Fansided

25 of the most swoon-worthy romance movies of all time

By Amy Kaplan

Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles at swing in a scene from the film '10 Things I Hate About You', 1999. (Photo by Buena Vista/Getty Images)
Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles at swing in a scene from the film '10 Things I Hate About You', 1999. (Photo by Buena Vista/Getty Images) /
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Moonstruck

Cher… ’nuff said.

Okay, okay, so there’s more to say, but really after Cher, who cares right?

This love story is another unconventional one, and it even earned Cher an Oscar for Best Actress for her performance. The film also won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress.

Moonstruck tells the story of an Italian-American widow Loretta (Cher) who accepts a marriage proposal from her idiotic boyfriend, Johnny (Danny Aiello) but then finds herself falling for his younger brother, Ronny (Nicolas Cage). She tries to resist, but Ronny (who lost his hand in an accident he blames on his brother) has no scruples about pursuing her while his brother is away. As Loretta falls deeper in love, she comes to learn that she’s not the only one in her family with a secret romance.

You may not have seen the movie (I’ve only seen it once) but you’ll remember the famous scene where Ronny tells Loretta he’s in love with her and Loretta slaps him twice and yells, “Snap out of it.” Classic.

Roger Ebert probably said it best, “Reviews of the movie tend to make it sound like a madcap ethnic comedy, and that it is. But there is something more here, a certain bittersweet yearning that comes across as ineffably romantic, and a certain magical quality.”

And no one but Cher could have pulled that off.

Fun Fact:  The film grossed $80 million in the box office, making it the fifth highest grossing movie of 1987.

Release date: December 16, 1987