New Feature: In High Fidelity, the character Barry comes into the record shop with a Monday Morning mixtape and asks the guys to name their Top 5 Songs to Listen to on a Monday Morning. In honor of their Monday Morning Top 5 List, I'm going to start posting my own Top 5's on Mondays. And this is the first one!
I noticed recently that a lot of my favorite chick flick/romance movies involve a road trip. Maybe it's because I love road trips but never get to go on them. Or maybe it's the antics that go along with trying to be romantic in a car. Either way, I like them, and these are my Top 5. Enjoy!
5. Possession (2002)
I just watched this movie for the first time last week, but I really liked it - and it's the film that inspired the topic for this list, so I figured I would include it! It stars Gwenyth Paltrow and Aaron Eckart as two literary buffs tracking down clues that could connect two poets and change history. He's an American studying in England, where he meets her, and they end up traveling to France together to unlock the mystery. As an English major who loves London, this was right up my alley. I don't know why it isn't more popular.
4. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Much like my #1 choice (which we'll get to later), the main characters of this movie met when traveling during college. And much like all of the other movies on this list, the characters hate each other at the beginning of the movie and fall in love by the end. Then again, it wouldn't be a romantic comedy they didn't, now would it? There are so many things to like about this movie - Harry and Sally's banter, the stories of the cute couples, their best friends, the infamous deli scene. If you don't like When Harry Met Sally then we can't be friends.
3. It Happened One Night (1934)
This is the granddaddy of romantic comedy road trips. It's about a rich woman played by Claudette Colbert who runs away from home and is taken care of by reporter Clark Gable who is hoping to return her and collect the reward money. Of course, hilarity ensues, and the two fall in love by the end of the film. My favorite scene is when they hang up a blanket to divide the cabin they are staying in together, and refer to it as "The Wall of Jericho" because nothing is going to bring it down. I miss movies where romance didn't mean a sex scene.
2. Anastasia (1997)
I've liked this movie since it came out in the 90s. The fictional story about finding the Romanoff princess alive in an orphanage follows Anastasia and Demitiri from Russia to Paris in the 1920s. They nearly die on a train, and on a boat, and just about every other mode of transportation they try to take; but even that doesn't stop there from being a romance. I don't care that it's animated, it still counts in my book. Besides, it has some fantastic original songs.
1. The Sure Thing (1985)
I adore this movie. I first saw it my freshman year of college when it was playing on the TV Guide channel and I was stuck on campus for the weekend. Which is fitting, as it's about two college freshman who are traveling to California together to meet other people for Christmas break. You already know that I'm a Cusack fan, but 80s teen flick Cusack is my favorite. And as much as I love Lloyd Dobbler, I just might like Walter Gibson better. They have to survive running out of money, show tunes, and a terrible party in CA. Who cares that this film is older than I am? it's still one of my favorites of all time.
(Fun Fact: Two of these films were directed by Rob Reiner, two star John Cusack, and two star Meg Ryan!)
