What is the best British rom-com of all time?
Is the British rom-com enjoying a new lease of life? Not only did the romantic comedy Rye Lane earn a Bafta nomination for ‘Outstanding British Film’ last year, but now a new Bridget Jones movie has arrived. While we can’t say for certain that Britain will ever produce a string of rom-coms as enduring and simply iconic as those released in the late ’90s and early 2000s, it’s safe to say that the genre is one that has never really gone away.
There’s an innate charm to the kinds of films that encourage us to give in cliches and indulge in fairytale romances – or perhaps ones filled with countless twists and turns. You can sit back and watch the drama unfold in someone else’s life, where love triangles, mixed messages, complicated one-night stands, and soul-destroying crushes are not your problems to worry about. Add in a stereotypically British love interest (the kind that does not exist in real life) and images of bustling London streets or the quaint English countryside, and you’re onto a winner.
While many American rom-coms have found great success, it often feels like the British rom-com exists as a whole sub-genre of its own. However, It didn’t become a massive phenomenon until the ‘90s, with British rom-coms appearing sporadically throughout the previous decades and rarely subscribing to what we would recognise as the quintessential British romantic comedy template.
Movies like It Happened in Paris, Lilies of the Field, and Love at Second Sight are some examples of ‘30s-era British romantic comedies, but they don’t exactly fit the rom-com bill as we now know it. The ‘50s and the ‘60s boasted their fair share of romantic-themed comedies, such as The Knack…And How To Get It and Bedazzled, but if we’re picking the best British rom-com of all time, it needs to be something a little more universally beloved.
So, what makes a British rom-com so good? And which is the best? For starters, these movies have wide appeal because they give an incredibly romanticized view of British life, usually focusing their lens on posh characters with no real struggles outside of their personal bubbles – even if, like Bridget Jones, they act like they’re incredibly hard done by. There’s just something about the pre-social media British rom-com, where characters dial 1471 to see if someone has called, use massive computers, and dress in impossibly chic yet effortless outfits that have kept us coming back to them.
There’s a weird sense of nostalgia and whimsy to them, even if the audience never experienced British life during this time for themselves. But, out of movies like Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones’s Diary, The Holiday, and Notting Hill, which is the definitive British rom-com? It has to be the latter. Notting Hill is the right amount of heartfelt, predictable, funny, and British to work perfectly – even if Grant is in full bumbling British heartthrob mode here. It ticks all the boxes – A couple trying to make a relationship work despite their wildly different lifestyles, a charming friendship group, a strange yet loveable best friend, and, of course, Hugh Grant.
The film follows the sensitive and introverted William as he meets Anna, played by Julia Roberts. He’s just a normal bookseller in Notting Hill, while she’s a world-famous actor – how could this possibly work? Yet, as she becomes acquainted with his lovely friends and revels in the chance to escape the intensity of Hollywood, she finds a real sense of peace and happiness with William. Naturally, there are several challenges that stop them from having a plain-sailing relationship, but in the end, unsurprisingly, it all works out for the pair.
It’s a fun film, laced with British humour but also full of those Hollywood cliches that make rom-coms such a divisive genre. Yet, at the end of the day, you’re probably just a bit miserable if you don’t want to indulge in a film as cosy and romantic as Notting Hill, which suggests that what is all boils down to is love – that’s what keeps us going.
