Words and Graphic by Nozomi Shima PZ ’25

You’ve probably seen the classics: “When Harry Met Sally,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” “10 Things I Hate About You,” and all mainstream films of the like. Boy meets girl; they fall in love; miscommunications and adventures ensue before they ultimately find their way back to each other. The rom-com reigned in the 1990s—the golden age filled our screens with hot people in New York balancing their careers and their romantic escapades. In the following decades, superheroes have replaced meet-cutes and the genre saw a decline. There were some attempts at a revival with movies like “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Love, Simon” adding some much-needed representation and others like “(500) Days of Summer” and “Scott Pilgrim vs the World” twisting the conventions of the genre, but I’d argue that some of the recent greats just haven’t been appreciated as such. This Valentine’s season, I want to highlight some of my favorite 21st century rom-coms that deserve to be a bigger part of the conversation. 

Palm Springs

I’ve loved Andy Samberg since he portrayed the lovable Detective Jake Peralta in “Brooklyn 99” and revolutionized SNL’s digital shorts. Around the same time, Cristin Milioti won my heart as the long-awaited titular mother in “How I Met Your Mother,” with witty and warm banter that made me believe in soulmate-ism. So, the two of them in a rom-com, my favorite genre, made a delicious recipe. 

Samberg plays nihilistic Nyles, the bored boyfriend of a bridesmaid at a Palm Springs wedding. His freewill attitude is explained when he meets Milioti’s Sarah, the sister of the maid of honor; he is stuck in a time loop, waking up the morning of the wedding no matter what he does to stop it. That night, Sarah gets stuck with him, setting her on a series of attempts to break the cycle without understanding the rules of whatever force trapped them. When her attempts prove futile, the two of them succumb to their fate and find companionship in the explorations of their infinite time glitch. With supernatural conventions of quantum physics mixed with surprisingly deep searches for the meaning of life, “Palm Springs” is a refreshing comedy led magnetically by Samberg and Milioti’s strong on-screen romantic camaraderie. 

Bend It Like Beckham

Before Kiera Knightly wore a funky hat in “Love Actually” and Parminder Nagra was Anne Hathaway’s childhood best friend in “Ella Enchanted,” the two of them starred in the pivotal sports flick “Bend It Like Beckham.” Maybe you watched it with your elementary school soccer team to build morale, but I believe it deserves a revisiting, or a long overdue first watch. 

The movie follows Jess, short for Jesminder, a Punjabi teenager in London balancing her lifelong love for “football” (soccer) and her strict cultural expectations. Opting to pray to her poster of David Beckham instead of Guru Nanak, buying cleats instead of proper shoes for her sister’s wedding, and secretly joining a local girls’ soccer team instead of getting a summer job, Jess is not exactly following her parents’ desired path to becoming a dutiful Indian wife and successful solicitor. The optics of her growing friendship with Jules, a (white) member of the soccer team, and a bubbling forbidden romance with her (white) coach, Joe, don’t make her situation any better. The romantic pairing in this movie is technically Jess and Joe, but I regard that as a subplot compared to the close bond formed between Jess and Jules. Through montages of shopping in the London high streets and motivating each other on the pitch, the two friendsthe two friends become a power duo on the team, even inspiring lesbian allegations. “Bend It Like Beckham” is a timeless teen sports flick, bettered by its hilarious one-liners uttered in severely British accents, colorful representation of the British Sikh community, and homoerotic “friendship.” 

Set It Up

Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell lead with chemistry and charisma in my favorite rom-com of the last decade. Playing the assistants of two corporate powerhouses, they scheme to “Parent Trap” their high-strung bosses (Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs) together to loosen their tyrannical treatment. Both feeling stuck and underappreciated in their positions with dwindling hope for promotions, Harper (Deutch) and Charlie (Powell) conspire throughout the streets of Manhattan and struggle with the moral implications as the puppeteers of their bosses’ new relationship.

The movie isn’t particularly original or unpredictable, but it hearkens back to the classic ‘90s New York City rom-coms of the golden era. The soundtrack is great, there are quotable moments, contentious struggles between passion and career advancement, and even a classic airport scene. It also avoids the annoying clichés of unrequited pining or genuinely immoral love interests, maintaining a classic rom-com vibe with a modern (but not overly Gen-Z-ified) take. 

I’ve watched “Set It Up” at least seven times since its release in 2018, and will probably rewatch it until my demise. It’s not necessarily groundbreaking, but it’s a really solid new-age rom-com with a well-earned romance, chock full of cute quips and heartwarming moments (and Glen Powell, if you’re into that).