Credit: Netflix

Netflix can only spend so long knee-deep in murders and conspiracies before someone has to crack open the bubbly, surely.

Thankfully, someone did, and it takes us back to the time when Netflix used to give us some of the best rom-coms. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before became a massive teen-romance phenomenon, while Set It Up gave the workplace rom-com a much-needed kick up the backside and proved that, yes, two people can have actual chemistry. And don’t forget Always Be My Maybe, a much-needed, across-the-years rom-com playing with the beloved trope of best friends to lovers.

Thank goodness the streamer has stuck with the genre, because every watchlist needs a bit of fluff now and then. You cannot live on serial killers and missing-person mysteries alone. Well, you could, but honestly, what a miserable existence.

So, if you fancy giving Cupid a go for once, Netflix has five fresh romances ready to steal you away for the evening.

Five new Netflix rom-coms to watch right now:

Voicemails for Isabelle (Leah McKendrick, 2026)

A wrong number has caused all sorts of bother in movies before, but Voicemails for Isabelle gives the old trick a rather sweet spin. Jill, played by Zoey Deutch, still leaves rambling messages for her late sister Isabelle, using the voicemail box to have a rant session whenever life goes sideways.

Tiny problem: the number now belongs to Wes, a real estate agent played by Nick Robinson, who keeps hearing these completely unfiltered confessions and slowly falls for the woman leaving them. Oh, but he never responds, so she doesn’t know her little podcast has a listener.

And actually, there is more going on here than your standard meet-cute nonsense. Jill’s grief is not shoved out of the way the second romance enters the movie, while Wes gets to know her before she has had the chance to put on her best behaviour. If you think about it, this could’ve very easily been yet another one of those Netflix stalker documentaries, but honestly, who would mind if that stalker were Nick Robinson… Just kidding!

Office Romance (Ol Parker, 2026)

If falling for someone through their voicemails sounds like a faff, try hooking up with your company lawyer when the office has a zero-tolerance in-office dating policy. After leading only so many rom-coms in her 20s, JLo is back with Office Romance in her 50s, looking fresh as ever.

She plays Jackie Cruz, the CEO of an airline already getting plenty of pressure from her board, while Brett Goldstein is Daniel Blanchflower, a British lawyer who gets shoved into her space after his boss drops out of a major case. And then, of course, they fancy each other. Sensible? Absolutely not. Do they carry on anyway? Oh, sure.

The film gives Lopez a raunchier, more grown-up rom-com than her old Maid in Manhattan territory, while Goldstein co-wrote the script with Joe Kelly, so Daniel’s dry humour has a faint whiff of Ted Lasso about it. And then there is Edward James Olmos playing Jackie’s father, nearly 30 years after playing Lopez’s dad in Selena. Come on, that is a lovely little reunion, isn’t it?

People We Meet on Vacation (Brett Haley, 2026)

Emily Henry fans hardly needed much convincing when People We Meet on Vacation finally made it to the screen, seeing as this was the first of her bestselling romances to finally get adapted. Emily Bader plays Poppy, a travel writer who is always itching for somewhere new, while Tom Blyth’s Alex would happily stick to a plan and know exactly what he is doing.

Complete opposites, then, and yet, somehow, they become best friends and spend years going away together every summer while pretending the rather obvious romantic tension is not sitting right there between them.

The film skips through their shared holidays before bringing them back together for a wedding in Barcelona, by which point there are years of private jokes and only so many feelings to contend with. So this is not really about two people wondering whether they fancy each other, but whether either of them is brave enough to risk a friendship this old for something more.

Heartman: Rock and Love (Won-sub Choi, 2026)

Second chances might sound romantic until someone carries a secret. Heartman: Rock and Love follows Seung-min, played by Kwon Sang-woo, a divorced dad who runs a musical-instrument shop and finds himself face-to-face with Bo-na, his first love, played by Moon Chae-won.

The old spark is still very much alive, except Bo-na has one rather important condition for her future: she does not want children. Seung-min, meanwhile, already has a daughter he absolutely adores. So what does he do? Hides the fact like a sensible adult, of course.

Naturally, that little lie does not stay little for long. The comedy comes from watching Seung-min try to keep both sides of his life from crashing into each other, but that does not overshadow the parts where we see his efforts to keep his love afloat, especially the second time around.

Ladies First (Thea Sharrock, 2026)

And now, not the strongest pick of the list but an absolute banger when you’re in the mood for some Sacha Baron Cohen brainrot.

Cohen plays Damien Sachs, an advertising executive with money and every reason to assume the CEO job is practically his already. Then he wakes up in a parallel reality where women hold the social advantage he once barely noticed. Waiting for him there is Rosamund Pike’s Alex Fox, an employee he once overlooked who now has the upper hand, and suddenly the two are scrapping for the same top job.

The romance grows out of that clash, which lets the film have a bit of fun with dating rules while Damien realises just how dirty his old behaviour looks from the other side. The film wasn’t that well-received, but it’s a good one for a lighter weekday watch.