5 times email would have saved the day in romantic movies

1. The Notebook

The premise of the movie is based off of Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Allie’s (Rachel McAdam) reunion after a 14-year separation. It turns out Allie’s mother had hidden Noah’s letters to Allie, disapproving of his social status and inability to complement Allie’s wealthier, well-educated background, a la Romeo and Juliet.

If only Noah had sent Allie an email every day for a year, it could have saved the both a lot of heartache and lost time. Granted, it would also mean depriving the world of seeing Ryan Gosling professing his love in the pouring rain. 

2. Love Actually

Ah, the classic airport scene. Love Actually gets us right in the feels with the scene where Sam chases after his crush in the airport. Contrary to most rom coms, he actually makes it to the boarding gate just in time to share his hidden feelings for her, but an email could have saved him from the hassle of outrunning the TSA.

With the help of email, Sam could have booked a flight and pulled up an e-boarding pass through his inbox. Not only would he warm the hearts of bystanders with his speech and win her heart over, he could also be sitting next to her on the plane. 

3. 50 First Dates

Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) and Lucy (Drew Barrymore) co-star in this tragically hilarious rom com where Lucy suffers from short-term memory loss. Every morning, she’ll wake up and forget the happenings of the day before - Henry has to woo her once again. As evidenced by the scene above, Adam Sandler is sitting at a distance planning his move to reintroduce himself to Drew Barrymore.

A few email tricks could help lighten the load for Sandler. He could use an app like IFTTT, when Drew Barrymore wakes up in the morning and opens her phone to use any number of social media channels, it automatically sends her the video explanation of their love story and sends Sandler a notification that she’s all caught up to date. Sandler won’t have to worry anymore about freaking out strangers at the diner with his intense gaze. 

4. The Time Traveler’s Wife

There’s more of the romance and less of the comedy in Time Traveler’s Wife. Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) and Clare’s (Rachel McAdams) love story unfolds both backwards and forwards in time since Henry suffers from an uncontrollable genetic disorder that sends him traveling through time. Due to the convoluted nature of time travel, Clare and Henry first meet each other at different points in time - Clare first meets a future version of Henry when she is a child, and continues on to fall in love with future Henry throughout her teen years, leading to a confusing first meeting with “present” Henry when he first meets her at 20.

With the help of scheduled emails through an app like Boomerang, Henry could easily leave himself notes as he travels through time and communicate with Clare during the periods of time where he leaves to travel to another time.

5. You've Got Mail

Last but certainly not least, here’s an instance where email takes credit in writing a happily ever after. Tom Hanks (Joe Fox) and Meg Ryan (Kathleen Kelly) are business rivals in real life - Tom’s big-chain bookstore drives Meg’s indie bookstore out of business - but the anonymity of the internet allows them to converse via email and fall in love.

The most ironic part is that unknowingly bond over their gripes about meeting each other in person. Email allowed for them to process their thoughts and share safely without fear of judgement.

This Valentine’s Day, you might just want to consider email as your wingman. Email just celebrated its 44th birthday and the inbox has quite a proven track record (re: here and here).

What are some creative ways you’ve used email to win over someone’s heart? Or maybe a time someone used email to bring a smile to your face? We’d love to hear your stories below!