June 11, 2026
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Julia Roberts tries to steal the groom for herself in 'My Best Friend's Wedding.'
Perhaps in an effort to facilitate more vacation hookups, multiple streaming services just dropped a ton of romantic comedies. And while you probably shouldn't actually take dating advice from Matthew McConaughey or J. Lo, watching them fall in love is a solid way to spend a rainy (or excessively muggy) summer afternoon.
These four rom-coms hit the libraries of Netflix, Peacock and Prime at the start of the month. Here's why you should watch them:
Most rom-coms invite you to root for their lovesick heroines. But it's pretty hard to support the ill-intentioned lead of "My Best Friend's Wedding."
After her longtime pal Michael (Dermot Mulroney) announces his sudden engagement to Kimmy (Cameron Diaz), Jules (Julia Roberts) realizes she's in love with him. She resolves to break them up and claim Michael for herself during the pre-wedding festivities. It's a heel turn that requires every ounce of Roberts' charm, especially as she stoops to light cybercrime.
"My Best Friend's Wedding" is impressively fair to each character in this love triangle, ending on a perfectly bittersweet note. Stream it on Netflix.
The cheerleader in this 1999 cult comedy finds love in an unexpected place: a gay conversion therapy camp managed by RuPaul. It's only at this cartoonish fun house — where the girls wear pink, clean the house and practice kissing boys — that Megan (Natasha Lyonne) comes to terms with her sexuality. Falling in love with fellow camper Graham (Clea DuVall) helps.
"But I'm a Cheerleader" doubles as a satire of homophobia and gender roles. It's now available on Peacock.
Relive J. Lo's early aughts reign as rom-com queen with "The Wedding Planner." The 2001 movie casts Lopez as a lonely career woman who develops feelings for the handsome doctor (Matthew McConaughey) who saved her life. The only problem? She's in charge of his impending wedding to a socialite.
Those are a lot of genre tropes, but Lopez and McConaughey sell the sweet story that skews a bit heavier on the rom than com. "The Wedding Planner" arrived on Netflix earlier this month, perhaps as supplemental viewing to Lopez's return to the genre "Office Romance."
It's hard to pitch "The Apartment," streaming on Prime, without sounding a little insane. The 1960 classic is about a pencil pusher (Jack Lemmon) climbing the corporate ladder by loaning his place out to his bosses for their affairs. He's in love with one of the mistresses (Shirley MacLaine). She's deeply depressed. And it's all very touching and darkly funny!
"The Apartment" really is one of the best rom-coms of all time, though, if not one of the best movies. Credit is due in equal parts to the heartfelt performances by MacLaine and Lemmon and the witty script by writing partners I.A.L. Diamond and Billy Wilder, the latter of whom also directed. If you dig their vibe — and it's hard not to — queue up their other classic "Some Like It Hot" next.
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