In the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, the GOAT team wants to know: what’s the most classic romantic comedy of all time?
We narrowed down the pool of iconic romcoms to 16 unassailable classics. (NB: To make this near-impossible task easier, we’ve excluded a few subcategories, like teen romcoms, Christmas romcoms, and zomromcoms.)
They’ll be knocked out one by one, March Madness-style, until only one remains.
The Lakers were really rooting for Sleepless in Seattle. Sorry, boys.
Head to our Facebook page or follow the links below to vote in the daily polls – each one goes up at 11am, and lasts 24 hours.
Here’s the full list of the final 16, as well as the matchups to come.
Check back to see if your favourite film was the handsome jerk who got a drink thrown in his face, or the humble everydude who got the happily ever after.
(Spoiler alert: tap here to skip to the final result!)
Round 1: Sleepless In Seattle v Crazy Stupid Love
Result: Crazy Stupid Love (56%)
An upset straight out of the gate: one of the most classic romcoms of all time, the one that made Meg Ryan the queen of the genre, got taken out by the one with Ryan Gosling’s abs.
Actually, that kind of scans. Onward.
Round 2: When Harry Met Sally v Knocked Up
Result: When Harry Met Sally (53%)
A close one! But another Meg Ryan classic made it through, despite strong opposition from the movie that made you ask yourself: “Would I bang Seth Rogen?”
Round 3: The Wedding Singer v 27 Dresses
Result: The Wedding Singer (67%)
How else could it have gone down for the film that brought us Julia Goolia, “church tongue” and ‘Somebody Kill Me’?
Round 4: Notting Hill v Bridget Jones’ Diary
Result: Notting Hill (51%)
They were just two movies, set in a poll asking you which was better and you went with bumbling Hugh Grant over douchey Hugh Grant.
Round 5: My Best Friend’s Wedding v Runaway Bride
Result: My Best Friend’s Wedding (75%)
A crushing victory for Rupert Everett.
Round 6: Never Been Kissed v You’ve Got Mail
Result: Never Been Kissed (53%)
Both sweet and charming classics! Both kind of icky if you think too hard about how much lying is involved!
And with that, both Meg Ryan/Tom Hanks classics are knocked out in the first round!
Round 7: Sweet Home Alabama v Suddenly 30
Result: Sweet Home Alabama (63%)
Don’t you hate it when you have a thriving career but realise that having a man being true to yourself is way more important?
Not even the Ariana factor could get Suddenly 30 over the line here.
Round 8: The Proposal v How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days
Result: How To Lose A Guy (55%)
The love fern survives!
Round 9 (Quarter-Final 1): Crazy Stupid Love v When Harry Met Sally
AKA Gosling’s abs v Carrie Fisher’s best role. An impossible choice – and our first ever 50/50 tied vote on Facebook.
So we took it to Instagram for a tiebreaker, and the Gos-abs won out, 59% to 41%.
Just saying.
Round 10 (Quarter-Final 2): The Wedding Singer v Notting Hill
TFW you’re just a boy, singing to a girl on an airplane, asking her to dump her douchebag fiance…
And the voters dumped Notting Hill by the slimmest of margins – 0.5% – leaving The Wedding Singer to sing another day.
Round 11 (Quarter-Final 3): My Best Friend’s Wedding v Never Been Kissed
Battle of the ethics-free journalists! Julia may have lost the guy, but she also lost the vote: Josie Grossy won with 53%.
Round 12 (Quarter-Final 4): Sweet Home Alabama v How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days
A sassy blonde and a drawling, stubbly hunk v a sassy blonde and a drawling, stubbly hunk?
It was less of a contest than you’d think: How To Lose A Guy won out 60% to 40%, just like Kate in that game of Bulls**t.
#couplegoals
Round 13 (Semi-Final 1): Never Been Kissed v How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days
Josie Grossy’s pink prom frock was no match for that yellow silk dress: How To Lose A Guy won 60% to 40%, again.
So unlike romcoms to be repetitive and predictable!
Round 14 (Semi-Final 2): Crazy Stupid Love v The Wedding Singer
Result: The Wedding Singer took out the newest film on the list, 58% to 42%.
Round 15 (Grand Final): The Wedding Singer v How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days
Here we are: a sweet, retro almost-musical with a killer soundtrack, up against one of the most perfectly executed high-concept romcoms of the 00s.
And the winner was….
With the close-but-not-that-close margin of 55% to 45%, The Wedding Singer is your favourite romcom!
While we hope all the HTLAGI10D fans are alright alright alright, we’re sure McConaughey’s mad about it. But hey – you’ve got time to watch both tonight, right?
Thanks for following The Greatest Love Of All!
Stay tuned to the GOAT Facebook and Insta page for our next movie madness, coming soon to a phone near you…