The rom-com renaissance is continuing in 2023 — and there’s plenty of stories to keep an eye out for this year… By Love is in the air
Keeley Ryan
With Cameron Diaz ‘unretiring’ and Julia Roberts returning to the silver screen, it felt like 2022 was bringing about the rom-com renaissance And it is set to continue on this year, with plenty of romantic tales hitting the silver screen. From rom-coms making the leap from the page to the screen to friends-to-lovers; action-packed wedding ceremonies to tennis player love triangles, here are some of the romantic films you won’t want to miss this year…
Shotgun Wedding, which hit Prime Video yesterday (January 27), takes ’Til Death Do Us Part to a whole different level.
Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel star as Darcy and John, who gather their lovable — and very, very opinionated — families together in the Philippines for the ultimate destination wedding.
There’s just one problem: both of them are getting cold feet.
And to make things even more complicated, everyone’s lives end up in danger when the entire wedding party is taken hostage — and Darcy and Tom have to save their loved ones. Provided they don’t kill each other first!
Jennifer told how she channeled her “inner Lucile Ball”for the action-packed romantic comedy — and praised her co-stars on the film.
She said,“i couldn’t have gotten luckier to have the most amazing leading man who could do the comedy, do the action, and really nail the emotional stuff.
“We always said, it was Josh’s line to me on our first call that we did, it was like, if people don’t believe us together, none of this works.
“It was one of those things where everything came together.
“And then we had this really big expensive supporting cast, amazing stars and comedians that were supporting us.”
And on February 10,Your Place Or Mine — starring Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher — lands on Netflix.
It follows Debbie and Peter, best pals who are total opposites. She craves routine with her son in Los Angeles, while he’s all about change — and is based out of NYC.
The pair decided to swap houses and lives for a week in an effort to shake things up, but soon discover that what they want might not be what they actually need.
Somebody I Used To Know is the latest collaboration between Alison Brie and her real-life husband, Dave Franco.
The pair co-wrote the film, with Dave serving as director.
The GLOW stars Ally, a workaholic TV producer who returns back to her hometown after losing her job. While there, she ends up reconnecting with her first love, Sean — who is engaged to the perfect woman, Cassidy. Cassidy reminds Ally of the kind of person that she used to be, as well as the kind of person she could perhaps become.
Jay Ellis plays Sean, while
Kiersey Clemons plays Cassidy. Haley Joel Osment, Danny
Pudi, Julie Hagerty and Amy Sedaris also star in the film. Channing Tatum’s Mike Lane is back for one last dance next month (February 10) as Magic Mike’s Last Dance hits cinemas.
The film also stars
Salma Hayek Pinhault, Ayub Khan Din, Jemelia George, Juliette Motamed andvicki Pepperdine. This time around, the movie finds ‘Magic’ Mike taking to the stage again after a long hiatus, following a bad business deal that left him broke.
For one last hurrah, Mike decides to head to London with a wealthy socialite after she gives him an offer he can’t refuse. But it turns out she’s got an agenda all of her own.
Everything is on the line once again — and once
Mike finds out what she’s really up to, will he and the cast of new dancers,
“I want dancing like we’ve never been able to do in the other two movies...”
She’s a nerd, which I loved playing. But she’s a sweetheart. She’s kind of naive, and she keeps it that way because her head is always focused on writing and stuff. She’s more of a shy girl, very different from Sierra.”
The 36-year-old also shared what it was like filming the romcom in Ireland.
She said,“it was great! My little brother came with me. He’s also in Irish Wish. It was just special to go back to a place where you have history from, and I’ve never been there before. It’s just so beautiful to film (there).
I’m really excited for people to see it. It’s a different movie, but it’s really good.”
Meg Ryan, the queen of romantic comedies, will be returning to the genre with What Happens Later.
She will be starring in and directing the film, which is due to be released later this year. David Duchovny is also set to star in the film.
The“evolved and nostalgic”romantic comedy follows exes Willa and Bill, who see each other for the first time in years when they both end up snowed in at an airport overnight.
As the snow falls and the night goes on, the pair find themselves drawn together — and revisit their past of the what could have been, the should have been and the could be’s again.
Casey Mcquiston’s Red, White & Royal
Blue is heading from the page to the screen on Prime Video.
Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar
Perez lead the film as Prince Henry and Alex Claremont-diaz respectively. Sarah Shahi, Elli Bamber, Stephen Fry and Uma Thurman also star in the film.
The story follows Alex who, after his mother is elected as the President of the United States, becomes the US equivalent of a young royal.
He’s handsome, charismatic, and basically the marketing dream for the White House. There’s just one problem: he’s also got a long-running feud with Prince Henry, his royal counterpart across the pond.
And when a photo of an altercation between the two leaks, it causes even more trouble. Heads of the family, state, and other various handlers come up with a plan to fix the situation by staging a friendship and a truce between the two of them.
But the friendship soon turns into something more — and something that could upend.
No release date has been set just yet, but based off the production schedule, many fans suspect it could be landing on Primevideo this year. ■