6 Of Our Favorite Movie Meet-Cutes
Part of the fun in watching romance movies is seeing the two leads meet for the first time. Since we know they won’t get together until the end in most cases, it’s entertaining to see how destiny, chance, or choices bring them together — even though we know that either their own pride or unjust life circumstances will quickly step in to keep them apart.
A great meet-cute can give us hope for romance in our own lives, or remind us of the great gift of love that we found in our own stories. Here are 6 of our favorite movie meet-cutes.
01 | Bryce & Juli from Flipped (2010)
Flipped is a romantic dramedy that tells the story of two twelve-year-olds, Bryce and Juli, as they come of age and discover first love. Juli’s head-over-heels for Bryce, but starts to wonder if she’s been too blindsided by her daydreams to see his character flaws. On the flipside, Bryce finds Juli annoying — until he starts to discover her uniqueness and wonders if he really does like her after all.
The story is told from both perspectives, switching back and forth between an event from Juli’s perspective and the same event from Bryce’s point of view, which makes for great entertainment.
The two meet when Bryce, as a seven-year-old, moves into the neighborhood with his family. Juli, a precocious little girl, jumps into their moving van to help, asking all sorts of questions along the way. And from day one, when she and Bryce lock eyes for the first time, she’s a goner. Bryce, while intrigued by the intruder, starts to take his cues from his condescending father and pushes Juli away.
Flipped is a well-written meeting of neighbors that pegs how little girls and boys behave and gives us a peek into the lives of the two people we’ll meet later in the movie: Juli, the fearless independent whose innocence can also blind her to some harsh realities, and Bryce, the boy who wants to please his father (and later his friends) while also needing to forge his character through his own choices.
From this young beginning, the two show more character growth and relationship wisdom than the majority of grown on-screen couples — so if you haven’t seen it, do check it out!
02 | Faith & Peter from Only You (1994)
This 1994 rom-com looks at whether our quest for “the one” can blind us to the real-life person in front of us. Only You is a fun romp that takes our protagonist, Faith, on a road trip through Italy searching for Damon Bradley, the name a fairground fortune teller dropped to the soulmate-obsessed Faith when she was 12.
As her journey begins, Faith has lost the spark of believing in “the one” and is settling to marry a podiatrist. When she gets a call from someone named Damon Bradley who’s heading to Italy, she impulsively flies to Italy to find him there, only to keep missing him by minutes.
In the midst of the chase, Faith becomes convinced she’ll run into Damon at a fancy dinner, so she puts on her best red dress and high heels and sets out on the hunt again. In a Cinderella moment, her heel gets stuck as she races down a cobblestone path, and she leaves it behind.
Soon after, a handsome man picks it up, and eventually catches up to her, helping her slip the shoe back on her foot — and he’s instantly smitten with her. Upon hearing her say she’s looking for Damon Bradley, he claims to be Damon in order to keep the conversation and spark going with her. Although she eventually finds out he’s not Damon, but a man named Peter, and she’s furious — but the meet-cute leading to an eventual romance between them is unleashed, even as the hysterical quest for the real Damon Bradley continues.
03 | Kathleen & Joe from You’ve Got Mail (1994)
In You’ve Got Mail, Kathleen and Joe are online penpals who don’t know each other’s names or personal details, but are drawn to their mutual love of the little things in life and the beauty of New York City. The opening credits of the film show them as strangers, constantly passing each other on the street but never knowing the other is the one they’re sneaking in chats with in their spare time. Loosely based on Pride and Prejudice, it’s a classic for a good reason.
The first time the two bump into each other is when Joe wanders into Kathleen’s children’s bookstore with his relatives (I’d say as he’s playing uncle, but the fact that he’s not the kids’ uncle is part of the fun). Joe finds the Storybook Lady who’s enchanting kids with a wonderful narrator voice, charming.
When it comes time to check out, the dramatic irony that runs through You’ve Got Mail comes into play: the staff of The Shop Around the Corner bemoan the book superstore, Fox Books, opening nearby and what it will mean for small businesses like them…little do they know, Joe owns Fox Books.
He tries to play it cool, not wanting his identity to take away from the interaction he’s having with Kathleen, but he has to come up with more and more clever ploys as the kids nearly give away his secret.
The meeting is lovely, giving us a sense of the kind of people Joe and Kathleen are, and highlights their natural chemistry — they’d be a great couple if it weren’t for the business rivalry. The rivalry is, of course, what drives the conflict for the rest of the story, but the eventual happy ending is so pleasant after such a sweet first introduction of the two to each other.
04 | Iris & Arthur from The Holiday (2006)
Okay, so this meet-cute isn’t between the romantic leads, but it’s one of our favorites: when Iris meets Arthur in The Holiday. The story follows two ladies who are out of luck in love and then switch houses for Christmas. Amanda heads to England, where she meets Iris’s handsome widower brother, Graham. Iris heads to L.A., where she bumps into Amanda’s ex’s co-worker, Miles. Sparks fly for both couples, of course, but it’s the meeting between Iris and Arthur that stands out.
Iris is stuck in an on-again-off-again romance with someone who cheated on her and is now planning to marry the “other woman.” While Iris knows in her head this is toxic, her heart won’t let go of the guy… that is, until she meets Arthur, a man in his eighties who was a Hollywood writing legend in his time.
While taking his daily walk, Arthur gets confused about where he is and Iris helps him find his way home. The writer in Arthur points out, “This is some meet-cute,” to Iris before explaining that a meet-cute is where two characters, especially in a romance, meet in a memorable way.
“Of course, this isn’t that cute,” he says comically. It’s Arthur who helps Iris see her life in a new way and gently nudges her and Miles together. So while he’s right, it’s not cute in a romantic way, it is cute in the way that only a meeting of two unlikely friends can be. It’s a good reminder that out-of-the-blue encounters can change our lives for the better.
05 | Grace & Bob from Return to Me (2000)
“Grace has Bob’s dead wife’s heart!” Bonnie Hunt’s delivery of the line in Return to Me continues to be hilarious no matter how many times we see it. And to be fair, it’s the underlying premise of the whole movie.
Bob loses his wife in a tragic car accident and Grace is the recipient of the heart transplant. Will that tragic connection come between the doe-eyed couple? It’s the rom-com movie where “you’ll always have my heart” is taken literally.
A year or so after the transplant, Bob’s good friend tries to encourage him to get out and start dating again. It turns out to be the worst first date ever — his date being loud, obnoxious, and rude to the waitress, Grace. Meanwhile, Grace’s two grandpas, who’ve taken care of her most of her life and run the restaurant, provide most of the humor in this movie, as they try to set her up on a date too. But her date turns out to be awful as well, with her making conversation in between table runs.
Both Grace and Bob are trying to get out of the awkward setups as quickly as possible. Bob quickly attempts to make an exit when he runs into Grace, who’s dumping out the expensive water his date went on and on about, about to fill it with tap. He laughs; she’s embarrassed. But they’re both drawn to each other immediately. And when Bob forgets his phone after taking off, it becomes the bread crumb that leads him back to the restaurant, in search of Grace.
06 | Anne & Gilbert from Anne of Green Gables (1985)
Anne of Green Gables is one of the best coming-of-age stories ever told, and the 1985 movie, directed by Kevin Sullivan, is one we can watch over and over (the casting is just so incredible!).
No meet-cute can compare to that of Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe’s, her school rival and (spoiler) future husband. Gilbert calls Anne ‘carrots’ (oh, the many plights of being red-haired!), which in Anne’s mind, is the worst possible insult, enough to try anyone’s temper. So Anne, passionate and fiery as she is, picks up a slate and wham — breaks it over Gilbert’s head, right in the middle of class.
From then on, Anne refuses to let Gilbert off the hook. The more Anne holds that grudge against Gilbert, however, the more he wants her. It’s such a sweet romance because he waits for her to mature, even as he grows into a good man himself.
The intellectual rivalry helps them challenge each other in school and builds the foundation of friendship that will blossom into a lifelong love down the road. It takes much longer than Gilbert would like because Anne has to make many wrong turns before choosing him. But something in Gil’s heart tells him that she’ll come around. And he loves her enough to let her go on that journey.
