Last updated March 2024
Looking for some Best Romance Movies 2002 ? Check out our handpicked collection of 30 must-see Best Romance Movies 2002 you can dive into immediately. Highly acclaimed by both IMDB and our discerning community of users, these Best Romance Movies 2002 earn top marks across the board. Help others separate the wheat from the chaff by voting on the Best Romance Movies 2002 you enjoy most. Your contributions make a real difference!
Day of the Wacko (2002)
Plot Summary:
It is a bitter story about a middle-aged man, who hates his life and other people, including himself. Adam Miauczynski, the character known from director Marek Koterski's previous films, is a 44 year-old teacher, who reads poetry during school lessons and later goes home swearing and calling his neighbours' names. The worst pain for him is the next 5 minutes of living. He doesn't accept himself and even everyday contacts with others cause his aggression. Though constantly dreaming of a romantic love, he is not bold enough to make his dreams come true. The desperate Miauczynski personalizes our own fears and obsessions, which have become so visible recently
Duration: 93 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Poland
Plot tags: midlife crisis, alienation, nothing goes right, social satire, loner, teacher, obsession, polish, burnout, self loathing, dark humor, mental illness, paranoia, nervousness, rage, human nature, erotic fantasy, father son relationship, obsessive compulsive disorder, neurosis, sexual fantasy, satire, ex husband ex wife relationship, anti hero, masturbation
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
Plot Summary:
Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?
Duration: 129 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Plot tags: samurai, sword fight, feudal japan, poverty, love, friendship, medieval, tragedy, character study, love story, assassination, visceral, samurai era, love and romance, social differences, selflessness, struggle, martial arts, fall in love, pride and honor, melancholy, katana, society, bittersweet, childhood sweetheart
Talk to Her (2002)
Plot Summary:
Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas
Duration: 112 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 116000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: Spain
Plot tags: rape, tragic love, friendship, suicide, loneliness, obsession, impossible love, tragic event, hospital, sex, love, relationships, women, character study, ballet, european, pregnancy, life is a bitch, self destructing, starting over, power of love, voyeur, male nurse, love and romance, nursing
Oasis (2002)
Plot Summary:
Oasis is a love story of two young people abandoned by families. A young man released from prison visits the widow of the man he killed drunk-driving. There he meets her daughter, wheelchair bound with cerebral palsy. Will these two lost people find a way to make their relationship work?
Duration: 133 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Plot tags: disability, hit and run, love affair, friendship, starting over, haunted by the past, unlikely couple, parents and children, love and romance, life is a bitch, couples, vengeance, society, family problems, handicapped, bittersweet, love, lonely, loneliness, mental disorder, illness, lovers, tragedy, autism, dialogue
The Man Without a Past (2002)
Plot Summary:
The second part of Aki Kaurismäki's "Finland" trilogy, the film follows a man who arrives in Helsinki and gets beaten up so severely he develops amnesia. Unable to remember his name or anything from his past life, he cannot get a job or an apartment, so he starts living on the outskirts of the city and slowly starts putting his life back on track
Duration: 97 min
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Finland, Germany, France
Plot tags: poverty, memory loss, amnesia, generosity, friendship, robbery, eccentricity, starting over, couple relations, family relations, financial problem, haunted by the past, human nature, hopes, homeless, humanity, existentialism, disability, husband wife relationship, love and romance, bank robbery, society, european, nordic, bully
Dolls (2002)
Plot Summary:
Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif -- specifically, the kind practiced in Bunraku doll theater performances -- opening each section of his film with a story provided by the puppets and their masters, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and Sawako (Miho Kanno), a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter. He initially agrees, causing the unstable Sawako to be committed to a psychiatric hospital. When he leaves his new bride at the altar to save Sawako, however, he realizes that she's so incapable of caring for herself that she needs to be tied to him with a red rope. Inextricably bound, the two wander through Japan, encountering others along the way who have similarly overlooked love for other, more fleeting pleasures: fame, power, money
Duration: 114 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Plot tags: obsession, regret, love, culture clash, philosophy, suicide attempt, disfigurement, love and romance, mental illness, blind character, renewed love, melancholy, multiple storylines, elopement, bittersweet, car accident, moving, asian, eternal love, doll, suicide, sadness, pop star, puppet, identity
Devdas (2002)
Plot Summary:
Devdas is sent away by his father so he can improve himself but upon his return his father still doesn’t welcome him back. Devdas and Paro are in love but Paro is a lower caste and is set to be married to an older widower. Devdas is devastated & leaves home. He becomes an alcoholic womanizer and falls in love with a courtesan. Paro tries to get Devdas away from drinking before he self destructs
Duration: 185 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: India
Plot tags: unfulfilled love, love triangle, alcoholic, forbidden love, tragic love, prostitution, unrequited love, prostitute, drunkenness, stepmother stepdaughter relationship, hindu, death of protagonist, courtesan, love, self destructing, love affair, unfulfillment, true love, betrayal, childhood sweetheart, family relations, destiny, illness, sister in law sister in law relationship, vanity
The Hours (2002)
Plot Summary:
"The Hours" is the story of three women searching for more potent, meaningful lives. Each is alive at a different time and place, all are linked by their yearnings and their fears. Their stories intertwine, and finally come together in a surprising, transcendent moment of shared recognition
Duration: 110 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 137000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK, France, Canada, Germany
Plot tags: suicide, mental illness, depression, aids, writers, lesbian, bipolar disorder, writer's life, literature, introspection, poet, borderline personality disorder, lesbian love, women, lgbt, depressed woman, housewife, lesbianism, drowning, human nature, mentally unstable, lesbian relationship, suicidal, lgbtq, obsession
Open Hearts (2002)
Plot Summary:
Cecilie and Joachim are about to get married when a freak car accident leaves Joachim disabled, throwing their lives into a spin. The driver of the other car, Marie, and her family don’t get off lightly, either. Her husband Niels works in the hospital where he meets Cecilie and falls madly in love with her
Duration: 113 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Denmark
Plot tags: dogme 95, infidelity, love story, love triangle, hospital, relationships, adultery, extramarital affair, destructive relationship, crumbling marriage, paraplegic, life philosophy, dogma, fall in love, love affair, love and romance, family problems, doctor, car accident, coitus, nurse, cheating fiancee, couple relations, love, age difference
The Spanish Apartment (2002)
Plot Summary:
A strait-laced French student moves into an apartment in Barcelona with a cast of six other characters from all over Europe. Together, they speak the international language of love and friendship
Duration: 122 min
IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: France, Spain
Plot tags: travel, friendship, infidelity, student, roommate, prejudice, relationships, youth, college life, coming of age, college, love triangle, lifestyle, group of friends, wanderlust, adultery, lgbt, lesbian sex, european, lesbian, economist, teenager, writers, seduction, misfit
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Plot Summary:
A beleaguered small-business owner gets a harmonium and embarks on a romantic journey with a mysterious woman
Duration: 95 min
IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
IMDB Votes: 174000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: depression, true love, shyness, asperger's syndrome, brother sister relationship, mental illness, love and romance, insanity, eccentricity, love story, complex characters, sibling relationship, self discovery, socially awkward, mental disorder, fall in love, couple relations, love, loneliness, illness, storytelling, surrealism, mind game, mental health, dysfunctional family
A Walk to Remember (2002)
Plot Summary:
When the popular, restless Landon Carter is forced to participate in the school drama production he falls in love with Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town's minister. Jamie has a "to-do" list for her life and also a very big secret she must keep from Landon
Duration: 101 min
IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
IMDB Votes: 219000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: cancer, teenager, love story, fall in love, opposites attract, terminal illness, love and romance, first love, youth, teen romance, love, true love, teenage love, teenage life, leukemia, enemies to lovers, coming of age, high school life, dating, couples, high school sweetheart, christianity, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, teenage girl, high school hunk
Frida (2002)
Plot Summary:
"Frida" chronicles the life Frida Kahlo shared unflinchingly and openly with Diego Rivera, as the young couple took the art world by storm. From her complex and enduring relationship with her mentor and husband to her illicit and controversial affair with Leon Trotsky, to her provocative and romantic entanglements with women, Frida Kahlo lived a bold and uncompromising life as a political, artistic, and sexual revolutionary
Duration: 123 min
IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
IMDB Votes: 94000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: painter, artist, art, painting, disability, female artist, feminism, bohemian life, lesbian, biopic, life, female protagonist, feminist, adultery, jealousy, surrealism, lifestyle, women, couple relations, relationships, love, bisexual woman, bisexuality, politics, lgbtq
Far from Heaven (2002)
Plot Summary:
In 1950s Connecticut, a housewife faces a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in the outside world
Duration: 107 min
IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
IMDB Votes: 49000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, France
Plot tags: racism, gay husband, gay, homosexuality, housewife, infidelity, crumbling marriage, friendship, couples, forbidden love, african american, prejudice, suburbs, interracial relations, relationships, small town, lgbt, divorce, homosexual, character study, autumn, hypocrisy, lgbtq, social differences, lifestyle
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (2002)
Plot Summary:
Angelique, a young student, is in love with a married doctor. We see her attempts to make him leave his pregnant wife, but he does not appear for meetings or finally the booked journey to Florence. Then the movie is turned back to the beginning, and the view changes: We are now following the view of the doctor instead of Angeliques. And things look quite different now
Duration: 92 min
IMDB Rating: 7.1/10
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Romance, Thriller
Country: France
Plot tags: obsession, psychology, obsessive love, stalker, relationships, insanity, female psychopath, mental illness, infidelity, art, destiny, love story, life philosophy, delusion, doctor, abortion, love and romance, couples, love affair, paranoia, plot twist, great ending, jealousy, self destructing, irrational behavior
Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
Plot Summary:
The Charles Dickens story of Nicholas Nickleby, a young boy in search of a better life for his recently torn-apart family. A young compassionate man struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his coldheartedly grasping uncle
Duration: 132 min
IMDB Rating: 7.1/10
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Plot tags: charles dickens, family reunited, dysfunctional family, greed, betrayal, rescue, family relations, haunted by the past, uncle nephew relationship, boarding school, fall in love, youth, love and romance, danger, siblings relations, mistrust, forceful separation, happy ending, wedding, friendship, deception, father son relationship, husband wife relationship, marriage, school
About a Boy (2002)
Plot Summary:
Will Freeman is a hip Londoner who one day realizes that his friends are all involved with the responsibilities of married life and that leaves him alone in the cold. Passing himself off as a single father, he starts to meet a string of single mums, confident in his ability to leave them behind when they start to ask for a commitment. But Will's hope of a continued bachelorhood is interrupted when he meets 12-year old Marcus, in many ways his complete opposite
Duration: 101 min
IMDB Rating: 7.1/10
IMDB Votes: 190000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA, France
Plot tags: coming of age, father son relationship, childhood, dating, bullying, friendship, dysfunctional family, mentor, christmas, boy, motherhood, couples, single parent, selfishness, single father, loneliness, singleness, adolescence, depression, youth, partner, suicide, single mother, children, bachelor
Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)
Plot Summary:
A group of over-achieving Asian-American high school seniors enjoy a power trip when they dip into extra-curricular criminal activities
Duration: 101 min
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: high school, teenager, coming of age, gang, friendship, cheerleader, visceral, mentor, adolescence, crime gone awry, unlikely friendships, basketball, juvenile delinquency, high school life, lifestyle, social decay, petty criminal, human nature, downfall, unlikely criminals, partners in crime, culture clash, friends, studying, character study
8 Women (2002)
Plot Summary:
Eight women gather to celebrate Christmas in a snowbound cottage, only to find the family patriarch dead with a knife in his back. Trapped in the house, every woman becomes a suspect, each having her own motive and secret
Duration: 111 min
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Musical, Romance
Country: France, Italy
Plot tags: women, multiple suspects, dysfunctional family, christmas, murder, eccentric family, estate, lesbian, suicide, family relations, maid, twists and turns, who to trust, snow, holiday, confession, mistress, dancing, lgbtq, confinement indoors, who done it, relationships, lgbt, storytelling, adultery
Heaven (2002)
Plot Summary:
A woman takes the law into her own hands after police ignore her pleas to arrest the man responsible for her husband's death, and finds herself not only under arrest for murder but falling in love with an officer
Duration: 97 min
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: UK, France, Italy, Germany, USA
Plot tags: redemption, on the run, police, murder, terrorism, bomb, terrorist, translator, criminal heroes, vigilantism, vengeance, danger, crime gone awry, drug dealing, overdose, regret, love story, justice, assassination, love, strong female lead, police officer, death, corruption, guilt
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Plot Summary:
Television made him famous, but his biggest hits happened off screen. Television producer by day, CIA assassin by night, Chuck Barris was recruited by the CIA at the height of his TV career and trained to become a covert operative. Or so Barris said
Duration: 113 min
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10
IMDB Votes: 91000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany, Canada
Plot tags: cia, double life, secret agent, hitman, double agent, intrigue, love and romance, artists and showbiz, biopic, espionage, success, profanity, couples, showbiz, recruit, government agency, prisoners exchange, kgb, marriage proposal, rise to the top, dishonesty, assassin, cold war, spy, undercover agent
The Quiet American (2002)
Plot Summary:
A stylish political thriller where love and war collide in Southeast Asia. Set in early 1950s Vietnam, a young American becomes entangled in a dangerous love triangle when he falls for the beautiful mistress of a British journalist. As war is waged around them, these three only sink deeper into a world of drugs, passion, and betrayal where nothing is as it seems
Duration: 101 min
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller, War
Country: UK, Germany, USA, Vietnam, Australia, France, Canada, New Zealand
Plot tags: politics, older man younger woman relationship, vietnam war, journalism, war, cia, moral ambiguity, spy, tragedy, complex characters, communism, reporter, intrigue, cold war, war crime, political unrest, dishonesty, state affairs, secrets, prejudice, betrayal, murder, terrorism, colonialism, political intrigue
Secretary (2002)
Plot Summary:
A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one
Duration: 107 min
IMDB Rating: 6.9/10
IMDB Votes: 97000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: bdsm, obsession, secretary, sex scene, fetish, workplace romance, sexual perversion, sex in office, submissive woman, sexual relations, employer employee relationship, coitus, desire, power relations, masochist, masochism, sadomasochism, sex game, boss and employee, deviant sex, sexual exploration, pervert, sexual harassment, sexual sadism, sensuality
The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
Plot Summary:
Two young gentlemen living in 1890s England use the same pseudonym ("Ernest") on the sly, which is fine until they both fall in love with women using that name, which leads to a comedy of mistaken identities
Duration: 97 min
IMDB Rating: 6.8/10
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Plot tags: mistaken identity, false identity, love story, twists and turns, happy ending, friendship, couples, social differences, comedy of errors, comedy of manners, disorder, love, farce, fall in love, relationships, country estate, summer, lady, royal family, in love, peace, culture, country house, renaissance, breakup
Unfaithful (2002)
Plot Summary:
Connie is a wife and mother whose 11-year marriage to Edward has lost its sexual spark. When Connie literally runs into handsome book collector Paul, he sweeps her into an all-consuming affair. But Edward soon becomes suspicious and decides to confront the other man
Duration: 124 min
IMDB Rating: 6.7/10
IMDB Votes: 96000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: France, Germany, USA
Plot tags: infidelity, adultery, unfaithful wife, lust, sex, cheating wife, hot and sexy, older woman younger man relationship, fatal attraction, extramarital affair, dangerous attraction, husband wife relationship, lovers, crimes of passion, sexual obsession, marital infidelity, cuckolded husband, passion, sex scene, cuckold, older woman younger man sex, murder, unfaithfulness, sexuality, marriage
Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
Plot Summary:
Jess Bhamra, the daughter of a strict Indian couple in London, is not permitted to play organized soccer, even though she is 18. When Jess is playing for fun one day, her impressive skills are seen by Jules Paxton, who then convinces Jess to play for her semi-pro team. Jess uses elaborate excuses to hide her matches from her family while also dealing with her romantic feelings for her coach, Joe
Duration: 112 min
IMDB Rating: 6.7/10
IMDB Votes: 115000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: UK, Germany, USA
Plot tags: soccer, football, culture clash, friendship, hinduism, wedding, feminism, immigrant, stereotypes, tradition, coach, teenager, teenage girl, coming of age, adolescence, misfit, generation gap, against the rules, obsession, women, girl power, conflict, gender, follow your dream, family relations
The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002)
Plot Summary:
The young Father Amaro is put to the test. He is sent to Mexico to help take care of aging Father Benito when he meets a 16-year-old girl that he begins and affair with. It turns out the girls mother had been having an affair with Father Benito. Father Amaro must soon choose between the holy or the sinful life
Duration: 118 min
IMDB Rating: 6.7/10
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Mexico, Argentina, Spain
Plot tags: lust, abortion, celibacy, religion, clergy, forbidden love, catholicism, priest in love, corruption, sin, sex with a priest, priest, pregnancy, hypocrisy, drug dealing, drug lord, bishop, catholic, couples, society, dishonesty, destructive relationship, chastity, introspection, relationships
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Plot Summary:
A young Greek woman falls in love with a non-Greek and struggles to get her family to accept him while she comes to terms with her heritage and cultural identity
Duration: 95 min
IMDB Rating: 6.6/10
IMDB Votes: 143000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Canada, USA
Plot tags: wedding, culture clash, mother daughter relationship, greek, bride and groom, prejudice, dysfunctional family, love and romance, stereotypes, makeover, parents and children, parent child relationship, wedding preparations and rituals, unlikely couple, meet the parents, relationships, love story, family bonds, women, parenthood, family relations, eccentric family, traditional versus modern, marriage, large family
The Rules of Attraction (2002)
Plot Summary:
The incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate
Duration: 110 min
IMDB Rating: 6.6/10
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Germany
Plot tags: sex, college, virginity, drug abuse, youth, lesbian, suicide, virgin, drug, love triangle, party, defloration, rape, nude girl, voyeur, lgbt, loneliness, violence, obsession, vengeance, dating, lifestyle, college life, unrequited love, lesbian sex
Moonlight Mile (2002)
Plot Summary:
As he copes with the death of his fiancee along with her parents, a young man must figure out what he wants out of life
Duration: 117 min
IMDB Rating: 6.6/10
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: murder, guilt, friendship, family relations, starting over, fall in love, haunted by the past, family problems, death in the family, grief, dysfunctional family, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, bittersweet, husband wife relationship, death, tragedy, small town, courtroom, love, gay, strong female lead, basement, slice of life, trauma, lawyer