8 Fun New Rom-Coms to Watch This Summer

Put a smile on your face (and hope in your heart) with these charming comedies

Nicholas DeRenzo,

Updated July 08, 2025

AARP

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En español

Published May 09, 2023

/ Updated July 08, 2025

dakota johnson and pedro pascal sharing an intimate moment while dancing

Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal in ‘Materialists’

A24

Never doubt the almighty rom-com! Despite the box-office domination of superhero franchises and horror films, love (onscreen) never dies, and recent charmers with A-listers like Reese Witherspoon, 49, and Renée Zellweger, 56, prove the genre’s staying power. This year, a whole new crop of romantic comedies is popping up on screens big and little. Here are eight new fizzy bits of film fun, most of which you can watch at home on streaming services.

Picture This

The premise: In this British rom-com, Simone Ashley (Kate from Bridgerton) stars as Pia, a struggling portrait photographer whose mother tells her that she must get married to access her family’s heirloom jewelry. Before her sister’s big Indian wedding, Pia meets with a spiritual guru who predicts that she’ll find her soulmate within her next five dates. As she begins to meet new men during increasingly bad outings — hello, flat earther — her high school ex Charlie (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) returns to shake things up.

Check it out if you like: Jane Austen novels about the pressure to get married and big family ensemble comedies like My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Watch it: Prime Video

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

The premise: The fourth film in the Bridget Jones franchise was released more than two decades after the first movie debuted in 2001, and it sees our plucky heroine dealing with grief and re-entering the dating world. When her husband Mark Darcy (Colin Firth, 64) is killed on a humanitarian mission, Bridget (Zellweger, 56) seeks the support of her ex-boyfriend Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, 64). Along the way, she meets a 29-year-old park ranger (Leo Woodall) on a dating app, while also getting closer to a science teacher at her son’s school (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Although it received a cinema release in the U.K., it streamed exclusively on Peacock in the States and is expected to make a splash at this year’s Emmys.

Check it out if you like: HBO’s Sex and the City revival series And Just Like That …, which covers similar themes.

Watch it: Peacock

Don’t miss this: Julia Roberts’ Best Rom-Com Roles, Ranked!

You’re Cordially Invited

The premise: Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller knows a thing or two about the rom-com genre, and for his latest film, he assembled an unstoppable comedy duo: Will Ferrell, 57, and Reese Witherspoon. Atlanta widower Jim Caldwell (Ferrell) plans his daughter’s wedding at a small Georgia inn, only to find out upon arrival that the place has been double-booked: L.A. TV executive Margot Buckley (Witherspoon) has planned her sister’s wedding for the exact same day. Bickering, booze, and bad behavior eventually give way to sweetness and sentimentality, and if you’ve seen a rom-com before, you can probably tell where this film is leading from a mile away — but it’s still hilarious to go along for the ride.

Check it out if you like: Classic screwball comedies with a little more raunch and adult language.

Watch it: Prime Video

La Dolce Villa

The premise: When 24-year-old American woman Olivia (Maia Reficco) heads to Italy to spend her inheritance money on rebuilding a crumbling villa, it raises alarm bells for her cautious businessman father, Eric (Scandal star Scott Foley, 52). He flies to meet her in Tuscany, and as they tour potential properties, they meet up with Francesca (Violante Placido), the mayor of a town called Montezara that is selling old villas for 1 euro. She’s also a widow, and romance begins to develop between Eric and Francesca, as they explore the Italian countryside on wanderlust-inspiring outings together. The film comes from Mark Waters, who directed Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, and it’s a grownup story that will make you want to book a flight.

Check it out if you like: Home-reno Hallmark Channel movies (there are a lot!) and Italy-set romances like Under the Tuscan Sun.

Watch it: Netflix

Don’t miss this: 13 Great Rom-Coms Starring Older Actors

The Wedding Banquet

The premise: Ang Lee, 70, directed a seminal 1993 rom-com of the same name about a bisexual Taiwanese immigrant who marries a woman to get a U.S. green card and then has to hide the truth when his parents arrive to plan the big day. This contemporary remake from Fire Island director Andrew Ahn focuses on a lesbian couple, Angela (Star Wars breakout Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone) who is trying for a baby through IVF, and Angela’s BFF Chris (SNL’s Bowen Yang), who lives in the garage with his boyfriend Min (Han Gi-chan). They hatch a plan that involves trading a green-card marriage for the funds to pay for more fertility treatments — which becomes even more complicated when Min’s grandmother, played by Minari Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung, 78, arrives from Korea.

Check it out if you like: Culture-clash rom-coms like Crazy Rich Asians, plus The Birdcage.

Watch it: Prime Video or Apple TV

Kinda Pregnant

The premise: Amy Schumer stars as Lainy, a teacher who begins to deal with jealousy when her friend and coworker get pregnant at the same time. When she jokingly puts on a fake baby bump at a maternity clothing store, she loves the attention and well wishes she receives from strangers. Lainy decides to keep up the deception, and in the process, kicks off a connection with her friend’s brother, played by Saturday Night Live alum Will Forte, 55. The film’s cast includes other comedy figures you might recognize, such as Jillian Bell, Alex Moffat, Dave Attell, and Damon Wayans Jr.

Check it out if you like: Other rom-coms where romance is born from deceit, such as While You Were Sleeping and She’s the Man.

Watch it: Netflix

A Nice Indian Boy

The premise: This charming rom-com stars Karan Soni (who you might recognize from the Deadpool films) as an Indian-American doctor, Naveen, who meets a white photographer, Jay (Tony-winning Broadway star Jonathan Groff), at a Hindu temple. The surprising part? Jay’s late adoptive parents were Indian immigrants, so he’s also entrenched in South Asian culture. Despite their personality differences, Jay and Naveen quickly fall in love, but their burgeoning relationship faces a test when Naveen takes his new fiancé home to meet his family. Comedy fans might recognize Naveen’s mother, who’s played by the up-and-coming standup comedian Zarna Garg, 50, in her first film role.

Check it out if you like: Meet the Parents and other comedies about bringing home a significant other.

Watch it: Apple TV+ or YouTube

Materialists

The premise: Director Celine Song’s follow-up to her acclaimed debut Past Lives straddles the line between a romantic-comedy and a subversive twist on the genre. Actress-turned-matchmaker Lucy (Dakota Johnson) relies on quantitative data to pair up her high-roller clients in a plan that might be thought of as romantic Moneyball. But will her own methodology work when she faces two potential love interests? Lucy finds herself in a love triangle with one that looks great on paper, a mega-rich financier (Pedro Pascal, 50), and her struggling actor ex (Chris Evans).

Check it out if you like: Love-triangle romances like The Notebook, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Challengers, which was written by Song’s husband Justin Kuritzkes.

Watch it: In theaters

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Nicholas DeRenzo is a contributing writer who covers entertainment and travel. Previously he was executive editor of United Airlines’ Hemispheres magazine and his work has appeared in the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Sunset and New York magazine.