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Love is most certainly in the air, friends. That wonderful/dreaded commercial holiday that somehow rests heavy on everyone’s mind, Valentine’s Day, is right around the corner. In honor of VDay, we’ve decided to dedicate our latest round of Finding the Good Trash to films that will help set the mood for some romance. My goal is to find something for everyone with a diverse list that’ll hit you in all the right places; from Zombies to Outlaws to the King of the RomCom we’ve got a bit of everything to get you in the zone for Valentine’s Day.

Five Movies to get you going for Valentine’s Day

5. Don Jon

I’m going to kick things off this Valentine’s Day with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut, Don Jon. JGL has become a beloved entity amongst internet crowds and movie fans. He first captured our hearts on Third Rock from the Sun and 10 Things I Hate About You while evolving into an adult heart throb who we love to sympathize with in films like 50/50 and The Night Before. He is a versatile actor and pretty competent behind the camera as well. His turn as a porn addict who can’t comprehend human emotions within relationships is the crux behind the narrative of Don Jon. Scarlett Johansson’s Barbara is a perfect complement to his titular Jon. Neither of them understand how relationships are supposed to work due to the unrealistic expectations that different medias have put on their views of love. Jon’s is shaped by pornography. He expects his real life trysts to have similar outcomes to those he watches online and when he can’t get that in the bedroom then it’s back to the laptop. Similarly, Barbara longs for a Hollywood romance – which is just as unrealistic as the pornography Jon fills his mind with. Don Jon tackles a very interesting and taboo subject matter  and points a mirror back at society; explaining that it’s not just pornography that has a negative effect on viewers. It is a movie that can push you to stop and look at your own relationships and pursuits and question where your motives and motivations are coming from.

4. Shaun of the Dead

ZomRomComs may be one of my favorite subgenres, just because I like that classification. So, this Valentine’s Day you and your significant other should sit down and watch the first entry in the Cornetto Trilogy. Shaun of the Dead is as much about Zombies and growing up as it is a story about finding a heteronormative relationship through which man can find himself and mature into adulthood. Shaun of the Dead works on a number of levels. Its got plenty of comedy, a good blend of horror and gore, plenty of nods to Romero’s works, and romance. Shaun’s trek to save his  girl and get to the Winchester to wait for everything to blow over is a grand adventure, filled with humor and odd situational comedy. The core conflict of Shaun having to overcome his kidult stage to find a whole and complete life including a romantic relationship and a bromance drives this film and it works more often than not. If you haven’t seen Shaun of the Dead then you’re doing life wrong… watch it, watch it now… I’ll wait…

3. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Okay good, now that that’s out of the way, we can keep going on. I’m throwing How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days on here for a couple of reasons. 1) It’s the more commercial and expected entry for a list like this. 2) It’s hilarious and a solid example of a RomCom that works. It is by no means a great film; but McConaughey and Hudson have such a great chemistry that it makes this movie super easy and super fun to watch. It also allows ample opportunity for you and your love bunny to get a little closer and maybe sneak a smooch or two. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days doesn’t do anything spectacular within the genre, it’s not innovative, and more than anything it probably hurt McConaughey’s career as he realized how little he could do to get a good payday. But, unlike his other vehicles, it is just a super charming and fun movie to watch with lots of chances for some good screwball comedy and I think it’s a perfect pairing and lead in for another movie on this list. This Valentine’s Day, if you really want to set the mood, and DVD/Blu-Ray/Netflix and Chill – then How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days has to be on your list.

2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

*Record scratches to a stop*

Now, I know what you’re all thinking, and yes, I do love Valentine’s Candy – specifically Fun Dip; but I digress. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is here for all my single peeps out there. Because, Valentine’s Day can really suck if you’re not in a relationship. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a great movie to watch at Valentine’s Day because whether you’re single, in a relationship, or it’s complicated – it works. First, its a great example of the New Hollywood movement. Second, it is a great celebration of friendship. Before, I Love You, Man and Shaun and Ed, Butch and Sundance were Bro-ing it up, hard. In fact, they bro’d it up so hard, they literally took the plunge.

I think you can, and I’m sure there have been, make a very compelling queer reading of Butch and Sundance. I believe in the bottom of my heart that they love one another and the life that they’ve made for each other. When our classical heterosexual romance rears its ugly head, George Roy Hill quickly subverts it in order to focus on the relationship between the two outlaws. It’s a great western, it’s a great marker of the New Hollywood, and it is a great film to affirm your friendship to this Valentine’s Day.

1. It Happened One Night

It Happened One Night made Columbia a player in 1934. The first, and only one of three, film to win the top five Academy Awards, It Happened One Night is THE reason we have RomComs. Frank Capra’s masterpiece kickstarted a whole new genre dubbed Screwball Comedy. And almost every buddy comedy, road film, and RomCom since 1934 has Gable and Colbert to thank for paving the way. Clark Gable was the iconic image of masculinity in 1934 and Claudette Colbert was the perfect partner for him on screen. Their relationship and quick banter keeps things moving at a sharp pace and the film is memorable for a number of scenes and gags that would get duplicated throughout the years. When you watch How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, you have to follow it with It Happened One Night. It’s the perfect Valentine’s Day Double Feature. It Happened One Night is as charming, sweet, and cute a film as any ever made, and Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan wish they had half the chemistry that Gable and Colbert muster here.

Alrighty reader, if that’s not a list to set the mood this Valentine’s Day; I don’t know what is. You got a little something for everyone and hopefully there’s enough fuel there to get the motor’s running and get you on your way to a memorable Valentine’s Day with the one(s) you love.

Thank you for reading. I want to remind everyone that you can keep up with myself on Twitter and Letterboxd, as well as the whole GoodTrash Media Network on Facebook and Twitter. If you like what we’re doing, you could  also consider giving via Patreon.