Date Movies to Rent

The movie date is possibly the most common type of date you can go on. The focus of this page is on movie dates where you are staying in, rather than going out, to watch a movie.

Most of the time this means finding a good date movie to rent. (You might have a great home library of movies to choose from, but this article is intended more for someone who has to rent date movies. Some people might want to buy movies though.) Here are some thoughts and ideas about how to choose the best date movies to rent.

Movie Dates and Dating Movies

Dating movies are movies about the entire process of dating, and sometimes these can make interesting conversation starters. Different people have different dating styles, and one way to get to know someone else's dating style is to talk about it. Watching movies about dating can spark these discussions. Some examples of good dating movies to rent include: Alfie, Wedding Crashers, He's Just Not That Into You, Bridget Jones's Diary, Sideways, Must Love Dogs, Fatal Attraction, Swingers, There's Something About Mary, and Annie Hall.

Twilight Movie Dates

A certain type of person might enjoy aTwilight movie date, but I'm not that type of person. If you are, think about making it a theme night. Don't just watchTwilight, but throw in a couple of other thematically related movies too. The Harry Potter movies might make a somewhat related theme for a Twilightmovie date, but then again, you might also watch episodes of True Blood on DVD too.

50 First Dates

I think it's pretty much impossible to consider the idea of renting date movies without mentioning the film 50 First Dates starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. It's a lovely film, truly funny, and very romantic. If you've already seen it, you know what I'm talking about. 50 First Dates was released in 2004, and Peter Segal directed. It's also an interesting film because one of the main characters has a condition called anterograde amnesia. (It's the same condition that the main character in Memento has.) In fact, watching both of those movies as a double feature would make for a great movie date night, and they're both available to rent via Netflix or Blockbuster.

The Best Date Movies to Rent

The best date movies to rent are romantic comedies, unless you're dating someone who really hates romantic comedies. In that case, the best date movies to rent are movies in the genre that your date prefers. Don't feel like you must watch Drew Barrymore, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler romantic comedies just because that's what's expected on a date. If you're dating a woman, and you know she loves John Wayne Westerns, then by all means, rent The Searchers and The Shootist.

A Date Movies List

I humbly offer you this date movies list. It's just a list of movies that I think are particularly good to rent for a date. They're in no particular order, and the movies selected reflect my own tastes. (Since I always hope to date people with similar tastes, this works for me. You should create your own date movies list if you don't like mine.)

Shaun of the Dead - This is the rare horror movie that works not only as a horror film, but also as a romantic comedy.
Casablanca - Even if she's already seen this, she should welcome seeing it again. It IS one of the greatest movies ever made, after all.
Mall Rats - This is Kevin Smith's tribute to the John Hughes films that he grew up on. It's a little bit edgier than Sixteen Candles orThe Breakfast Club, but I think it's a better date movie for it.
The Tao of Steve - This one's great, and it also features Eytan Mirsky singing "I Just Wanna Be Your Steve McQueen." Who knew that Donal Logue could pull off a leading man role in a romantic comedy?
An Affair to Remember - If you're sure she's going to hate an old movie from the 1950's, you could always rent the more recent remake, Love Affair, starring Warren Beatty and Annette Bening. You could make a double feature out of it by also renting Sleepless in Seattle.
The Wedding Singer - If you're a child of the 80's, like I am, then you'll have a special fondness for this movie. It's not only great nostalgia for the 1980's, it's also a great romantic comedy.
The Forty Year Old Virgin - You've probably already seen this, but even if you have, it stands up well to repeated viewings. If you haven't seen it, then it should go straight to the top of your date movies list.
My Best Friend's Wedding - Almost everyone associates Julia Roberts date movies with Pretty Woman, but My Best Friend's Wedding is so much better-written and acted. It doesn't make a lot of lists or get a lot of buzz anymore, but it's one of the great romantic comedies.
The Ringer - This movie stars Johnny Knoxville, Brian Cox, and Katherine Heigl. It's about a guy who's trying to win the Special Olympics by pretending to have a disability, but of course, he learns very quickly that the competitors are real athletes.
Always - This is Spielberg's remake of A Guy Named Joe. It stars Richard Dreyfuss and Holly Hunter. And John Goodman is great as the obligatory best friend character to Dreyfuss. Some of it is lifted almost directly from the Spencer Tracy original.

You should have two considerations when choosing a date movie to rent. The first is whether or not you think you'll like the movie. Renting a movie that you know you'll hate in hopes of impressing her is folly. The second consideration is whether or not your date will like the movie. Don't subordinate your tastes to your date's tastes; try to find something you'll both enjoy. That's the biggest criteria for good date movies: whether or not you'll both enjoy it.

You can buy almost any of these movies at very low prices from Amazon.