10 Movies Like "The Notebook"

The Notebook is a 2004 romance drama film featuring Gena Rowlands, James Garner and Rachel McAdams. It was directed by Nick Cassavetes who adapted the story from Nicholas Sparks’ book. The movie is recounted by Duke, who narrates to an older woman in a nursing home the love story of Noah, a poor yet passionate country boy, and Allie, a rich young woman. The two found freedom in each other’s arms but later separated by their social differences. When Allie is forced to move, Noah starts sending her letters which lasts for 365 days. Allie, however, never gets any of them. After seven years, Allie found herself torn between marrying her fiancé and choosing her first love Noah.

In this article, you’ll find movies like “The Notebook” which will prove that true love respects differences, overcomes the test of time, and conquers it all.

1. The Best of Me

Release Date: October 17, 2014

Director: Michael Hoffman

Cast: James Marsden, Michelle Monaghan, Luke Bracey

Since their teenage years, Amanda and Dawson always knew that they are soul mates. But coming from different societal backgrounds, situations separate them. 20 years pass and the former high school sweethearts met again at a mutual friend’s funeral. They both realize, right there and then, that they are still in love with each other. Amanda, however, cannot forgive Dawson for pushing her away. There is another one big problem: Amanda is married, though unhappily. How can Dawson win her back?

2. Jane Eyre

Release Date: April 22, 2011

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell

Jane Eyre has a terrible childhood. When she is a grown-up, she steps into the much tougher world and gains a governess position at the Thornfield Hall. She is already living a happy life when a cold, dark and hasty master of the house, Mr. Rochester, comes to shake her peaceful world… and add color into it. Circumstances draw them closer, until Jane and Mr. Rochester becomes friends. She wakes up one day and realizes that she is falling deeply in love with him. At long last, Jane has found her happiness. But what is Mr. Rochester's horrible secret that threatens to destroy Jane’s happiness forever?

3. Definitely, Maybe

Release Date: February 14, 2008

Director: Adam Brooks

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Rachel Weisz, Abigail Breslin

Curious about what has been lectured in her sex education class, 10-year-old Maya quizzes her divorcing dad, Will Hayes, about how she was made. That night, the political consultant explains to his daughter his looming divorce, as well as his former relationships, altering the names of the women who have been in his life before. In all these, Maya has one clear, strong intention: that is to make her dad fall in love with her mother all over again. Will Maya’s plan succeed? Definitely. Maybe.

4. If Only

Release Date: July 13, 2005

Director: Gil Junger

Cast: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Paul Nicholls, Tom Wilkinson

Musician Samantha Andrews and British businessman Ian Wyndham have been together for years. They have more differences than similarities. While he is a prim and proper man, she is carefree and clumsy. Sam is being taken for granted by her boyfriend. She even feels vulnerable. Almost suddenly after their fight and near break-up, Sam met an accident and died. Devastated, Ian gets a chance to recall the gloomy day all over again, hoping to change the events that ended her girlfriend’s life. This, too, teach the young man an important lesson: to put love on top of material things.

5. Garden State

Release Date: August 20, 2004

Director: Zach Braff

Cast: Zach Braff, Peter Sarsgaard, Natalie Portman

A not-so-successful TV actor Andrew “Large” Largeman is made to believe by his controlling father that he is accountable for his mother's sickness and wheelchair bound condition all her life. When his mother died, he returns home after a decade of being a stranger to his own family. He then decides to stop taking the medicines his father and his doctor prescribed him, and Andrew begins to see life from a different and much clearer perspective. He starts to feel the pain that has always been there inside him, and begins to feel true love for a girl who has problems of her own.

6. True Romance

Release Date: September 10, 1993

Directors: Tony Scott

Cast: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper

Clarence Worley goes to the movies alone and accidentally meets the gorgeous Alabama Whitman. After watching the movie together, the two seized the night by doing what their bodies command. When the morning comes, Alabama admits that she is a prostitute hired to sleep with him. But it didn’t stop them to fall in love with each other. They get married, but a mistake is about to ruin their relationship. Things even get muddled when Clarence accidentally takes cocaine from Alabama’s boss. He attempts to sell the illegal thing in Hollywood, but the original owners will never stop hunting the couple until they reclaim what is originally theirs.

7. The Time Traveler's Wife

Release Date: August 14, 2009

Director: Robert Schwentke

Cast: Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston

Traveler Henry De Tamble and librarian Clare Abshire first cross paths at a library in Chicago. Clare, already in love with Henry, understands well that he is not just an ordinary traveler, but someone who travels through time. Henry has a gene that causes him to time travel, and he simply cannot get rid of it. Soon enough, he falls in love with her and they get married. When Henry time travels, he returns home to his wife with additional knowledge of what lies before them. But his inevitable and continuous absences as a result of his ‘job’ soon build complications for their marriage.

8. Mr. Nobody

Release Date: September 26, 2013

Director: Jaco Van Dormael

Cast: Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger

The year is 2092, and 113-year-old Nemo, the last living man to have a choice of immortality, is narrating his life to a journalist. His narration is less than clear, particularly when he starts focusing on his current age. He tells the story of his life at three main stages: at age nine, age sixteen and age thirty-four. The narration goes on and his story becomes confusing. But it’s not a question of whether all he is telling are truth or just a product of his imagination. One thing is clear: Nemo has been transported to his young self, to the moment when he is facing impossible life decisions that will change the rest of his life.

9. Ghost (1990)

Release Date: July 13, 1990

Director: Jerry Zucker

Cast: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg

Happy, contented couple Sam and Molly walks back to their apartment after a date. But while in a dark street, they come across a bandit that takes Sam’s life. Sam isn’t dead at all. He becomes a ghost and finds out that his death has been planned. He thinks of his wife, and it occurs to him that he must warn her about the approaching danger. But since he is a ghost, Molly cannot hear or see him. So he gets the help of Oda Mae Brown, a reluctant psychic who never believed about her powers, and finally, he is able to communicate with Molly, to alert her… and to tell her how much he loves her, even after death.

10. The Remains of the Day

Release Date: November 19, 1993

Director: James Ivory

Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, John Haycraft

Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, the movie is about a love story tested in a conflict-stricken society. Mr. Stevens, the butler of Darlington Hall, who devotes his whole being to serve his country, receives a letter from Miss Kenton, who worked for him as a housekeeper after World War II. Mr. Stevens finds out that Miss Kenton’s marriage has failed and that she misses the days when she worked for him. During a visit to Miss Kenton, Mr. Stevens encourages her to return. As Mr. Stevens’ bonds with the Nazi grow, romance also develops between him and Miss Kenton – a dangerous combination that can destroy them both.