Movies On Netflix Right Now That'll Give You The Feels

In the 1993 Nora Ephron film Sleepless in Seattle there's a memorable scene during which Rita Wilson's character tearfully explains the plot of An Affair to Remember. At dinner with friends, she emotes over the climactic ending when Cary Grant's character, Nickie, understands why Deborah Kerr's Terry never showed up at the top of the Empire State building. Rita was exhibiting what's become known as getting "all the feels." It's the tears of joy when Darius and Nina kiss in the rain at the end of Love Jones. It's Jerry McGuire's definitive "You complete me." It's Lloyd Dobler being cemented into romantic movie history when he holds up the boombox, playing the song he and Diane Court first made love to. And, at times, it's the sadness of a beloved character's passing. Emma's wave goodbye to her mother in Term of Endearment. M'Lynn's sobbing rage after her daughter's funeral in Steel Magnolias. Fortunately for moviegoers who love getting all the feels, Netflix is stocked with tearjerkers. Here are some of the mushy movies now streaming.

Nicholas Sparks novels have become a staple in the world of romantic film adaptations. From the 2004 hit The Notebook and 2008's Nights in Rodanthe, audiences love to read, watch, and soak their pillows to his stories. Dear John premiered in 2010, oozing romantic drama feels in the very first scene. Hunky and mysterious John, played by Channing Tatum, watches a group of silly spring breakers on the pier. The pretty blonde Savannah, played by Amanda Seyfried, accidentally drops her bag in the water. A boy in the group — who longs for her affection — runs down to the water to get the bag, but is intercepted by a shirtless John, who dives in, retrieves the bag, and walks it directly to her. They lock eyes and lock in all the feels. Like many Nicholas Sparks stories, the couple separate and, over time, come back together, all the while keeping moviegoers swooning.

The Half of It is a 2020 Netflix original with a ton of soul. Written and directed by Alice Wu, the teen rom-com is a modern take on the classic Cyrano de Bergerac story. In the '80s the movie Roxanne also updated the story, right down to the elongated nose of the main character, played by Steve Martin. But in The Half of It, an elongated nose isn't what makes the protagonist feel out of place: Ellie Chu is a Chinese-American school nerd, living in a small town with her father, a train engineer, who doesn't speak English well enough to land a better job. Ellie is also gay. When an awkward jock named Paul decides he's in love with Aster, the well-rounded pretty girl, he hires Ellie to help him express his affections through letters and text messages. Ellie has made a lucrative business of writing papers for her classmates, so she doesn't think much of the task. But when Ellie develops romantic feelings for Aster, damaging her new friendship with Paul, all the complicated feels ooze in a really compelling way. Leah Lewis is disarming as Ellie Chu. Her soft raspy voice is poetic and sweet as she instructs Daniel Diemer's Paul on the path of intellectual love. No stranger to Asian-American queer love stories, Alice Wu also wrote and directed the 2004 rom-com Saving Face.

Although the movie is a glimpse of the same day every year, the 2011 tearjerker One Day is no Groundhog Day. On the same day every year, the movie makes audiences yearn for the moment when Dexter and Emma will finally settle into a romantic relationship. After stumbling into an unconsummated hookup in college, the pair ultimately become good friends who always seem to be on the brink of love. Fate is never on their side, as they endure marriage, divorce, and substance abuse. Anne Hathaway's Emma is smart and loyal in her devotion to Jim Sturgess' Dexter — but she's as loyal to her staunch feminism, which doesn't allow her to be swept up in his drama. The beautiful landscapes of several European countries add to the bittersweet emotion of this film. Without dropping spoilers, all the feels hit heavy, so keep the tissues close.

Since her 2015 Golden Globe win for Best Actress in a Television Comedy for Jane the Virgin, Gina Rodriguez has been pretty versatile in her film roles. She was the tough soldier Anya in 2018's Annihilation, and the unassuming makeup artist Gloria in 2019's Miss Bala. In 2019 she also starred in the Netflix original romcom Someone Great. Playing Jenny Young, Rodriguez suffers through her break up with longtime boyfriend Nate, played by the super talented LaKeith Stanfield. She's leaving NYC for an exciting new career, but can't seem to move past the heavy emotions of her broken heart. Her best friends step in to give her one last night of partying, but running into her ex — who's not as emotionally distraught over the breakup — kills her fun. She wanders the city in deep introspection about her past and her future, ultimately coming to terms with how to move on.

Richard Curtis has mastered the secret sauce recipe for a successful romantic comedy. Over the years he's cooked up all the feels in hits like 2003's Love Actually, 1999's Notting Hill, and 1994's Four Weddings and a Funeral. Full of wit, charm and dry British humor, his films possess a heartfelt sincerity that leave a lasting impression on millions of moviegoers. 

Adding a bit of fantasy to his sauce, Curtis wrote and directed 2013's About Time. Domhnall Gleeson stars as Tim, an awkward man whose father rocks his world on his 21st birthday by explaining an extraordinary family secret. Like his father, Tim is able to travel through time, changing the events of his life. When he falls in love with Mary, played by romcom fave Rachel McAdams, this newfound ability seems to be working in his favor — but his powers can be trickier than he's often able to understand at first, and even backfire, often taking his life to some tragic places. Don't worry, though: in the end, Curtis' protagonists always redeem themselves and their circumstances, leaving audiences with all the feels.

Can two people amicably divorce? 2019's Marriage Story attempts to answer that question by taking the audience deep into the end of Charlie and Nicole's marriage. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson play the artsy couple on the brink of a tumultuous dissolution. Raising their son Henry in New York, the actor and theater director are seemingly happy, but Charlie has made several hurtful mistakes and Nicole wants out. She moves across the country to Los Angeles, which puts an emotional, logistical, and financial burden on Charlie. Charlie breaks down after a lengthy, vicious argument with Nicole, and later belts out a bittersweet show tune in a bar. Noah Baumbach brilliantly wrote and directed this semi-autobiographical movie, which earned several Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations.

Before Gwyneth Paltrow was the busy Goop CEO, she regularly oozed all the feels as an A-list actor. The Academy Award winner starred in Country Strong as Kelly Canter, a damaged country music star trying to make a comeback after another stint in rehab. Kelly's emotional scars are too deep for her manager husband James to repair, so a young musician named Beau supports her wounded soul. Paltrow showed off her singing chops in the 2010 film, written and directed by Shana Feste. For the role of Beau, the director auditioned Garrett Hedlund in a karaoke bar to ease his nerves. Country music star Tim McGraw plays Kelly's husband, but doesn't perform in the movie. McGraw is married in real life to fellow country music star Faith Hill, but the movie is not based on their relationship; instead, it's very loosely based on the public spiral of pop star Britney Spears.

Ismail Merchant and James Ivory are the production team behind several classic English adaptations, including 1985's A Room With a View and 1993's The Remains of the Day. A period piece like 1992's Howards End doesn't seem like a match for the modern term "all the feels," but the E.M. Forster adaptation tugs heavy on the heartstrings, and takes the audience on a shocking rollercoaster. Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson star as Henry Wilcox and Margaret Schlegel, an unlikely pair on opposite sides of the English class system who quietly fall in love and marry. A loyal companion of Henry's late wife Ruth, Margaret makes an impression on the Wilcox clan, both good and not so good. Secret affairs, shameful pasts, an unwed mother, and even murder are fused into the plot of this epic drama. Because it's such a popular and engaging story, a 2017 remake premiered as a limited series on Starz. Oscar winner Kenneth Lonergan lent his writing skills to four episodes of the series.

The first time audiences swooned over the chemistry between Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock was in the 1994 mega-hit Speed. Bullock was ordinary woman thrust into crisis, driving a bus carrying a bomb; Reeves was the hunky detective there to rescue her. Their kiss at the end is an all the feels movie moment. The pair reunited in the 2006 romantic drama The Lake House. The story is absolutely impossible, but it's so rich and compelling the plausibility doesn't matter. Reeves plays Alex Wyler, a Chicago architect who moves into the lake house his architect father built. Two years into the future, Bullock's character, Kate Forster, has moved out of the lake house to live in the city, where she works as a doctor. She leaves a letter for the new tenant and oddly, Alex writes her back... from the past. They begin to regularly correspond, going along with the absurdity of their gap in time, and even fall for each other. Movie magic finally brings them together in real time, and they are able to end the film with a kiss.

Reconnecting with the one that got away is a dream for some and a nightmare for others. Love could blossom and last an eternity, or a teen romance could be tarnished by adult drama. In the hilarious Netflix romcom Always Be My Maybe, Ali Wong plays Sasha, a successful restaurateur who moves back home when her relationship ends. She runs into her childhood friend and first hookup, Marcus, played by Randall Park. As kids the two did not part on good terms, so neither is too excited about this chance meeting. Over time they put the pieces of their friendship back together and fall in love, but the differences in their career paths threaten the success of their relationship. Though the movie title is a play on the title of Mariah Carey's hit song "Always Be My Baby," the R&B star doesn't make a cameo. There is, however, a raucous appearance by Keanu Reeves which serves as a highlight of the movie.

Imagine mustering the courage to ask out the girl who may be the one, and being interrupted by a crazy old friend who won't go away? Totally annoying! Broken into two timelines, this is the opening of the 2020 Netflix romcom Love Wedding Repeat. Sam Claflin plays lovelorn Jack. When the movie picks up, some time has passed since he missed his shot with Olivia Munn's Dina, so his focus is solely on his sister Hayley's wedding. But complications ensue when Hayley tells Jack that Dina will be at the wedding — and things get even more complicated when Jack's ex-girlfriend Amanda takes every opportunity she can to physically assault him and spew foul words his way. They get more complicated still when Hayley's ex-boyfriend Marc — the same crazy guy who thwarted Jack's moment with Dina — shows up at the wedding, hellbent on ruining it. All this tumult lies in timeline one of the movie — in the other, all of the complications are smoothed over with peace, love, and happiness. And Jack, of course, gets another chance with Dina.

2013's The Spectacular Now features A-list actors before their stars truly shined, and veteran actors in surprising turns. Miles Teller plays Sutter, a high school senior who masks his insecurities with alcohol and a smart mouth. Brie Larson plays Cassidy, Sutter's former girlfriend. After the breakup, Sutter turns his attention to Aimee, played by Shailene Woodley. Aimee is way too sweet for Sutter and so blinded by love she can't see how much of a train wreck he truly is. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Sutter's mom, Sara, who he blames for making his father leave — until Sutter and Aimee drive hours to reconnect with his father, and he realizes his father's alcohol problem is the real reason he's been absent from his life. At first, Sutter decides to accept his fate as a small-town drunk, and loses Aimee — but true to romantic drama form, he wakes up, gets himself together, and goes on a journey to get her back.