Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love, affection and romance. It’s also an opportunity to have a wallet-friendly, at-home date night with your sweetie. Snuggle on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, chocolates, wine, a blanket for two and a romantic DVD like one of the following top five.
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Patrick Swayze plays a dance instructor at a resort where Jennifer Grey’s character spends a summer vacation with her family. The two prepare for a dance competition and wind up falling in love. The iconic scene pairs the steamy couple dancing their hearts out to the romantic ballad, "Time of My Life." The movie is a throwback to 1960s America with family vacations in the station wagon, no TV and playing board games to pass the time.
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
This quirky story asks the age-old question: Can men and women be "just friends?" The answer, according to the film, is yes ... and no. When Harry and Sally first meet, they can't stand each other. Over time they strike up a friendship. Then they fall in love. The plot is laced with humor and memorable dialogue, especially the banter between Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal as the title characters.
Ghost (1990)
Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze star as Molly and Sam, a young couple who are deeply in love but suddenly struck by tragedy: Sam is killed one night during a mugging. Not even death can break the bonds of love, however. Sam's spirit lingers, and much of the story revolves around his mission to solve the mystery of his death and warn Molly of impending danger. Whoopi Goldberg provides comic relief as Oda Mae Brown, a charlatan who comes to discover, through contact with Sam's ghost, that her psychic powers are real.
Titanic (1997)
This movie is titanic in length (more than three hours), so hunker down with a large bowl of popcorn and some hot chocolate or other caffeinated beverages. It's a tragic love story set on the high seas during the first and only voyage of RMS Titanic. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star in this legendary romance that transcends boundaries of class, circumstance and life.
The Notebook (2004)
This tenderly-told drama is based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. It's an epic story that depicts love between a poor but kind-hearted young man (Ryan Gosling) and rich young lady (Rachel McAdams). She develops a sense of freedom and independence, but the pair is sadly pulled apart by social stigma.
You and your sweetheart don't have to paint the town red to celebrate Valentine's Day. A quiet evening at home with a romantic DVD can be just as memorable and enjoyable.
