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Streaming Video Guides

Use this guide to find streaming alternatives to Media Services DVDs.

Rom Coms

Titles Available as of July 2022

This is a selective list of streaming video holdings in the American University Library. Streaming guides are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the library catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible. For complete up-to-date streaming holdings, please refer to our streaming catalog.

African Queen

In the romantic adventure of all time, an alcoholic skipper and a prim spinster confront danger and find love on a sleazy steamer during World War I. Bogart won his only Oscar for this movie.

Anastasia

A magical musical filled with romance and adventure, ANASTASIA is a spectacular, full-length motion picture about the lost princess Anastasia. Remembering nothing about her royal heritage, and her only clue a music box key that says "together in Paris," the princess sets off for Paris to find her true identity and begin a new life. Along the way, Anastasia meets a charming con man, and is pursued by the evil Rasputin and his gang of ghostly minions, who'll stop at nothing to complete his curse against her family. At the end of her journey, she must choose between the life of a princess and her one true love. 

The Art of Getting By

The Art of Getting By stars Freddie Highmore as George, a lonely and fatalistic teen who's made it all the way to his senior year without ever having done a real day of work, who is befriended by Sally, a beautiful and complicated girl who recognizes in him a kindred spirit. 

Bedrooms and Hallways

Leo and Darren are two gay roommates living in London, each single and pursuing romantic happiness. While Darren strikes up a relationship with real estate agent and sex-fiend Jeremy, Leo joins a New Age men's therapy group and promptly develops a crush on fellow member Brendan - who is recently separated from his longtime girlfriend Sally! Director Rose Troche (Go Fish, The L Word) and a cast of actors including Kevin McKidd (Trainspotting, Grey's Anatomy), Simon Callow (Amadeus, Shakespeare In Love), Tony Award winner Jennifer Ehle (The King's Speech, Pride and Prejudice), and Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings) have created a refreshing and thoroughly charming film that examines the trials and tribulations of lust and love.

Bride Wars 

Liv (Kate Hudson) and Emma (Anne Hathaway), best friends since childhood, are always there for each other, through good times and bad. Even their respective bridal engagements happen within hours. Together they plan their weddings, each to take place at New York's ultimate bridal destination, the Plaza Hotel. But a clerical error and subsequent clash in wedding dates pits the two brides against each other in a competition that quickly escalates into all-out war. 

Broadcast News

Basket-case network news producer Jane Craig falls for news reporter Tom Grunnick, a pretty boy who represents the trend towards entertainment news she despises. Aaron Altman, a talented but plain correspondent, carries an unrequited torch for Jane. Sparks fly between the three as the network prepares for big changes, and both the news and Jane must decide between style and substance.

Down with Love 

An irresistible force - a feminist writer - becomes involved with an immovable object - a womanizing journalist - in this sexy farce and homage to the grand romantic comedies of the '50s and '60s. Process shots of fake backgrounds, hyper-vibrant colour schemes and trademark period fashions and decor add to the fun. From the producers of 'American Beauty' and the director of 'Bring It On.'

Drive Me Crazy

Based on the young adult novel "How I Created The Perfect Prom Date," the story tells of a teenage girl (Melissa Joan Hart) and boy (Adrian Grenier) who grew up next-door to one another but never made a love connection. Nicole is up on the latest fashions; Chase, on the newest protest. She wouldn't miss a pep rally or basketball game; he can usually be found moping in some darkened coffee house. But when longtime friends and neighbors gather for their high school's centennial celebration, Nicole and Chase realize that they were meant for each other all along. 

The Family Stone

The comedy revolves around the annual holiday gathering of a bohemian family that's thrown into turmoil when the fair-haired son introduces his fiancée, a high strung New York businesswoman whom the family hates. 

Fanie Fourie’s Lobola

This film is a South African romantic comedy about an Afrikaans guy and a Zulu girl who fall in love and have to navigate their way through the complicated process of lobola - the traditional Zulu bride price. Filled with humorous but hard-hitting social commentary, the film is a contemporary fairy tale about love and tradition in a rapidly evolving society.

Fever Pitch

Based on the Nick Hornby novel and movie "Fever Pitch" (1997) starring Colin Firth. The film has been updated to centre on a guy and his obsession with the Boston Red Sox. Ben meets Lindsey. They fall in love. All things are wonderful. But their future together is threatened once the baseball season comes around and Lindsey discovers something about Ben...his obsession with the Boston Red Sox. 

The Girl Next Door

A straight-arrow high-school senior falls in love with the perfect 'girl-next-door', only to discover she is a former porn star. 

Gulliver's Travels

Jack Black is bigger than ever... as Gulliver, a perpetual underachiever and wannabe travel writer at a New York newspaper. When he finally makes an effort to actually venture out the city to write a travel piece, a storm-tossed voyage lands him on an island inhabited by tiny folks called Lilliputians. After a rocky beginning, the gargantuan Gulliver becomes an inspiration to his new six-inch-tall friends. He brings them modern-day wonders like a PDA and music video game -- while they help him kick it old-school during his travels through this unforgettable world. 

Hello, Dolly!

A matchmaker named Dolly Levi takes a trip to Yonkers, New York to see the "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire," Horace Vandergelder. While there, she convinces him, his two stock clerks and his niece and her beau to go to New York City. In New York, she fixes Vandergelder's clerks up with the woman Vandergelder had been courting, and her shop assistant (Dolly has designs of her own on Mr. Vandergelder, you see). 

How Stella Got Her Groove Back

While her young son is away visiting his father, 42-year-old African-American investment analyst Stella takes a spur-of-the-moment trip to Jamaica. There, she meets Winston Shakespeare, a tall, handsome, sexy, Jamaican. He's the man of her dreams in every way... except one: he's only 20-years-old. 

I Think I Love My Wife

A married man who daydreams about being with other women finds his will and morals tested after he's visited by the ex-mistress of his old friend. 

Imagine Me and You

MAGINE ME and YOU is the story of a girl who falls in love on her wedding day...but not with the man of honor. Heck (Matthew Goode) and Rachel (Piper Perabo) are a happy young couple about to embark on life together. But at the church, Rachel catches the eye of an unexpected guest. In that moment, she realizes that maybe Heck isn't the one for her. Of course, they will never know for sure unless they give it a shot. What follows is the romantic, humorous and sometimes poignant journey familiar to anyone who's ever been lucky (or unlucky) enough to be under love's spell. 

Juno

JUNO stars Elliot Page as the title character, a whip-smart teen confronting an unplanned pregnancy by her classmate Bleeker (Cera). With the help of her hot best friend Leah, Juno finds her unborn child a perfect set of parents: an affluent suburban couple, Mark and Venessa (Bateman and Garner), longing to adopt.

Kissing Jessica Stein

'Kissing Jessica Stein' is a laugh-out-loud comedy with a fresh take on sex and the single girl. After a dating spree from hell, Jessica happens upon an intriguing personal ad with one drawback -- it is in the "women seeking Women" section. On a whim, she answers it and meets Helen, a woman with whom she has instant chemistry. With conventional gender roles absent, the two women proceed to muddle through an earnest, but hilarious courtship, making up the rules -- it blurs the lines between friendship and romantic love, and finds the funny, surprising and ultimately poignant overlap between the two.

Le Divorce

In this modern-day comedy of manners, American sisters Isabel (Kate Hudson) and Roxy (Naomi Watts) come face to face with the complicated social mores of French society. Pregnant and jilted by her scoundrel husband, Roxy is headed for LE DIVORCE, while Isabel leaps into l'amour with a married French diplomat who happens to be the uncle of Roxy's soon-to-be-ex. Culture clash and scandal ensue as the sisters learn what it really takes to be an American in Paris. 

L’Elisir D’Amore

Donizetti's bubbly romantic comedy about a spunky landowner, a hapless peasant, and the dubious love potion that may or may not bring them together never fails to delight audiences. In this performance from the Met's Live in HD series, South African soprano Pretty Yende stars as Adina, imbuing her character with lovable warmth while tossing off effortless coloratura passages from beginning to end. Tenor Matthew Polenzani is Nemorino, Adina's love-struck admirer, who pours out his heart in the moving aria "Una furtiva lagrima." 

La Fille du Régiment

With one virtuosic vocal display after another, Donizetti's charming romantic comedy has long served to showcase talented bel canto singers on the Met stage. This tradition continued during the 2018-19 Live in HD season, when soprano Pretty Yende and tenor Javier Camarena thrilled audiences as the smitten young lovers Marie and Tonio. Yende offers an exuberant portrayal as the titular "Daughter of the Regiment," while Camarena serves up nine effortless high Cs in the opera's famous aria "Ah! Mes amis ... Pour mon âme"--a feat which he encores by popular demand. 

500 Days of Summer

This post modern love story is never what we expect it to be -- it's thorny yet exhilarating, funny and sad, a twisted journey of highs and lows that doesn't quite go where we think it will. When Tom, a hapless greeting card copywriter and hopeless romantic, is blindsided after his girlfriend Summer dumps him, he shifts back and forth through various periods of their 500 days "together" to try to figure out where things went wrong. His reflections ultimately lead him to finally rediscover his true passions in life.

Love, Simon

Everyone deserves a great love story. But for Simon it's complicated: no-one knows he's gay and he doesn't know who the anonymous classmate is that he's fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, scary and life-changing.

Mannequin

It's love at first sight when boy meets dummy in the surprise box-office hit of the spring, 1987! A befuddled stockroom clerk enters a wonderful fantasy world when he falls in love with a beautiful department store mannequin, who comes to life only for him. A witty and sophisticated love story about impossible dreams that come true, Mannequin will capture the heart of even the most skeptical cynic. The sensational sound track includes Grace Slick and the Starship's No. 1 hit, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now." 

Move Over, Darling

Five years to the day after his wife Ellen disappeared in the sea after a plane crash, lawyer husband Nicholas has her declared legally dead, remarries and sets off to Monterey with new wife Bianca. The same morning, Ellen arrives home after being rescued by the Navy from a desert island and follows to try and prevent the honeymoon developing further. Nick, still in love with Ellen, is delighted to see her but finds he still can't break the news to Bianca, while Ellen equally hasn't got round to telling the children she is their mother. Could get complicated. 

Monte Carlo

A young woman, her uptight step sister and her best friend use their savings for a long anticipated dream trip to Paris, which turns out to be a big disappointment. When they decide to take a break from their lousy tour and duck into the lobby of a 5-star hotel, one of them is mistaken for a spoiled British heiress. Before they get the chance to reveal their true identities they are wrapped up in a whirlwind of paparazzi, private planes, couture gowns, storybook romances, and a vacation in Monte Carlo.

Never Been Kissed

From producer Drew Barrymore, comes a contemporary comedy featuring Drew Barrymore as a copy editor in her early 20s who yearns to be a reporter at a Chicago newspaper. She accepts an assignment to go undercover as a high school student, only to experience the horrors of being unpopular all over again - until she finds a way to turn it all around.

Next Stop, Greenwich Village

Paul Mazursky directed this unique romantic comedy, based on his own experiences as a struggling young actor in New York. The time and place of a bygone era are painstakingly re-created in this tender, sensitive, and consistently funny film. 

Out to Sea

The movies' hottest and most enduring team, Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, of the box office hits "Grumpy Old Men" and "Grumpier Old Men", join forces again in this nautical romantic comedy. In order to meet and, hopefully, fleece eligible women, Matthau cons his brother-in-law, Lemmon, into joining him as a dance instructor aboard a luxury cruise line. 

Picture Perfect

Jennifer Aniston, of the TV series "Friends," stars in this romantic comedy about a single woman who, to jump start a promising career in advertising, uses a random photo to invent a fictional boyfriend and love life for herself. She actually meets the man in the picture (Jay Mohr), falls head-over-heels in love, and finds her world turned upside-down as romantic complications follow.

The Princess Bride

A kindly grandfather sits down with his grandson and reads him a bedtime story. The story is one that has been passed down through from father to son for generations. As the grandfather reads the story, the action comes alive. The story is a classic tale of love and adventure as the beautiful Buttercup is kidnapped and held against her will in order to marry the odious Prince Humperdinck, and Westley (her childhood beau, now returned as the Dread Pirate Roberts) attempts to save her. On the way he meets an accomplished swordsman and a huge, super strong giant, both of whom become his companions in his quest to rescue Buttercup.

Ruby Sparks

Calvin (Paul Dano) is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing - as well as his romantic life. Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him. When Calvin finds Ruby (Zoe Kazan), in the flesh, sitting on his couch about a week later, he is completely flabbergasted that his words have turned into a living, breathing person.

Say Anything

An improbable couple meets after high school graduation and must deal with their friends, family, and other pressures just to stay together. Lloyd Dobler is an average kickboxer with a good heart but limited ambition. Diane Court is an aloof genius who is very closely protected by her father. When Diane gets a scholarship to study in England, she has a weighty decision to make.

The Seven Year Itch

Like many other Manhattan husbands, Richard Sherman sends his wife and son to the country for the summer, while he stays behind to toil. Though reveling in temporary bachelor freedom of lifestyle, he's resolved not to carouse and philander like some others. But his overactive, over-vivid imagination goes into overdrive when a delightfully unconventional, voluptuous blonde moves in upstairs.

Sum of Histories

Physics professor Viktor has made a discovery that could change everything. His invention allows him to send emails into the past, and though the possibilities are endless, none are more important than the potential to reconstruct a life with the woman he loves. But for every action there is a reaction, and the consequences of Viktor’s meddling in the past may not add up to the future he planned.

This Means War  

The world's deadliest CIA operatives are inseparable partners and best friends until they fall for the same woman. Having once helped bring down entire enemy nations, they are now employing their incomparable skills and an endless array of high-tech gadgetry against their greatest nemesis ever - each other.

The Truth About Cats and Dogs

What can Abby, a sharp but insecure radio talk show host, and Noelle, a beautiful and eager-to-please model, possibly have in common? The two unlikely friends are about to find out when Abby finds herself strongly attracted to a charming photographer - and asks Noelle to assume her identity when he unexpectedly comes calling to meet the person behind the beguiling radio personality. A series of romantic and comic misadventures follows, finally giving way to true love and friendship.

27 Dresses 

A woman who has made a career out of being a bridesmaid - but never a bride - faces her worst nightmare when her sister becomes engaged to the man of her dreams. Luckily, the wedding brings around the man who may change her bridesmaid status for good. 

An Unmarried Woman

Director Paul Mazursky and actress Jill Clayburgh combined their talents to create this funny, frank, and marvelously perceptive comedy about Erica, a woman who must "rediscover" herself when her husband leaves her. 

Waitress

The story of one woman trapped in a life from which she dreams of escape. Jenna's (Russell) secret ambition is to save enough money from her waitressing job to leave her overbearing and controlling husband (Sisto). Jenna is a sharp, sassy woman with a gift for making unusual pies whose recipes are inspired by the trials, tribulations and circumstances of her life. An unwanted pregnancy changes the course of events giving her an unexpected confidence via letters to her unborn baby. 

What Happens in Vegas

Two strangers awaken together to discover they've gotten married following a night of debauchery in Sin City, and that one of them has won a huge jackpot after playing the other's quarter. The newlyweds devise ever-escalating schemes to undermine each other and get their hands on the money - only to find themselves falling in love amid the mutual backstabbing. 

What We Don't Say

A fusion between drama and romantic comedy. When Ben and Juliette meet, each takes a chance on the other. He's an aspiring cartoonist dreaming of a relationship. She's a free spirit uninterested in being pinned down. Their instant connection results in a romance that asks 2 simple questions: "What do you do when loves knocks at your door?'" and "is what we don't say actually exactly what we mean?'"