It’s date night. Time to get tidied up, grab your wallet and then throw it on the counter because sometimes it’s nice to stay in. Make dinner together. Play a game. And then cuddle up on the couch with some nice romantic date movies. There’s just one problem: you’ve burned through all your DVDs, and Netflix only recommends dramatic TV shows and goofy cartoons because of all the “House of Cards” and “Archer” you watch. What the heck is on there when you’re feeling amorous? And how do you know it’s good to watch given the amorous mood you’re in?
Well, that’s our cue. Behold, CraveOnline’s list of 11 Great Date Movies on Netflix. We’ve scoured over 10,000 available films in search of the perfect date night movies for every mood. Feeling sexy? We got you covered. Feeling mature? We got that too. Feeling adorable? Oh yeah. It’s all here with handy dandy links. You hardly even have to think about it.
Related: The Best Movie Ever: Sex
And since we know you’ve seen a ton of movies over the years, we’ve got runners up in every single category, just in case you’ve been there and done that. Because date night should be about trying new things. If you know what we mean…
Slideshow: 11 Great Date Movies on Netflix
Note: Netflix’s video library is subject to change. All of the above movies are currently available at the time of publication.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
11 Great Date Movies on Netflix
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If You're Feeling... Adorable
Watch: Amelie (2001)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet's breakout hit Amelie stars the perky and eccentric Audrey Tautou - boasting the world's cutest haircut - as she decides to sneakily improve the lives of everyone around her. Her solutions to life's foibles are so damned cute you totally forget that she's a stalker, and desperately want her to find happiness of her own with the handsome, equally squeezable Matthieu Kassovitz.
Already Seen It?
Why not go old school with Beach Party (1963), the original Frankie Avalon and Annette Funnicello summer movie? It's full of cheesy tunes and a goofball plot about university professors studying the sexual habits of American teenagers, who apparently didn't have any sex back in the 1960s.
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If You're Feeling... Adventurous
Watch: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
John McTiernan's impossibly sexy remake of the classic 1968 thriller stars Pierce Brosnan as a billionaire who moonlights as an art thief, and Rene Russo as the insurance investigator hot on his heels, and hot for his body. Russo and Brosnan are dynamite together, their sex scene is spectacular, and McTiernan's film is slick and sensual.
Already Seen It?
You still can't go wrong with Robert Zemeckis's Romancing the Stone (1984), starring Kathleen Turner as a romance novelist who gets swept up in kidnapping and intrigue with only a dashing young Michael Douglas to save her, and piss her off. Just don't get so swept up that you watch the sequel, The Jewel of the Nile (1985). It's one of the worst movies of the 1980s.
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If You're Feeling... Artsy
Watch: Punch-Drunk Love (2003)
Adam Sandler may be best known for frat boy comedies, and director Paul Thomas Anderson may be best known for serious dramas, but they teamed up to create a quirky celebration of love amongst the emotionally unstable in Punch-Drunk Love. The music is great, the plot is unpredictable, and no matter how strange it gets Sandler and co-star Hilary Watson are just lovely together.
Already Seen It?
Shane Carruth's Upstream Color (2013) isn't a film to snuggle up with - it's too elliptical and serious for that - but it's a powerful and unexpected tale of the unusual bonds that chance and personal trauma forge between lovers.
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If You're Feeling... Schmaltzy
Watch: Safe Haven (2013)
The sincere, and sincerely ridiculous Nicholas Sparks adaptation Safe Haven hits every formula in the book. Julianne Hough runs away from her "mysterious" past and into the arms of a Flawless Rescue Stud played by Josh Duhamel, who isn't happy unless he's making her happy. It's utter schmaltz, but if you're in the mood for schmaltz it'll hit the spot. And that ending will probably have you laughing for days.
Already Seen It?
Nobody gets through life without having to sit through Arthur Hiller's blockbuster doomed love saga Love Story (1970) at least once. Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw love each other so much that not even life-threatening illness can get in the way. Or have any effect on how pretty she is. Love Story claims that "love means never having to say you're sorry." Have fun debating that afterwards.
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If You're Feeling... Classy
Watch: Sabrina (1954)
There aren't nearly enough classic romance movies on Netflix, but at least Billy Wilder's Sabrina is one of the best. Audrey Hepburn stars as the chauffeur's daughter who falls in love with a handsome playboy played by William Holden. His stuffy older brother Humphrey Bogart begins to seduce her to save the family from scandal, but wouldn't you know it? He falls for her too. Wilder's screenplay sparkles with witty dialogue and Hepburn is just perfect as a woman torn between two lovers and her own self-worth. The 1995 remake starring Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond is okay too.
Already Seen It?
Alfred Hitchcock's early corker The Lady Vanishes (1938) stars the ravishing Margaret Lockwood and the dashing Michael Redgrave as bickering strangers who investigate a disappearance on a moving train, fighting Nazis and falling desperately in love in the process. It's a real gem.
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If You're Feeling... Dancy
Watch: Strictly Ballroom (1992)
Before director Baz Luhrmann lost his mind in extravagant love stories like Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge, he directed this innocent and captivating tale of a star ballroom dancer (Paul Mercurio) who trains a spirited wallflower (Tara Morice) to be his partner after he falls from grace. It's inspiring, sweet, romantic and full of fantastic dance routines.
Already Seen It?
What the heck, you might as well watch Grease (1979) for the millionth time.
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If You're Feeling... Frilly
Watch: Emma (1996)
In the mood for something old-fashioned, with poofy dresses and men who make stubbornness sexy? Douglas McGrath's witty adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma is a great bet. Gwyneth Paltrow stars as a wily debutante who's not as great a matchmaker as she thinks she is. If that seems familiar, it's because it was adapted from the some novel as the 1995 comedy Clueless, which is also on Netflix. Make it a double feature!
Already Seen It?
There are a couple of great adaptations of Charlotte Bronte's gothic romance Jane Eyre on Netflix. The 2011 version with Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska is perfectly decent, but the 1944 version with Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine is still the best.
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If You're Feeling... Mature
Watch: Don Jon (2013)
Most movies like to emphasize the fantasy of romance instead of the real-life consequences of giving your heart to another. Don Jon, written and directed by and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is a surprisingly good movie of the second kind. Levitt stars as a shallow, pornography-addicted lothario who thinks he's found the perfect woman in the foxy Scarlett Johansson, but it turns out they both have a lot to learn about not treating real life like a movie.
Already Seen It?
Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977) remains as wry and insightful as ever. Allen stars as a comedian whose relationship with a charming spitfire played by Diane Keaton goes through ups, downs and lobster attacks. And in the end, he boils every love affair you've ever had down to one, single, brilliant joke.
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If You're Feeling... Nostalgic
Watch: Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)
If you were a 1990s kid, you probably remember Andy Tennant's Ever After as the revisionist retelling of Cinderella starring Drew Barrymore as a precocious feminist who refuses to be dominated but who wants to fall in love as much as anybody. It's a silly film in a lot of ways, but it's just as infectiously sweet as you remember.
Already Seen It?
Robert Iscove's 1999 Pygmalion riff She's All That isn't as good as you remember, if you remember it being good at all, but it's one of those movies that sends you rocketing back to high school, and the rom-com clichés are so on the nose that it's practically an ironic treat.
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If You're Feeling... Retro
Watch: Say Anything... (1989)
Want to go back further than the 1990s for a nostalgic romance? Cameron Crowe's sincere, funny and lovable Say Anything... still holds up. John Cusack stars as a recently graduated high school slacker who falls in love with the valedictorian, played by Ione Skye. Will their different life goals pull them apart? Will serenading someone with a boom box ever get old?
Already Seen It?
Howard Deutch's Pretty in Pink (1986), from a script by 1980s teen pop poet John Hughes, stills crackles with fun characters and adolescent energy. Working class Molly Ringwald thinks she's found love with the hunky rich kid Andrew McCarthy, while her adorable best friend Jon Cryer steals the movie with his puppy dog eyes and spontaneous lip synch rendition of "Try a Little Tenderness."
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If You're Feeling... Steamy
Watch: Kiss of the Damned (2012)
Want a little something to get you going? Well, are you feeling kinky? Xan Cassavetes' Eurosleazy vampire love affair Kiss of the Damned stars the red hot Josephine de La Baume as a vampire who can't control her lust for Milo Ventigmilia, who in turn can't resist her voracious appetites... and he doesn't want to. Kiss of the Damned is dripping in sexuality, and when our heroine's feisty sister Roxane Mesquida shows up, it only gets crazier.
Already Seen It?
Let's just say that Julio Medem's Sex and Lucia (2001) is VERY aptly titled. It's an erotic tale of an author who... oh, who cares what it's about? It's hot as hell.
