Romance Movies

One of the most clearly defined movies genres, the romance film has often been pegged as the most predictable genre with the tried and tested “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back and they live happily ever after" plotlines. Many people actually write off romance movies simply as chick flicks or soppy movies for middle aged women but as many of the classics show, this is not the case with a quality romance movie combining all the drama and suspense of any other genre.

When it comes to defining romance movies, there are several factors that should be present to qualify it as such. These include a central couple with some sort of relationship, whether it is a troubled relationship, unrequited love, a chance meeting or complicated romance.

Essentially, romance movies will have a component that really plays to the emotions of the audience, whether it is the death of a principle character or the separation of the central couple.

While there are a number of classics that fall into this category, mainly from the 1940’s and 1950’s, there has always been an audience demand for such movies with some of the latest being box office smashes.

The most successful romance movie of all time was Titanic (1997), a film which broke all box office records and grossed a massive $1.8 billion worldwide.

Examples of an Romance movie is The Bachelor, which is also under the Comedy genre and Amélie:

Other names

The term Chick flick is often associated with romance films as many are targeted to a female audience. Although many romance films may be targeted at women, this is not a defining characteristic of a romance film and a Chick Flick does not necessarily have a romance as a central theme, revolve around the romantic involvement of characters or even contain a romantic relationship. As such, the terms cannot be used interchangeably.

Copyright: This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Romance film".