Club Benefits
Baby, it's freakin' cold outside, which means we're aiming to spend these extra-frigid winter days indoors, ideally with a great movie queued up on a streaming service. Thankfully, Paramount+ has plenty of them, especially of the rom-com variety, which is just the kind of heartwarming watch we're after during the cold-weather months.
Paramount's streaming service is packed with romantic comedies that you'll fall in love with, whether you're in the mood for early-2000s throwbacks starring some of the biggest names of the genre (hi Drew!) or a more recent charmer celebrating all of the color and beauty of queer love.
'The Wedding Banquet'
It's a queer comedy of errors in Andrew Ahn's "The Wedding Banquet" remake, which remixes the 1993 original with a fresh cast — led by Kelly Marie Tran, Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone — and an emphasis on more contemporary concerns like IVF. Angela (Tran) and her partner Lee (Gladstone) have been unlucky with expensive fertility treatments, while their wealthy friend Min (Han Gi-chan) is dealing with a soon-to-expire student visa.
To tackle both issues, Angela and Min agree to pair up for a green card marriage in exchange for funding Lee’s IVF. Complicating things, though, is the fact that Min is in a long-term relationship with Angela's best friend Chris (Yang). The fake couple's plans to quietly elope are upended when Min's traditional grandmother (Academy Award winner Youn Yuh-jung) flies in from Korea and insists upon a big, lavish wedding, prompting plenty of hilarious hijinks and heartfelt moments.
Watch "The Wedding Banquet" on Paramount+ now
'Serendipity'
Over the course of one magical evening in this 2001 Peter Chelsom-directed charmer, Jonathan Trager (John Cusack) and Sara Thomas (Kate Beckinsale) meet-cute in New York City, both trying to buy the same pair of globes at Bloomingdale's. They part, both deciding to let fate's "little signals" determine whether or not they're meant to be together.
Years later, both parties are engaged to other people (played by Bridget Moynahan and John Corbett, respectively) but haven't forgotten their fateful department-store encounter. Sara puts a pause on her impending nuptials to travel with her best friend Eve (Molly Shannon) from California to New York to track down the mystery man, while simultaneously Jon has enlisted the help of his own best man (Jeremy Piven) to track down the girl he can't forget. Will destiny bring them together, or will duty and distance intervene?
Watch "Serendipity" on Paramount+ now
'50 First Dates'
When it comes to the rom-com genre, few screen couples are as winning as Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, who've teamed up for fan-favorite flicks like 1998's "The Wedding Singer," 2014's "Blended" and this 2004 crowd-pleaser from Peter Segal.
Transporting viewers to easy, breezy Hawaii (much-welcome during this time of the year), "50 First Dates" sees Sandler play seemingly eternal bachelor Henry Roth, whose non-committal attitude changes when he meets the lovely Lucy Whitmore (Barrymore), whom he falls for over a waffle breakfast.
The problem? Lucy suffers from short-term memory loss and forgets all about her sweet connection with Henry by the very next day. So Henry desperately plans numerous "first" dates and "chance" encounters to try to win over not only the girl of his dreams but also her protective family (Blake Clark, Sean Astin).
Watch "50 First Dates" on Paramount+ now
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