Last updated March 2024
Itching to watch Best Romance Movies 2004 ? We compiled a list of 30 must-see Best Romance Movies 2004 you can start watching immediately. Rated highly on IMDB and by our own users, these Best Romance Movies 2004 represent the best of the best. Lend a hand by voting for your favorites so other Best Romance Movies 2004 fans can benefit from your good taste! We thank you for your contributions.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Plot Summary:
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake
Duration: 108 min
IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
IMDB Votes: 11000000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Plot tags: memory, surrealism, dream, love, love story, memory loss, existentialism, loneliness, melancholy, couples, amnesia, relationships, introspection, borderline personality disorder, brainwashing, love and romance, couple relations, alternate reality, disorder, life changing, power of love, destiny, deja vu, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, ex boyfriend ex girlfriend relationship
Ghilli (2004)
Plot Summary:
Muthu Pandi, a village strongman, decides to marry Dhanalakshmi, and begins his quest by eliminating everyone who opposes their union - starting with both her brothers. In desperation, Dhanalakshmi decides to escape from the village, and in the process is unwittingly assisted by a university Kabaddi player Velu
Duration: 160 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Action, Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: India
Plot tags: manhunt, village, fall in love, ambition, family relations, rivalry, woman in danger, lovers on the run, chases and races, martial arts, police officer, obsession, murder, tough guy, doll, car chase, rescue, courage, chase, corpse, protection, on the run, train station, passport, punched in the face
A Moment to Remember (2004)
Plot Summary:
A young couple's love is tested when Sun-jin is diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease
Duration: 117 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea
Plot tags: memory loss, alzheimer's disease, love affair, love story, couple relations, love, love and romance, asian, class differences, family relations, father daughter relationship, memory, resentment, illness, mental health, memory lapse, relationships, romantic relationship, life is a bitch, unfulfillment, passion, medicine, depression, tragedy, autism
Before Sunset (2004)
Plot Summary:
Nine years ago two strangers met by chance and spent a night in Vienna that ended before sunrise. They are about to meet for the first time since. Now they have one afternoon to find out if they belong together
Duration: 80 min
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
IMDB Votes: 282000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, USA
Plot tags: love story, relationships, lovers reunited, love and romance, couples, lovers, bookstore, great ending, passion, bittersweet, conversation, writers, true love, destiny, chance meeting, introspection, lifestyle, loneliness, unfulfilled love, encounter, road not taken, travel, hipster, regret, couple relations
Head-On (2004)
Plot Summary:
Head On is German director Fatih Akin’s story of the alcoholic Cahit and Turkish Sibel. Akin tells the story of a love that can never be between two people who are too alike to not be together
Duration: 121 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 57000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany, Turkey
Plot tags: suicide attempt, marriage, immigrant, culture clash, love story, relationships, loneliness, sex, love affair, drug, rebellion, self destructing, self esteem, redemption, human nature, mentally unstable, destructive relationship, extramarital affair, freedom, proposal, drinking problem, immigration, passion, suicide, violence
3-Iron (2004)
Plot Summary:
A young man, whose only possession is a motorcycle, spends his time riding around the city looking for empty apartments. After finding one, he hangs out for a while, fixing himself something to eat, washing laundry or making small repairs in return. He always tries to leave before the owners get back but in one ostensibly empty mansion he meets the abused wife of a rich man and she escapes with him
Duration: 88 min
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
IMDB Votes: 58000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea, Japan
Plot tags: golf, loneliness, motorcycle, melancholy, relationships, love triangle, jealousy, abusive husband, love, art, existentialism, love story, destiny, erotica, drifter, homeless, mission, asian, runaway, family life, love affair, unsupportive spouse, domestic violence, masturbation, sex
Yash Chopra's Veer-Zaara (2004)
Plot Summary:
The story of the love between Veer Pratap Singh, an Indian, and Zaara Hayaat Khan, a Pakistani...a love so great it knows no boundaries
Duration: 192 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 56000
Genere: Drama, Family, Musical, Romance
Country: India
Plot tags: forbidden love, impossible love, muslim, rescue, love affair, social differences, false accusation, against the odds, uncover truth, destiny, life is a bitch, prison life, legal, haunted by the past, hopes, society, family disapproval, dishonesty, love, hindu, stranded, unrequited love, love story, politics, fall in love
Lakshya (2004)
Plot Summary:
An aimless, jobless, irresponsible grown man joins the army and matures into a battlefield hero
Duration: 186 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Action, Drama, Romance, War
Country: India
Plot tags: soldier, old love, domineering father, self discovery, redemption, patriot, military, family relations, slacker, military life, heroic mission, coming of age, against the odds, army, courage, following a dream, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, breakup, generation gap, indians, indian war, bowling, war, politics, meaning of life
The Notebook (2004)
Plot Summary:
An epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer's. From a faded notebook, the old man's words bring to life the story about a couple who is separated by World War II, and is then passionately reunited, seven years later, after they have taken different paths
Duration: 123 min
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
IMDB Votes: 605000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: love story, love and romance, fall in love, love, true love, youth, memory loss, love of one's life, power of love, love triangle, young lovers, love affair, lovers reunited, happy ending, love at first sight, social differences, young love, rich woman poor man, forbidden love, relationships, young woman, alzheimer's disease, letter, sadness, mother daughter relationship
Dear Frankie (2004)
Plot Summary:
Nine-year-old Frankie and his single mum Lizzie have been on the move ever since Frankie can remember, most recently arriving in a seaside Scottish town. Wanting to protect her deaf son from the truth that they've run away from his father, Lizzie has invented a story that he is away at sea on the HMS Accra. Every few weeks, Lizzie writes Frankie a make-believe letter from his father, telling of his adventures in exotic lands. As Frankie tracks the ship's progress around the globe, he discovers that it is due to dock in his hometown. With the real HMS Accra arriving in only a fortnight, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth or finding the perfect stranger to play Frankie's father for just one day
Duration: 105 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Plot tags: single parent, coming of age, disability, family drama, friendship, father son relationship, boy, stranger, abusive husband, passion, youth, letter, bittersweet, ship, mute or deaf, death, hospital, runaway, girl, bookstore, village, psychology, mother, single father, motherhood
Mind Game (2004)
Plot Summary:
The film follows Nishi, a loser who has a crush on his childhood girlfriend. After an encounter with the Japanese mafia, the film follows Nishi as he journeys to heaven and back, and ends up trapped in an even more unlikely place
Duration: 103 min
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: Japan
Plot tags: self discovery, trippy, supernatural, family relations, danger, family in danger, hopes, dealing with death, righting the wronged, couples, imaginary, siblings relations, surrealism, time travel, heaven, existentialism, psychology, lsd, parallel universe, moving, darkness, sex crime, female nudity, voyeur, flashback
A Very Long Engagement (2004)
Plot Summary:
In 1919, Mathilde was 19 years old. Two years earlier, her fiancé Manech left for the front at the Somme. Like millions of others he was "killed on the field of battle." It's written in black and white on the official notice. But Mathilde refuses to believe it. If Manech had died, she would know. She hangs on to her intuition as tightly as she would onto the last thread of hope linking her to her lover. A former sergeant tells her in vain that Manech died in the no man's land of a trench named Bingo Crepescule, in the company of four other men condemned to die for self-inflicted wounds. Her path ahead is full of obstacles but Mathilde is not frightened. Anything is possible to someone who is willing to challenge fate
Duration: 133 min
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
IMDB Votes: 75000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance, War
Country: France, USA
Plot tags: world war one, war, love and romance, wartime, life & death, private detective, investigation, obsession, tragedy, destiny, relationships, lighthouse, against the odds, missing person, uncover truth, brutality, young lovers, fiance fiancee relationship, military, great war, disability, bittersweet, engagement, aunt niece relationship, prostitute
House of Flying Daggers (2004)
Plot Summary:
In 9th century China, a corrupt government wages war against a rebel army called the Flying Daggers. A romantic warrior breaks a beautiful rebel out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem
Duration: 119 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 115000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: China, Hong Kong
Plot tags: martial arts, sword fight, swords and armor, wuxia, tragic love, warrior, kung fu, love, emperor, medieval, mission, resistance, tragic event, revenge, love triangle, betrayal, escape, secret, pursuit, rebel, rebellion, blindness, ruler, chases and races, rage
Survive Style 5+ (2004)
Plot Summary:
A man continually trying and failing to get his wife to stay dead; a self-absorbed ad agency creative director who comes up with one unworkably inane idea after another; a British hitman who only wants to know everyone's function in life; and an unfortunate office worker and father whose brain is left scrambled after a stage hypnotist is murdered in mid-performance
Duration: 120 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Country: Japan
Plot tags: hitman, murder, hypnosis, losing-it hero, social relations, dark humor, multiple storylines, surrealism, undead, gay, mysticism, giant monster, stoner, humour, trippy, human relationship, asian prostitute, kaiju, masturbation, gay slur, new year, translator, sleazy, disorder, bodies
Sideways (2004)
Plot Summary:
Two middle-aged men embark on a spiritual journey through Californian wine country. One is an unpublished novelist suffering from depression, and the other is only days away from walking down the aisle
Duration: 127 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 200000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Hungary
Plot tags: road trip, wine, on the road, friendship, couples, vineyard, vacation, divorce, infidelity, golf, food, buddy, travel, life philosophy, character study, midlife crisis, melancholy, small town, love and romance, best friend, cooking, lifestyle, nothing goes right, writers, wedding
As It Is in Heaven (2004)
Plot Summary:
A musical romantic tragedy about a famous composer who moves back to his small hometown after having had heart troubles. His search for a simple everyday life leads him into teaching the local church choir which is not easily accepted by the town yet the choir builds a great love for their teacher
Duration: 133 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Music, Romance
Country: Sweden
Plot tags: music, choir, bullying, village, self discovery, character study, musician's life, teachers and students, ambition, human nature, love, destiny, nordic, musician, church, rehearsal, christian, pastor, concert, heart attack, teacher, spirit, consciousness, girl, swedish
Life is a Miracle (2004)
Plot Summary:
Set during the Bosnian war in the early 1990s, Luka is a mild-mannered railway clerk whose life is turned upside down, not just by the outbreak of the war, but when his wife runs off with a local musician. Then Luka's son is conscripted and eventually captured in the fighting. To recover his son, Luka is commanded to guard a pretty young Muslim nurse who will be used in a hostage swapping operation
Duration: 155 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Comedy, Romance, Music, Drama, War
Country: Serbia, France, Italy
Plot tags: village, life is a bitch, fall in love, wartime life, love affair, society, moral dilemma, unlikely couple, love and romance, unrequited love, relationships, family relations, dysfunctional family, father son relationship, male female relationship, family problems, marital problem, romantic relationship, kids and family, social problems, relationship problems, husband wife relationship, lifestyle, love interest, couple relations
The Consequences of Love (2004)
Plot Summary:
Titta di Girolamo has been living in a small hotel in Lugano for ten years, he leads a dull and rigid live and has apparently lost his capability to feel human emotion. This all changes when he decides to talk to Sofia, the Barmaid
Duration: 100 min
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Romance
Country: Italy
Plot tags: mafia, loneliness, age difference, fall in love, haunted by the past, mysterious character, unlikely couple, love and romance, couples, manipulation, dishonesty, dull life, twists and turns, drug abuse, older man younger woman relationship, murder, killer, love, police officer, italian mafia, mental disorder, depression, circus, sexuality, organized crime
The Terminal (2004)
Plot Summary:
Viktor Navorski is a man without a country; his plane took off just as a coup d'etat exploded in his homeland, leaving it in shambles, and now he's stranded at Kennedy Airport, where he's holding a passport that nobody recognizes. While quarantined in the transit lounge until authorities can figure out what to do with him, Viktor simply goes on living – and courts romance with a beautiful flight attendant
Duration: 128 min
IMDB Rating: 7.4/10
IMDB Votes: 486000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: airport, culture clash, loneliness, stranded, happy ending, fish out of water, fictional country, passenger, immigrant, nothing goes right, jazz, destiny, aviation, life philosophy, misfit, runaway, humanity, friendship, love and romance, rebellion, fighting the system, society, disorder, comedy of errors, hopes
Saving Face (2004)
Plot Summary:
A Chinese-American lesbian and her traditionalist mother are reluctant to go public with secret loves that clash against cultural expectations
Duration: 91 min
IMDB Rating: 7.4/10
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: lesbian, lgbt, lesbian relationship, lesbian love, lgbtq, lesbian romance, gay, lesbian sex, gays and lesbians, sapphic, loneliness, depression, marriage, hospital, generation gap, glbt, family relations, relationships, pregnancy, parents and children, homosexuality, lgbtqi, love and romance, fall in love, single parent
Garden State (2004)
Plot Summary:
Andrew returns to his hometown for the funeral of his mother, a journey that reconnects him with past friends. The trip coincides with his decision to stop taking his powerful antidepressants. A chance meeting with Sam - a girl also suffering from various maladies - opens up the possibility of rekindling emotional attachments, confronting his psychologist father, and perhaps beginning a new life
Duration: 102 min
IMDB Rating: 7.4/10
IMDB Votes: 222000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: depression, self discovery, coming of age, funeral, melancholy, friendship, psychiatrist, cat, family relations, dysfunctional family, drug, small town, bittersweet, dealing with death, love, mental illness, love story, hipster, complex characters, relationships, family drama, loneliness, american football, friends, lifestyle
2046 (2004)
Plot Summary:
Women enter and exit a science fiction author's life, over the course of a few years, after the author loses the woman he considers his one true love
Duration: 129 min
IMDB Rating: 7.4/10
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: Hong Kong, China, France, Italy, Germany
Plot tags: melancholy, writers, writer's life, love, androids, road not taken, sensuality, haunted by the past, coincidence, old friend, destiny, memory, introspection, choice, mysterious place, looking for love, changing the past or future, lifestyle, understanding, identity crisis, imaginary, human nature, relationships, obsession, asian
The Edukators (2004)
Plot Summary:
Three activists cobble together a kidnapping plot after they encounter a businessman in his home
Duration: 127 min
IMDB Rating: 7.4/10
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany, Austria
Plot tags: rebelliousness, rebellion, debt, rebel, politics, friends, boyfriend, kidnapping, revolution, vandalism, fighting the system, twists and turns, love triangle, businessman, jealousy, unlikely criminals, anarchist, social differences, home invasion, communism, coming of age, anarchism, activist, anarchy, friendship
Summer Storm (2004)
Plot Summary:
Tobi and Achim, the pride of the local crew club, have been the best of friends for years and are convinced that nothing will ever stand in the way of their friendship. They look forward to the upcoming summer camp and the crew competition. Then the gay team from Berlin arrives and Tobi is totally confused. The evening before the races begin, the storm that breaks out is more than meteorlogical
Duration: 98 min
IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: Germany
Plot tags: gay, gays and lesbians, lgbt, gay teenager, coming of age, gay love, summer camp, gay sex, erotica, self discovery, homosexuality, teenage love, lgbt teen, friendship, teenage crush, lgbtq, teenager, gay slur, love triangle, happy ending, youth, homosexual, gay athlete, gay interest, fall in love
Shrek 2 (2004)
Plot Summary:
Shrek, Fiona and Donkey set off to Far, Far Away to meet Fiona's mother and father. But not everyone is happy. Shrek and the King find it hard to get along, and there's tension in the marriage. The fairy godmother discovers that Shrek has married Fiona instead of her Son Prince Charming and sets about destroying their marriage
Duration: 93 min
IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
IMDB Votes: 495000
Genere: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Romance
Country: USA, Canada
Plot tags: princess, cat, kingdom, creature, transformation, dragon, ogre, donkey, talking animal, prince, true love, satire, giant, godmother, animal, shrek, imaginary kingdom, friendship, royal family, honeymoon, magic, destiny, fairy, heroes, witchcraft
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
Plot Summary:
Wes Anderson’s incisive quirky comedy build up stars complex characters like in ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ with Bill Murray on in the leading role. An ocean adventure documentary film maker Zissou is put in all imaginable life situations and a tough life crisis as he attempts to make a new film about capturing the creature that caused him pain
Duration: 119 min
IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
IMDB Votes: 208000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Plot tags: ocean, submarine, revenge, expedition, dysfunctional family, eccentricity, filmmaking, vengeance, rivalry, magic realism, marijuana, midlife crisis, bittersweet, underwater, shark, loss of friend, sea voyage, pirate, friendship, dangerous animal, escapades, diving, absurd humor, adventurer, family problems
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Plot Summary:
Deformed since birth, a bitter man known only as the Phantom lives in the sewers underneath the Paris Opera House. He falls in love with the obscure chorus singer Christine, and privately tutors her while terrorizing the rest of the opera house and demanding Christine be given lead roles. Things get worse when Christine meets back up with her childhood acquaintance Raoul and the two fall in love
Duration: 143 min
IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
IMDB Votes: 129000
Genere: Drama, Musical, Romance, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Plot tags: obsession, opera, disfigurement, musician's life, dangerous attraction, destructive relationship, theater, fall in love, disguise, love and romance, prodigy, tragic hero, singer, love triangle, broadway, musician, unrequited love, dancing, loneliness, music, love story, phantom of the opera, love, dance, aristocracy
Closer (2004)
Plot Summary:
A witty, romantic, and very dangerous love story about chance meetings, instant attractions, and casual betrayals. Two couples disintegrate when they begin destructive adulterous affairs with each other
Duration: 104 min
IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
IMDB Votes: 233000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Plot tags: infidelity, love triangle, adultery, love affair, marriage, love at first sight, couples, passion, sex, stripper, photographer, sexuality, obsession, lovers, fall in love, photography, complex characters, betrayal, love story, secret love, dysfunctional marriage, lust, desire, psychology, character study
Kinsey (2004)
Plot Summary:
Kinsey is a portrait of researcher Alfred Kinsey, driven to uncover the most private secrets of a nation. What begins for Kinsey as a scientific endeavor soon takes on an intensely personal relevance, ultimately becoming an unexpected journey into the mystery of human behavior
Duration: 118 min
IMDB Rating: 7.1/10
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: USA, Germany
Plot tags: gay, sexuality, professor, lgbt, scientist, male nudity, homosexual, research, nudity, homosexuality, gay interest, interview, college, psychology, free love, masturbation, life philosophy, marriage, biopic, teaching, character study, science, lgbtq, sexual content, sexual dysfunction
The Merchant of Venice (2004)
Plot Summary:
In 16th century Venice, when a merchant must default on a large loan from an abused Jewish moneylender for a friend with romantic ambitions, the bitterly vengeful creditor demands a gruesome payment instead
Duration: 131 min
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10
IMDB Votes: 38000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Italy, Luxembourg, USA
Plot tags: shakespeare, renaissance, religious intolerance, women, friends, love and romance, judaism, prejudice, trial, segregation, culture clash, farce, life is a bitch, revenge, uninhibited rivalry, tudors, racism, vengeance, medieval, merchant, friendship, legal, stage play, christian, courtroom