The best rom-coms on Hulu right now

Post-Boogie Nights and Magnolia, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson switched narrative gears for his fourth feature film, Punch-Drunk Love, a dazzling detour into all-new rom-com-adjacent terrain for the auteur. Adam Sandler stars as the unassuming protagonist Barry Egan. After a star-crossed encounter with one of his sister’s coworkers, Lena Leonard (Emily Watson), it seems Barry may have finally found love. But the vicious blackmailing of a hot-tempered mattress salesman, Dean Trumbell (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and his equally hot-headed cronies dares to stand in Barry’s way. Narratively defiant and visually kaleidoscopic, Anderson’s masterful casting of Sandler in a non-comedic role showed the world that the latter would be more than capable of leading the charge in heavy-hitting dramas like Uncut Gems nearly 20 years later.

Spanglish is another Adam Sandler rom-com that ignores the actor’s traditionally clownish roles in favor of some much more mature character work. Sandler and Téa Leoni star as John and Deborah Clasky, parents of a well-off family in need of housekeeping services. After onboarding a Mexican single mother named Flor (Paz Vega), the Clasky family is remiss to learn that they may have to let her go because the job is interfering with her parenting duties. This leads Deborah to do the next best thing she can think of: Invite Flor and her daughter to live in the Clasky home over the summer. An empathetic and often humorous story of what the word “family” means all over the globe, Spanglish is a warm-hearted film that is hard to pass up.

Lori and Doug have been in a relationship for nearly a decade, one that comes crashing to a close when Doug’s proposal to his longtime girlfriend ends in rejection. The only trouble is that the pair experience this great disappointment on the eve of Lori’s sister’s wedding. Deciding to pretend they’re still together, the couple must confront their deep-seated emotions for each other while contending with could-be love interests — all under the shadow of matrimony. Powered by the charismatic lead performances of both Cash and Jackson Harper, We Broke Up employs the talents of its two stars wholeheartedly — an on-screen dynamic that provides much of the film’s gusto.