This Valentine’s Day weekend, Netflix made sure to add a big movie that will surely appeal to subscribers looking for a great love story.
While the live-action remake of the DreamWorks animated classic How to Train Your Dragon isn’t your traditional love story, it’s still a great movie to watch if you like adventure flicks about the bond between a man and his mythical pet dragon.
For those craving more traditional V-Day flicks, Watch With Us has included two on this list that should do the trick: a Graduate-inspired comedy, Rumor Has It, and the raunchy laughfest, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, starring Anna Kendrick.
‘How to Train Your Dragon’ (2025)
A live-action remake of a beloved animated classic? Hard pass, right? But unlike the recent Lilo & Stitch, this remake is actually good. How to Train Your Dragon stars Mason Thames as Hiccup, a rebellious Viking teen who unexpectedly injures a young dragon. According to his traditions, he’s supposed to slay all dragons, but instead, he cares for it and even gives it a name: Toothless. But when he’s called into battle, Hiccup has no choice but to reveal his secret friendship with his pet dragon. Will his stern, dragon-hating father, Stoick (Gerard Butler), accept Toothless? And does it matter when an ancient enemy known only as the Red Death threatens to wipe them all out?
After over a decade of watching dragons grace the Westeros sky in Game of Thrones, it’s not so shocking to see them spin and clash in this film. Still, the CG dragons are impressive to look at, and the film mimics the original’s awe-inspiring thrill of having a pet dragon to play with. Thames is convincing playing a loner who just wants a friend, while Butler is right at home playing a macho Viking who prefers killing creatures to raising his son.
How to Train Your Dragon is streaming on Netflix.
‘Rumor Has It’ (2005)
I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a rom-com on this list for Valentine’s Day, although Rumor Has It doesn’t have the classic status as, say, When Harry Met Sally. The movie is imperfect, but it has more positives than negatives, and few people have seen it, let alone remember it. The only requirement before watching it is that you have to know the basic plot of the classic 1967 film, The Graduate.
Why? Well, I’ll get to that. When The New York Times writer Sarah (Jennifer Aniston) returns to Pasadena for her sister’s wedding, she uncovers a shocking family secret — her grandmother, Katherine (Shirley MacLaine), may have inspired The Graduate’s OG cougar, Mrs. Robinson!
Kevin Costner and Jennifer Aniston in Rumor Has It Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection
But that’s not the only secret Sarah discovers. In talking with her late mother’s friends, she finds out her real father could be Beau Burroughs (Kevin Costner), who may have inspired the 1967 film’s Benjamin Braddock character, who memorably slept with Mrs. Robinson and her daughter. Did Beau do the same? Sarah’s determined to find out, even if the answer may totally change her life.
Rumor Has It is a schizo rom-com — at one point, Sarah finds herself falling for Beau! Don’t worry, this isn’t Game of Thrones; the movie clearly tells you who is related to whom at the right time. Aniston plays Sarah like Rachel Green with a better haircut, while MacLaine and Costner shine as two adults who still have fond memories of their brief fling all those years ago.
Rumor Has It is streaming on Netflix.
‘Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates’ (2016)
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You can’t get a more straightforward title than Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. Mike (Adam DeVine) and Dave (Zac Efron) are brothers who place an ad on Craigslist seeking wedding dates for their sister’s upcoming nuptials in Hawaii. Tatiana (Aubrey Plaza) and Alice (Kendrick) are best friends who need money after losing their waitress jobs. Feigning interest in the siblings, the two women succeed in scoring a free trip to Hawaii. Once there, though, they begin to actually like the brothers they’re conning. Will Mike and Dave find out about their deception?
This is a conventional rom-com, so the answer is yes. But Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates isn’t entertaining because it radically shakes up the rom-com formula — it’s fun because it allows its four leads to let their freak flags fly. Efron, DeVine, Plaza and Kendrick seem to be having a ball being as filthy as possible. This movie is raunchy, so expect jokes aplenty about masturbation, happy endings at massage parlors and having sex in a sauna, but it also has a surprisingly good heart. Also, any chance to watch Parks and Rec vet Plaza rip off sarcastic one-liners is always welcome.
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates is streaming on Netflix.
