget the magical moment in which Garland performs “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” a song that perfectly blends sweetness and melancholy. And, in typical Hollywood fashion, everything comes out alright in the end.

Happiest Season deserves a great deal of credit for finally opening the doors of the Christmas romantic comedy to the LGBTQ+ community, focusing on Abby and Harper (played by Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis), two lesbians whose lives get turned upside down when they go to the latter’s family for Christmas, particularly since she isn’t out to her family. Various laughs, hijinks, and emotional conversations ensue, and the film does an excellent job of showing how toxic the closet can be and how easily it can blight the lives of those trapped inside it. Fortunately, though, it also features the requisite happy ending. 

Sandra Bullock is at her effortlessly charming best in While You Were Sleeping, in which she plays Lucy Eleanor Moderatz, a transportation worker who ends up falling in love with a man, Peter, whom she’s never met. When he’s injured and falls into a coma, hijinks ensue when she’s mistaken for his fiancee. Things go sideways when she falls in love with Peter’s brother, Jack. As expected, it all ends up okay and manages to make the most out of the formulas within which it operates. Bullock makes for a marvelous romantic leading lady.

Renée Zellweger gives one of the best performances of her career in Bridget Jones’s Diary,  in which she plays the title character, a 30-something “singleton” who finds herself in a bit of a love triangle between Hugh Grant’s Daniel Cleaver and Colin Firth’s Mark Darcy, the latter of whom she meets at a Christmas party hosted by her parents. Based on Helen Fielding’s hilarious novel of the same name, the film is a riot from beginning to end, and there’s no denying the electric, palpable chemistry between Bridget and Mark. It’s the classic enemies-to-lovers trope that never gets old.

Everyone loves a good meet-cute, and they don’t get much more meet-cute than the fateful encounter between John Cusack’s Jonathan Trager and Kate Beckinsale’s Sara Thomas in Serendipity, who meet while Christmas shopping. However, they part ways for years because of Sara’s belief in fate but reunite. There are more than a few contrivances in the plot of Serendipity, but this doesn’t mean it’s not still charming. What’s more, Cusack and Beckinsale are perfectly cast in their respective roles, and the film is the perfect antidote for anyone feeling a bit of nostalgia for early 2000s romantic comedies.  

The romantic comedy The Holiday  is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to its cast, which includes Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, and Jack Black. Winslet and Diaz are particularly strong as a pair of women from the US and the UK who exchange homes during Christmas. It hits all of the right beats that one would expect of a romantic comedy of the 2000s, the kind of film that is enjoyable precisely because one knows where the plot is going and how the couples will end up. It’s the right mix of touching and funny.

Few Christmas movies are as enduringly beloved as White Christmas. It’s easy to see why since it stars the ever-charming Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby, who are paired up with Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. They play a quarter of entertainers who join forces to try to save a struggling inn in rural Vermont. There are songs and beautiful scenery aplenty, with all of the big-screen magic the widescreen process of VistaVision could provide. However, there’s also more than a little romance here, making this the perfect holiday confection to watch with a romantic partner (or anyone else, for that matter).

Based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt, Todd Haynes' Carol  is a remarkable acting showcase for its two leads, Rooney Mara (who plays the young woman Therese) and Cate Blanchett (who plays Carol, the older married woman with whom she begins an affair). The two meet while Therese is working at a department store during the holidays, and their affair is deep, passionate, and conveyed with extraordinary richness by Blanchett and Mara. This is Haynes at his very best, and he ably depicts a queer love taking shape in the decade before Stonewall. 

Queen Latifah is at her charming best in Last Holiday, in which she portrays Georgia Byrd, a store clerk who finds out that she has a rare and almost always fatal brain condition. She sets out to make the most out of her remaining time in Europe. This unfolds during the Christmas season, and the film manages to be very touching and very funny. There’s great chemistry between Latifah and her love interest in the film, LL Cool J (who plays the character Sean Williams). It may be predictable, but that is actually an asset for romantic Christmas movies.

Released in 2005, The Family Stone is one of those romantic comedies that have fallen out of fashion. What begins as a typical plot involving a man, Everett, attempting to propose to his girlfriend, Meredith, soon turns into something far more hilarious once they go to visit his family, and her sister ultimately joins them. As with a good comedy, everyone ends up paired off, though not with the person they had at first thought they would end up with. As with a surprising number of Christmas films, there’s a bit of sadness in this one, but it still fits within the existing tradition of screwball Christmas movies.

If one actor can be counted on to deliver an exuberantly comedic performance, it would be Will Ferrell. His talents are very much in evidence in Elf,  in which he plays Buddy, a human adopted and raised by Santa’s elves. As an adult, he sets off to meet his father, and along the way, he finds unexpected love with Zooey Deschanel’s world-weary elf,  Jovie. There’s a surprising amount of chemistry between the two leads, and it’s nice to see the extent to which these two people each manage to find something they didn’t know they were looking for in the other.

Even though Whitney Houston was best known as a singer, she also made some notable forays into acting, and her efforts more than paid off in The Preacher’s Wife. A remake of an earlier film (The Bishop’s Wife) and, like its predecessor, it focuses on a preacher, Henry, his wife, Julia, and the angel who comes to Earth to help them. Strangely enough, there’s astonishing chemistry between Denzel Washington’s angel, Dudley, and Houston’s Julia, but this is very much in keeping with the original. It’s a film designed to uplift the audience, and to hear Houston sing is more than worth the price of admission.  

Both James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan are at the top of their game in The Shop Around the Corner, in which they play two people who detest each other in real life but are secretly falling in love in the letters they write to one another (neither realizes the other is their correspondent). It has all of the charm and sophistication one expects from films of the films of the 1940s. What’s more, it features some firm direction from Ernst Lubitsch. It’s the type of film that manages to be touching without cloying, and the somewhat contrived plot works marvelously. 

Barbara Stanwyck was one of the most versatile and talented actresses of classic Hollywood, capable of knocking it out of the park in either a film noir like Double Indemnity or in a fun romantic holiday comedy like Christmas in Connecticut. In the film, she portrays Elizabeth Lane, a food writer who has created an entirely fictitious personality for herself, emulated by housewives all over the US. She is dispatched to Connecticut by her boss, who wants her for a war hero, Jefferson Jones. Predictable zaniness ensues — particularly since Elizabeth doesn’t know how to do the things she writes about in her column — but, fortunately, there’s a happy ending for all. It’s a delightfully old-fashioned film that’s perfect for the Christmas holiday.

Though it took quite a while, Hollywood has finally started creating Christmas films geared toward the LGBTQ+ community, telling their stories in all their beauty. Single All the Way marks a significant moment, particularly since Netflix distributed it. It focuses on Peter and Nick, best friends who return to the former’s hometown for Christmas, where romance and holiday hijinks are in the air. The film uses all of the conventions one associates with the Christmas rom-com, and there’s undeniable chemistry between Michael Urie and Philemon Chambers. It’s a sweet and charming film designed to put even the sourest Grinch in the festive romantic spirit. 

While Emilia Clarke might be best known as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, she has shown herself adept in other productions, most notably Last Christmas. In this film, she plays Kate Andrich, a young woman who falls in love with Henry Golding’s Tom Webster. The film hits all of the right notes one expects of a holiday romantic comedy, but a note of sweet sadness sets it apart from other more traditional entries in the genre. Aside from anything else, it’s a genuine pleasure to see Clarke, who proves there is much more to her as a star and an actress than a queen mad and drunk on power.

Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is a film that didn’t do extremely well at the time of its release but has since become a staple of the holiday film rotation. As most people know, it focuses on James Stewart’s George Bailey as he reckons with his life and, thanks to angelic intervention, comes to realize how much he has impacted the lives of those around him. One of the most romantic elements of the film is the bond between George and his wife, Mary, and it’s quite touching to see the extent to which these two people build a life together (even if it takes some time for him to see how much she means to him).

Few holiday films have come to be as highly regarded as Love Actually, which follows various characters as they each encounter different situations relating to love. A less skillful film would struggle to keep all of its stories straight, but thanks to Richard Curtis’ assured direction (he also wrote the screenplay) and the performances of its exemplary cast, which includes Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, and Emma Thompson, it draws the viewer in and allows them to become invested in each story. It’s the kind of romantic comedy Hollywood only rarely makes, and this makes it even more of a treasure.