Romantic drama movies like The Longest Ride will always remain popular because there’s always going to be an audience enraptured by watching beautiful people fall in love.
George Tillman Jr.’s Nicholas Sparks adaptation stars Scott Eastwood and Britt Robertson as a former bull-riding champion and a college student trying to make their relationship work.
The genre always presents setbacks and obstacles for the central couple to battle through, but in the end there’s barely a dry eye in the house as things inevitably reach a happy conclusion.
10 Romantic Movies Like The Longest Ride
1. Dear John (2010)
Not all movies like The Longest Ride are required to be based on Nicholas Sparks novels, but a lot of them are after the author spawned a cinematic sub-genre unto himself.
Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried fill the required roles of very attractive leads, in the story of a soldier and a student trying to make things work over a long distance in Lasse Hallstrom’s heart-wrencher.
Over the course of seven years, things become even more fraught and dangerous as fate conspires to keep the lovers apart, and you’ll be wondering throughout if they’ll ever find happiness together.
2. The Vow (2012)
Movies like The Longest Ride often have their plots set in motion by tragedy, and Michael Sucsy’s weepy romantic drama The Vow is no different.
After a car accident leaves a newlywed in a coma with no recollection of who her husband is, he sets out to make her fall in love with him all over again.
Stars Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams are veterans of the romantic genre, so it comes as no surprise the their performances generate the chemistry required to invest in the narrative.
3. The Age of Adaline (2015)
There’s no rule that says movies like The Longest Ride have to be rooted in any sort of reality, and Lee Toland Krieger’s The Age of Adaline puts a more fantastical spin on the romantic drama.
Blake Lively’s title character hasn’t aged for almost eighty years, but won’t get close to anyone in case they discover her secret, but when a handsome man enters her life big decisions must be made.
The original concept allows the story to explore new avenues, and there’s some big ideas on the idea of love, loss and mortality to be found in among the requisite romantic subplots.
4. The Lucky One (2012)
Another Nicholas Sparks adaptation on our list of movies like The Longest Ride, Scott Hicks’ The Lucky One threads an air of mystery through the familiar plot beats we’ve come to expect.
Zac Efron’s Marine returns home from duty armed with a photograph of a woman he’s never met, and sets out to make sure that their paths cross.
The eventual romance is far from straightforward, but the movie boasts a charismatic performance from Efron and delivers exactly what the target audience are expecting.
5. Safe Haven (2013)
The final entry on our countdown of movies like The Longest Ride based on the works of Nicholas Sparks, and the second directed by Lasse Hallstrom, Safe Haven features some surprising plot twists you don’t usually find in the genre.
A woman moves to a small town to make a new life for herself, and quickly warms to the locals, in particular a smoldering widower who helps her come out of her shell.
However, a mysterious stranger soon arrives on the scene and reveals a dark past full of hidden secrets, which have the potential to plunge her life into chaos once again.
6. Love, Rosie (2014)
Two longtime best friends are separated when Alex and his family move to America, leaving Rosie behind in Dublin, before they reconnect five years later.
There are several time jumps in Christian Ditter’s rom-com that follow the central duo throughout various stages of their lives, but you can just tell that they’re supposed to end up together.
You can spot where the plot is heading from a mile off, but that doesn’t make Love, Rosie any less appealing, especially if you’re seeking out more romantic movies like The Longest Ride.
7. At First Sight (1999)
Irwin Winkler’s At First Sight is both based on a scientific essay and inspired by a true story, and delivers an unconventional twist on the formula found in movies like The Longest Ride.
Mira Sorvino heads on a much-needed vacation to escape from the stresses of everyday life, where she winds up meeting a blind massage therapist, and the two fall hard for each other.
She’s won over by his determination and independence, while he’s considering a risky surgical procedure to restore his sight, but tensions surface about whether she’s pushing him too hard.
8. The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
Movies like The Longest Ride don’t always have to be about hot young things, and The Bridges of Madison County allows the older generation to head up a romantic drama for a change.
Clint Eastwood directs and stars in the tale of a photographer sent to shoot the titular bridges, where he ends up meeting and falling in love with a housewife left alone while her husband and kids are away.
Eastwood and Meryl Streep are as great as you’d expect, while the story is less about an extramarital affair than a moving love story between two soulmates separated by circumstance.
9. Charlie St. Cloud (2010)
Burr Steers directs Zac Efron in a romantic story that forces a young man to choose between a promise and the girl that could be the love of his life.
Zac Efron’s title character is a high-flying student with a big future, before it all comes crashing down when his little brother Sam is killed in a tragic accident.
The two brothers reunite every day as Sam’s spirit can appear to Charlie, but he soon faces a decision about whether to remain in the past or move forward with his life.
10. Message in a Bottle (1999)
Kevin Costner and Robin Wright Penn take top billing in Luis Mandoki’s tear-jerking romance, with the central duo relying on their warmth and personality to sell the story.
Wright’s journalist discovers a message in a bottle, and she publishes the love letter before tracking down the man who wrote it, and the two soon start falling for each other.
Movies like The Longest Ride always present roadblocks for the star-crossed lovers to overcome, and in Message in a Bottle’s case the conflict is provided by the reporter’s guilty conscience.