Sometimes timing is everything. The missed train giving way to the chance encounter; the conveniently delayed flight allowing for the epic lovers’ embrace at the airport terminal. The unlikely romantic entanglements, the crushes we love to hate. The multiple opportunities to get it right. Love creeps up on unexpected corners. We’re here for all of it.
Here we share some of our favorite love confessions played out on the silver screen. These heart-stopping moments in movie memory leave us on the edge of our seats and gasping for breath. More than that, they offer us different lenses in looking at love's mysteries and hard lessons on going out of our way and taking chances:
- You’ve Got Mail: When your enemy turns out to be your soulmate.
Set during the early days of dial-up Internet, this 1998 crowd favorite sees little bookshop owner Kathleen (Meg Ryan) crowded out by Joe (Tom Hanks) and his new big bookshop on the block. As Kathleen and Joe fumble into a reluctant friendship IRL, Kathleen nurtures a budding online romance with an anonymous New Yorker. When Kathleen and her mystery man finally agree to meet in Central Park, we can hardly contain our tears when Joe shows up, dog in tow.
Kathleen: “I wanted it to be you. I wanted it to be you so bad.”
- My Best Friend’s Wedding: When you realize you've loved him all along--in the nick of time.
This 1997 hit (yes, we’re feeling nostalgic) stars Julia Roberts as Julianne, who’s just learned that her best friend is getting married. It takes the prospect of this life-changing event to finally make her realize that she is inconveniently in love with the guy. This painful realization unleashes some bad behavior on her part (sabotage, etc). Nonetheless, we root for her as she goes into the festivities with every intention of making her case.
- Groundhog Day: When you learn how to earn someone's love through multiple chances.
Bill Murray plays a small town weatherman who finds himself stuck in a vicious cycle: the same day repeating itself over and over again. At first amused by the unlimited opportunities for revision, when someone he cares about comes into the mix, his efforts to capture her heart are dashed by the end of every day. His sincere, heartfelt confession is what ultimately pulls him back into real time.
- Love and Basketball: When you're willing to put it all on the line for the one you love.
This is another classic scenario where childhood friends finally discover each other, resulting in another stolen groom. Omar Epps’s Quincy and Sanaa Lathan’s Monica grow up together with a shared love of the game even as life takes them on different courts. One day, Monica challenges Quincy to the ultimate game of basketball.
The stakes: his heart. Her confession: “I’ve loved you since I was 11...[that stuff] won’t go away.”
- 10 Things I Hate About You: When you open your heart and someone surprises you.
The title of this movie is also the title to the confession made by Julia Stiles as moody high school student Kat. In this famous classroom scene, Kat recites a poem that is really a thinly-veiled confession to Heath Ledger’s bad boy, despite her best efforts to protect herself against his charms.
- The Notebook: When your gut tells you it was never truly over.
There was no way we were going to leave this classic off the list. Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling are Allie and Noah, star-crossed lovers who lose touch after an electrically charged summer. After having taken great pains to move forward in their respective lives, the revelation in this scene proves to be a long time coming. Despite different backgrounds and circumstances, they find themselves hopelessly bound together by the magnetic pull left over from their initial relationship.
- Sleepless in Seattle: When you discover that love could find you again.
Leave it to Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks to meet again in an alternative movie universe as insomniacs with bad timing. Meg Ryan is Annie Reed, an idealistic news reporter with a penchant for classic romance movies finds herself in love with recent widower Sam Baldwin’s love story, and then, by extension, with the man (Tom Hanks) himself.
- Love Actually: When you finally decide to come out of hiding--in style.
This is the scene that inspired a whole generation of lovelorn hopefuls spilling hearts on doorsteps. After having disguised his love of Juliet (Keira Knightley) for years, Mark is suddenly moved by the truth-telling spirit of Christmas. With the help of some paper props and a boombox for mood, he pulls off a risky confession without uttering one word.
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Are you feeling warm and cozy enough yet? There's nothing like a walk through a certain kind of movie memory lane to tug at some funny heartstrings. Sometimes, though, fact is stranger than fiction. When was the last time you told someone how you felt? Do you have an amazing or unusual story? Know someone with one? We want to hear it all. Join and share your stories with our Facebook group, Tree Hut Engraved Stories.
Find us on our regular Facebook page and other corners of the Internet via Instagram, Pinterest, and Youtube. Slide into the rest of our website for treasures you can put those heartfelt words on. We'll do the hard labor so you can worry about the presentation.
