10 Rom Coms From the ’90s You Won’t Have to Fake Excitement About

These rom coms from the 1990s will restore your faith in love.

Pretty Woman (1990)

Director: Garry Marshall

Writer: J.F. Lawton

Cast: Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Jason Alexander, Laura San Giacomo

Maybe the most '90s of all '90s romantic comedies, this one stars Julia Roberts as Vivian Ward, a plucky Los Angeles sex worker who meets rich businessman Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) and agrees to be his escort to several work events. What starts as a business agreement turns into something much more romantic.

Sleepless in Seattle (1993)

Director: Nora Ephron

Writers: Jeff Arch, Nora Ephron, David S. Ward

Cast: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Rita Wilson, Ross Malinger, Victor Garber, Bill Pullman

In this absolute classic rom com, Tom Hanks plays Sam, a widowed dad whose young son calls into a radio show exclaiming that his dad needs a girlfriend. Meg Ryan plays Annie Reed, a reporter who, despite being engaged, falls for Sam. She writes him a letter suggesting they meet on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day, and the rest is history.

Jerry Maguire (1996)

Director: Cameron Crowe

Writer: Cameron Crowe

Cast: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger

"You had me at hello" is just one of the unforgettable lines from this Cameron Crowe rom com starring Tom Cruise as Jerry, a sports agent who gets fired from his job after a moral epiphany, and Renée Zellweger, the only employee with the guts to follow him. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Regina King round out an outstanding ensemble, but Dorothy's son (Jonathan Lipnicki) just might get the best lines.

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Director: John Turteltaub

Writers: Daniel G. Sullivan, Fredric Lebow

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher

In an unlikely rom com setup, Sandra Bullock stars as a transit worker named Lucy who saves her crush (Peter Gallagher) from being hit by a train. When he falls into a coma, his family assumes that Lucy is his fiancee, and she doesn't correct them. As she gets closer with her crush's family, things get more complicated when she actually starts falling for his brother (Bill Pullman).

My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)

Director: P.J. Hogan

Writer: Ron Bass

Cast: Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz

Yes, Julia Roberts is on this list a lot — but she's the queen of '90s rom com, and we don't make the rules. When Julianne (Roberts) finds out that her best friend Michael (Dermot Mulroney) is getting married to sweet college girl Kimmy (Cameron Diaz), she realizes too late that she wants him for herself.

So, she goes against her own best judgment and decides to break up their wedding.

Notting Hill (1999)

Director: Roger Miller

Writer: Richard Curtis

Cast: Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts, Rhys Ifans, Gina McKee, Hugh Bonneville

This is one of those 90s rom coms you'll never forget. What gives it such enduring charm? The expert casting of Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant as a movie star and a humble bookshop owner who fall in love, of course.

There's also the perfect backdrop of the quaint, pastel-painted townhomes of Notting Hill, including the now-famous house with the blue door. There is Grant's heartbroken walk past the bustling Portobello Road street market as Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine plays. There's the Notting Hill Bookshop, which still gets bombarded with tourists on the daily, over 20 years after the film came out.

Then there's the heart-wrenching sincerity of how Julia Roberts delivers her iconic line: "Don't forget, I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her."

Runaway Bride (1999)

Director: Garry Marshall

Writers: Josanna McGibbon, Sara Parriott

Cast: Julia Roberts, Richard Gere, Joan Cusack

One of the only 90s rom com couples that can compete with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant is Julia Roberts and Richard Gere: They star together in Runaway Bride as small-town hardware store owner Maggie Carpenter and big-city reporter Ike Graham, who writes an unflattering column about Maggie's penchant for leaving men at the altar.

When she gets him fired over factual errors in the story, he vows to get his job back by following her around her hometown of Hale, Maryland to gather intel for a spec piece that will prove that his theory about her was correct.

Groundhog Day (1993)

Director: Harold Ramis

Writers: Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis

Cast: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott

Bill Murray stars as Phil, a miserable weather man who finds himself in Punxsatawney, Pennsylvania for an assignment on February 2. But when he wakes up the next day, it's Groundhog Day all over again. Through many, many loops, he realizes he loves Rita (Andie MacDowell) and devotes his strange circumstances to becoming a better person and helping people.

You may not think of this as a rom com, because it does so many things, but its mix of cynicism and romance is what makes it so compelling.

Clueless (1995)

Director: Amy Heckerling

Writer: Amy Heckerling

Cast: Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd

This totally charming Jane Austen update has had teens sighing "Ugh, as if!" for decades. Starring Alicia Silverstone as Cher Loyd, Stacy Dash as her best friend Dionne, the late Brittany Murphy as their other school friend, Tal, and Paul Rudd as Cher's, uh, stepbrother, it's a glorious homage to what it means to be a teenager navigating school, popularity, and friendship.

You've Got Mail (1998)

Director: Nora Ephron

Writer: Miklós László, Nora Ephron, Delia Ephron

Cast: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Parker Posey, Steve Zahn, Heather Burns, Dave Chappelle

This Nora Ephron film stars Meg Ryan yet again in another all-time classic role. She plays Kathleen Kelly, an independent bookshop owner who is upset when a big bookseller chain, Fox Books, run by Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) threatens to ruin her business. At the same time, she also strikes up an online pen-pal situationship with a mystery man for whom she develops strong feelings.

Bonus: When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Director: Rob Reiner

Writer: Nora Ephron

Cast: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher

Yes, technically this one is not a '90s rom com since it came out in 1989 — but it inspired and fueled the '90s rom com boom. (It also earned the great Nora Ephron a nomination for Best Screenplay at the 1990 Oscars, so that counts for something, right?)

When Harry Met Sally is the end-all-be-all of will-they-won't-theys. It follows Meg Ryan as Sally and Billy Crystal as Harry from the time they meet after graduating college through 12 years of chance run-ins and awkward romantic interactions. Just when you think they'll finally end up together, they don't — and just when you think they'll finally call it quits, they surprise you.

Main image: Meg Ryan during the most famous scene in When Harry Met Sally. Columbia Pictures.