A romantic night in

Top movie tips from the Celt team

While flowers and jewellery and expensive dinners out remain popular Valentine’s Day gifts, you don’t have to spend a fortune to pull off the ultimate romantic night in. Run a candlelit bubble bath for your loved one, cook a home-made meal and curl up on the couch in front of the fire with a romantic movie. Here are the Celt’s top movie tips from the 70s right up to more modern Rom Coms to cap off a great Valentine’s Night...

Overboard (1987)

The Celt’s managing editor, Linda O’Reilly, is a sucker for this 80s’ classic ‘Overboard’ starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.

The film follows a spoilt but beautiful heiress who mocks and cheats a hired carpenter. When she falls off her yacht (Overboard) and gets amnesia, the carpenter (a young widower) decides to get his money’s worth by treating her to a dose of reality by convincing her that they’re husband and wife and she is a stay at home mum to their lively and unruly boys.

“This is just outrageous and brilliant - full of fun and wit and charm and plenty of gags that you would never get away with in today’s PC world. Of course, all hell breaks loose when Hawn starts to get her memory back but has the experience changed her forever?

“The chemistry between Hawn and Russell is electric. Incidentially they are a Hollywood power couple in real life - having been together for over 40 years - now that’s true love.”

“This is a movie that’s been remade a few times but nothing beats the original!”

As an alternative suggestion, check out ‘Fool’s Gold’ (2008) with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. Kate is, in fact, Goldie Hawn’s daughter. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Deputy Editor Damian McCarney plumps for the classic Rom Com ‘When Harry Met Sally’.

“You’ve probably already seen this... the title suggests that it’s going to be love at first sight. Boom, they’re smitten from the get-go. But Hollywood fireworks romance is nowhere to be seen for Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan), whose hearts have been calloused by previous relationships. After friendship builds they separately each consider the other but their emotional stars never quite align, until Hollywood does what Hollywood does best...”

As a B option, for something more modern, Damian says an alternative (unmissable) is ‘While We’re Young’ (2014) starring Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts.

My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)

The Celt’s newest recruit, senior reporter Aisling Kiernan, opts for a Julia Roberts/Camron Diaz smash hit ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’.

“Ah, it’s true what they say… true love conquers all!” says Aisling.

My Best Friend’s Wedding also stars Dermot Mulroney and Rupert Everett. Three weeks before her 28th birthday, New York City food critic Julianne ‘Jules’ Potter receives a call from her lifelong friend Michael O’Neal, a Chicago sportswriter.

Years earlier, the two agreed that if they were both unmarried by age 28, they would marry each other. Michael tells her that, in four days, he will marry the beautiful Kimmy Wallace, a college student eight years his junior whose father owns the Chicago White Sox.

Realising that she is in love with him, Jules resolves to sabotage his wedding. It all goes pear-shaped initially but love sure does win in the end!

Aisling’s other suggestions include Pretty Woman and the Bridget Jones’ Diary series.

Amélie (2001)

The Celt’s Seamus Enright recommends ‘The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain’, a French-language comedy directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. He tells us: “It is an engaging and imaginative seductive fantasy about a young waitress who decides to help others find happiness. Whimsically cartoonish in its distinctive visuals, and carried by sensational camerawork and the most beautifully composed soundtrack by Yann Tiersen, Amélie’s altruistic quest to share joy leads her on a journey where she unexpectedly but inevitably finds true love.”

As a back-up (and here’s one you won’t see on many romantic lists), Seamus suggests 1975 blockbuster Jaws! He qualifies his reasons: “Beneath the surface of Jaws and its suspenseful plot is ultimately a story about resilience, friendship bonding, and the power of unity to confront a common foe.

Leap Year (2010)

Michelle McGrath’s top recommendation is Leap Year starring Amy Adams and Mathew Goode.

“I loveeee Amy Adams especially in this romantic comedy, where she’s so determined to get married to the most perfect guy, and will do anything she can to make that happen! A woman after my own heart... When she gets something into her heard, she will not stop until she gets it!

“After passing the fourth anniversary with her boyfriend without a marriage proposal in sight... she follows her lover to Ireland, planning to propose to him on Leap Day.

“The fancy NYC chic battles her way through a series of interruptions and storms in her designer clothes and heels and ‘Louis Vuitton’ suitcase collection, to get to Ireland. She bumps into a hot Irish inn keeper who she hires to take her to her boyfriend in Dublin... But who does she end up proposing to!? Fate is a wonderful thing!”

Michelle’s second choice is ‘PS I Love You’ - the book by Cecelia Ahern brought to the big screen in 2007 starring Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank.