Featured art by Bhernn Saenz.
We all love a good “best friends to lovers” story. But if you really want to throw your heart on a crazy journey, there’s the next level emotion of romance movies where you’re just not sure if it’ll go there or not. Those “almost” relationships or “maybe more” friendships where things are just all sorts of confusing.
Well, to stir up our emotions even further, we’ve listed down some films notorious for their will they or won’t they romance. Those relationships built on the outskirts of friendship where you spend the entire movie not really knowing where they’re headed. Basically, the movies that toy with your emotions a little too much with asking if two people are really just meant to be friends, or a great sense of “could’ve-would’ve-should’ve”.
Here are some of our top picks:
Love, Rosie
The classic tale of two best friends of the opposite sex, where one is hopelessly in love with the other, but the timing’s never right. Love, Rosie spans a number of years as we follow Rosie and Alex go from childhood friends to young adults with their own responsibilities and problems.
While one grows as a parent, the other pursues a less-than-loving marriage. This movie definitely tests the limits of young love when it’s thrown into the wolves of adulthood. Ready your tissue boxes because this one’s surely going to make you tear up with emotion.
One Day
One Day plays with the same themes, but with a unique twist. On the day they met, Emma and Dexter slept together, and afterwards decided to remain just friends. The movie then shows their life every year on the anniversary of their first meeting, spanning over 20 years.
With life throwing all types of things against them, from careers to marriages, One Day takes Love, Rosie‘s heart and emotion to a whole different level. This is one of those films that you watch one time and it stays with you for years after.
When Harry Met Sally
When Harry Met Sally is the movie that answers that age-old question: Can men and women ever be truly just friends? Again, this follows the same recipe, but more in the romantic-comedy side, and less on the tears.
The trailer itself premises this story saying that men can never be friends with a woman they’re attracted with, because they’re always going to want to sleep with them. As this movie was released in 1989, we’ll let the toxic mindset slide, but it does make for an entertaining entry to movie night.
100 Tula Para Kay Stella (100 Poems for Stella)
Of course, Filipino movies won’t be left behind in this trope. 100 Tula Para Kay Stella zooms in on Fidel’s infatuation with his friend Stella, who’s hard on the outside but a big softie beneath all the punk rock music and dark makeup.
They connected as classmates in university, and as the years went on, found themselves in different paths entirely. This movie hits hard on the feels as well, and builds up to that moment when Fidel finally opens up to Stella about his true feelings.
The Before Trilogy
Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight details a phenomenal ride between two people every nine years. Kicking off in Before Sunrise, the story follows two strangers, Jesse and Celine, who met on a train across Europe in 1995.
Spontaneously, they decide to get off the train together and spend the night strolling through Europe before Jesse has to fly back to America. This is conversation-heavy, as we basically just follow two strangers getting to know one another on a romantic night in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
But nine years later, in Before Sunset, the pair meet-up again for the first time since that fated evening, and rekindle their friendship and almost relationship. The Before trilogy is a beautiful tale of two people finding their way back to one another, despite of time, distance, and life, getting in the way.
I’m Drunk, I Love You
One of our last entries has to be I’m Drunk, I Love You, one of the most recent Filipino movies on best friends secretly having romantic feelings with the other.
A big part of its success is its relatability, and hugot lines of finding yourself in painfully intimate moments with your best friend (who you’re actually in love with), while they live on blissfully unaware of your pain. Many viewers saw themselves in Carson as she tries time and time again to get over Dio. But it’s impossible when he’s also a big flirt and makes you question if your feelings are actually not as unrequited as you think.
My Amanda
Netflix dropped My Amanda in 2021 to put our hearts through that push and pull of emotions with that trope we know so well. The premise follows two “unusually close” friends, played by Piolo Pascual and Alessandra de Rossi who are actually co-producing and directing the film as well, respectively.
The film shows two adults going through the motions of dating and friendship while navigating their uncertain feelings for one another, while remaining very vague on whether or not we’re getting a happy ending. Which, perhaps, is the main thrust of the film: will they or won’t they? de Rossi’s directorial debut lets our hearts in on how *this “*friendship-to-maybe relationship” will play out and if you haven’t seen it yet, this weekend might be a good chance to.
This story was first published in 2021, around the time Netflix released My Amanda on its platform. The story has been updated for 2026. -Ed
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