There’s no (employee) handbook for love, but somehow the conference rooms, board meetings, and bad break-room coffee of workplace rom-coms provide the perfect setting for falling head over heels. Maybe it’s the forced proximity, the witty banter among ambitious co-workers, or the flattering fit of business suits and high heels. Or maybe it’s that the average person spends around 90,000 hours of their life at work, so falling in love on the job feels relatable and statistically likely.
Workplace romance in movies and shows proves that the most important business deal is a contract of the heart, and corporate synergy can’t hold a candle to the chemistry between two people falling for each other. So here’s an official memo from our desk to yours that these workplace rom-coms and office-set romances are worth adding to your watchlist. No HR training required, though you may start redefining your KPIs for love.
This virtual reality romance may seem sci-fi, but feeling too burnt out by a career to make time for dating is definitely IRL relatable. K-pop star Jisoo plays Seo Mi-rae, an overworked webtoon producer with no free time to fit in a relationship. A work assignment with her surly rival co-worker, Park Kyeong-nam (Seo In-guk), just adds to her stress. Mi-rae is introduced to a virtual reality dating subscription service that allows her to enter a world full of romantic options. But she’ll need to decide whether to give in to her new fantasy world or pursue a genuine but imperfect romance in the real world.
Working doesn’t seem so bad when you get to do it in a vineyard in France. Workaholic Sydney (Minka Kelly) doesn’t quite appreciate the setting, however, when she’s sent to Paris just before Christmas to make a deal with a world-renowned Champagne brand. She indulges in one night on the town, meeting the bookish and charming Henri (Tom Wozniczka), who shows her around and invites her to his place. One thing leads to another, but Sydney finds herself in a tricky situation the next day when Henri shows up to her business meeting. Turns out he’s the son and heir to the brand she hopes to acquire … and she’s not the only one competing for the deal. Keeping things professional just gets harder as she gets to know Henri and his family’s business.
We all embellish a little on our résumés, but in this Korean rom-com, a not-so-little white lie complicates a new job. To land a position at a baby products company, Go Da-rim (Ahn Eun-jin) pretends to be a married mother. Her fib wouldn’t be so bad except Gong Ji-hyeok (Jang Ki-yong), the stoic leader of the brand, once shared a steamy kiss with Da-rim in their shared past. Working together rekindles the feelings that were once there, and Da-rim’s ruse becomes harder to keep up. Somehow she’ll have to balance her responsibility to her family with her growing feelings for Ji-hyeok.
A little competition is good for business and for flirting. In this Mexican series, Graciela (Ana Gonzalez Bello) is on track for a promotion to CEO of the underwear brand she works for. Fresh off a breakup, she has a one-night stand with Mateo (Diego Klein), then rushes out the door the next morning. As you may have guessed, who should appear at her meeting with the company's current CEO the next day? It’s Mateo, and it turns out he’s the CEO’s recently estranged son. Suddenly, Graciela realizes she’s not the only one in the running for the CEO role, and she’ll have to work hard to beat out Mateo … and ignore his smoldering good looks.
The title says it all in this raunchy rom-com that proves attraction can’t be expected to adhere to HR rules. Jennifer Lopez plays Jackie Cruz, an airline CEO devoted to her business, who’s pitted against a competitor who fights dirty in the courtroom. Brett Goldstein plays Daniel Blanchflower, the (usually) level-headed lawyer and new employee sent in to aid Jackie on the case. The chemistry is instantaneous, but the company’s strict policy banning employee relationships, as well as the bad optics that may hurt her legal case, keeps the two from giving in to their feelings for each other. But the couple’s dedication to their jobs can’t withstand their simmering attraction, leading to a secret romance — and all the risks that come with it.
What’s better than an office romance? An office love triangle. Arden Cho (KPop Demon Hunters) plays Ingrid Yun, an ambitious attorney at a cutthroat law firm. On track to make junior partner despite the firm’s narrow-minded views on race and inclusion, Ingrid is also in a new relationship with one of New York City’s richest and most eligible bachelors. Juggling work and her new beau, Ingrid’s life gets slightly more complicated when a former one-night stand, Jeff Murphy (Dominic Sherwood), joins the firm. Even six years after the fact, the chemistry is still there, and Ingrid’s career focus starts to get a little fuzzy as her love life gets more complicated.
In an office rom-com, the boss’s son is somehow always just so irresistible. For Jenna Jones (Gabrielle Union), this is a big problem. A year out from a very public break-up and a messy end to her job as a fashion editor, Jenna is finally moving on with a new job working for her former rival, Darcy Hill (Gina Torres). An affair with a younger man, Eric (Keith Powers), gives Jenna a much-needed confidence boost, but it is immediately awkward when she finds out Eric is Darcy’s son. Unwilling to jeopardize her newfound stability, Jenna tries to ignore the real connection she has with Eric, but we all know true love can’t be denied.
The sports analogies for love abound in this rom-com that proves love has no playbook. New York City sportswriter Mack (Gina Rodriguez) is used to playing the field (no pun intended), but finds herself interested in something more long-term when she meets war correspondent Nick (Tom Ellis). Mack enlists the help of her friends to snag Nick and prove she’s more than a fling. Meanwhile, her best friend, Adam (Damon Wayans Jr.), thinks she should give up all her scheming and just be herself. With a new work opportunity on the horizon, Mack’s perspective on the game of love starts to shift, opening her eyes to what truly makes a good match.
Commitment to the job is taken to the extreme in this 2009 rom-com starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Margaret (Bullock), an editor at a book publisher, finds her career is on the line when a visa violation raises the threat of possible deportation back to Canada. Margaret convinces her assistant, Andrew (Reynolds), to marry her so she can get a green card, promising him a promotion and to publish a book he’s been advocating for as part of the deal. A staunch immigration officer threatens the couple that fraud will have harsh repercussions, so the two go to Alaska to inform Andrew’s family of the wedding. Before his suspicious family and with deportation on the line, Margaret has to prove her “love” for Andrew.
Trading boardrooms for the basketball court, this series stars Kate Hudson as a newbie executive navigating the male-dominated world of sports. Isla Gordon (Hudson) is from a wealthy family who owns a prominent basketball team, the Los Angeles Waves. After her brother is forced to resign from his position as president of the team, she’s tapped in his place. She’ll have to prove to her family, her employees, her team, and, quite frankly, herself that she can do the job. Luckily, she has an ally in the team’s coach, Jay Brown (Jay Ellis).
An office romance just may be the solution two burnt-out assistants need. But not for them — for their bosses. Harper Moore (Zoey Deutch) is the hardworking, underappreciated assistant to Kirsten Stevens (Lucy Liu), editor-in-chief of a sports media empire. Harper runs into Charlie Young (Glen Powell), the hustling assistant to high-powered venture capitalist Rick Otis (Taye Diggs), when they’re both ordering dinner for their bosses, but Harper realizes she’s cashless and fears she’ll be fired if she returns without food. Charlie spots her the money, and the two commiserate about their tyrannical bosses, which leads Harper to devise a plan to get Kirsten and Rick to date. Just when their plan starts to work, Charlie and Harper realize keeping their bosses together is going to be a full-time job.
If you like your comedy on the dark side, this lustful series starring Rachel Weisz is just the thing. Weisz plays an unnamed literature professor who becomes increasingly obsessed with her new colleague, Vladimir (Leo Woodall). With her marriage compromised by a legal investigation into her husband’s controversial philandering, her growing insecurity, and her writing career on the rocks, Vladimir becomes a much-needed distraction. This edgy academic comedy simmers with the tension and excitement of a workplace crush.
This Turkish movie throws a little revenge into its office romance. Merve Kült (Ahsen Eroğlu) is a free-spirited bohemian who panics when the building she’s lived in all her life is put up for sale. Determined to raise funds to buy the building, Merve and her friends create a dating app where users chat in disguise to form true connections, not just physical ones. Businessman Anil Gürman (Ozan Dolunay) invests in the app and hires Merve to work at his company. But Anil’s motives aren’t pure — he hires Merve as part of a revenge plan against her family. He attempts to make her miserable by assigning increasingly difficult tasks, but Merve’s eternally sunny outlook has him questioning his entire plan.
In its seven seasons, this series from Darren Star (Emily in Paris) explores all kinds of office dynamics and relationships: the work BFF, the grouchy boss, the competitive co-worker. But when it comes to a forbidden office romance, things get especially steamy. Liza (Sutton Foster) is struggling to rejoin the workforce after years away from her publishing career as a mother. She quickly realizes her age is her biggest hindrance, so she lies that she’s actually in her 20s. Appropriating the fashion and attitude of the younger generation, she thrives at her job at Empirical Press but finds it hard to keep up the ruse when it comes to the handsome executive Charles (Peter Hermann).
