13 Movies Like The Notebook to Watch Now

When The Notebook premiered in 2004, it cemented itself as one of the best classic romance movies.

Now, 20 years since the Nicholas Sparks film first hit the big screen, it continues to be heralded as one of the most beloved American romance films of the 21st century.

Starring Ryan Gosling as lumber mill worker Noah Calhoun and Rachel McAdams as heiress Allie Hamilton, the film depicts the two characters as lovers from opposite sides of the tracks, longing for one another despite Allie’s parents’ disapproval of Noah. Spanning decades, the film addresses the couple’s long, and at times forbidden, love affair.

But while The Notebook is a classic we’ll always return to, everyone needs to spread their “If you’re a bird, I’m a bird” wings from time to time. Luckily, there are plenty of great romance movies that will satisfy your taste for The Notebook, while providing fresh angles, timelines and more.

Including love stories that are dramatic, tender, humorous and surprising, here are 13 movies to watch if you love The Notebook.

Notting Hill

If there’s one rom-com that’s a total crowd pleaser, it’s Notting Hill. Starring Hugh Grant as bookshop owner William Thacker and Julia Roberts as American movie star Anna Scott, the 1999 movie sees the pair strike up a conversation when Scott buys a book from Thacker’s shop.

Later, the pair run into each other, quite literally, on the streets of London's Notting Hill, causing Scott’s juice to spill all over her. When Thacker invites her into his apartment to clean up, she surprises him with a kiss.

The hijinks and swoon-worthy moments that follow will satisfy any romance fan.

Dear John

A Sparks film everyone can indulge in: Dear John. Starring Amanda Seyfried as Savannah Curtis and Channing Tatum as John Tyree, the 2010 film is based on the Sparks novel of the same name and begins during springtime in Charleston, S.C.

In the movie, John is home in America while on leave from his military deployment to Afghanistan. In Charleston, he meets Savannah, a college student on spring break. The pair are an unlikely duo — him with a history of poor choices, her building Habitat for Humanity homes in her spare time — but they quickly fall in love.

Things aren’t simple for the pair, so the film keeps you locked in as it follows John and Savannah through their trials and tribulations across the years.

The Photograph

If you’re looking for a modern romance with small marks of history, the 2020 movie,The Photograph, is an ideal watch. Starring Issa Rae as Mae, an assistant curator in New York City, and LaKeith Stanfield as Michael Block, a reporter, the two become tied when Block is tracking down a photograph of a woman named Christina Eames — who happens to be Mae’s mother.

With a narrative that oscillates between past and present, this is a tale of family, friendship and romantic longing across time and space.

The Lucky One

The 2012 film The Lucky One, also based on a Sparks novel, stars millennial heartthrob Zac Efron as Logan Thibault and Orange is the New Black’s Taylor Schilling as Beth Green. The movie traces Logan’s departure from the Marines, which has left him with PTSD, as he makes his way to a small town in Louisiana and meets Beth.

But their meeting isn’t all happenstance. Logan was searching for the woman shown in a photo he brought home from combat. This creative love-at-first-sight tale includes mystery, drama and a heavy dose of romance.

The Spectacular Now

With a less predictable narrative arc than many high school romance flicks, The Spectacular Now stars Shaliene Woodley as do-gooder Aimee Finnicky and Miles Teller as party-going Sutter Keely. This 2013 film sees the two characters unexpectedly forge a romantic bond after Aimee finds Sutter sleeping on a front lawn in the middle of her paper route. When she eventually tutors him, sparks fly.

This movie breathes new life into the classic tutor-meets-jock romance and deals with tough material such as addiction.

Lost in Translation

A beloved Sofia Coppola film, Lost in Translation (2003) stars Bill Murray as Bob Harris, a mid-life-crisis-having movie star, opposite Scarlett Johansson as Charlotte, a fresh college graduate.

Set in Tokyo where Bob is promoting a whiskey brand and questioning his 25-year marriage, he meets Charlotte who is accompanying her soon-to-be husband on a work trip. When the unexpected pair link-up, they form a unique bond that helps them both.

If you’re looking for romantic themes but want something a bit outside of the box, this is it.

Call Me By Your Name

With depictions of first desire that cut to the bone, this 2017 coming-of-age romance will crack your heart open.

Call Me By Your Name follows 17-year-old Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet), the son of an archaeology professor, and 24-year-old Oliver (Armie Hammer), a graduate student of the professor, as the pair stay in the Perlman family home in Northern Italy for the summer – and Elio falls in love for the first time.

From heart-wrenching scenes to a stunning Italian backdrop, it’s a must-watch for romance fans everywhere.

Endless Love

Another tale of forbidden love, Endless Love (2014) follows Jade Butterfield (Gabriella Wilde) and her classmate David (Alex Pettyfer), who has long had a crush on her, during the summer before Jade leaves for college.

While Butterfield isn’t one to party, she asks her parents for a soiree as her graduation gift. As she doesn’t have many friends, David gets a large crowd to show up, making Butterfield's night (her year, even?).

From that point on, the pair are inseparable despite her father’s wishes and they have the summer of a lifetime.

Loving

Inspired by the real-life couple that challenged the interracial marriage law in America last century, Loving begins in 1958 and follows Mildred (Ruth Negga), a Black woman, and Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton), a White man. The pair fell in love in their town of Caroline County, Va., after knowing each other as family friends.

If you’re a fan of legal dramas but are still on a romance kick, this 2016 movie is for you.

A Star is Born

2018’s A Star is Born went beyond the normal romance fandom, with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga delighting fans by even performing “Shallow” — a song featured in the hit movie — at the 91st Academy Awards.

Before the fame of their heart wrenching song, the film wowed with two central characters, Jackson “Jack” Maine and Ally, and their passionate love affair, musical careers and Jack’s alcohol addiction.

Like The Notebook, the film follows the pair’s love story over a number of years.

If Beale Street Could Talk

Based on the acclaimed novel by James Baldwin and adapted for the screen by Academy Award winning director Barry Jenkins, 2016 movie If Beale Street Could Talk is a tale wherein love must overcome all odds.

The film revolves around Clementine “Tine” Rivers (Kiki Layne) and Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt (Stephan James), who were best friends as children and lovers as adults. However, things go awry when Fonny is wrongfully accused and convicted of rape. Now, Tine must use all of her power to free him.

Love Story

An intense class-clash is perfectly portrayed in Love Story (1970) with Ryan O’Neal playing Oliver Barrett IV, a Harvard student and heir, and Ali MacGraw playing Jennifer "Jenny" Cavilleri, a Radcliffe student studying classical music.

Much like Allie and Noah in The Notebook, Oliver’s parents threaten to keep his inheritance if he marries Jenny. Of course, domineering parents are no match for love.

The Way We Were

Starring Barbra Streisand as Katie Morosky and Robert Redford as Hubbell Gardiner, The Way We Were is a 1973 romantic drama with politics at the center.

Morosky and Gardiner meet in college where Morosky is involved in anti-war activism and Gardiner, an intelligent WASP with no particular political affiliations, falls for her despite the two having little in common on paper. While the couple is beyond the age of parental encroachment on their relationship, the film portrays the challenges they face as two people who love each other but aren’t willing to sacrifice their personal passions.

If you like The Notebook’s ability to carry you through time, you’ll love this movie, too.