Community Corner

On Film: Romantic Movies Set in Queens

Cinematic hits (and misses) that spell L-O-V-E in our borough

Though Manhattan reigns supreme in terms of romantic backdrops in some of Hollywood's most-recognizable films, over the decades Queens has also captured the creative imagination in a few love stories of its own. 

Even if these movies don't rise to same level as An Affair to Remember, Moonstruck or When Harry Met Sally, on-film romances set in our borough take on a charm all its own, with waitresses, cops and, more recently, young creatives priced out of Manhattan taking center stage.

So with no further ado, here's a list of some notable love stories (traditional and non-) taking place in Queens.

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Julie and Julia, Columbia Pictures, 2009
This biopic of two women: one a culinary legend in the making living in Paris, the other, a newly-married office drone living in a railroad apartment in Long Island City, manages to showcase the old-world ambience of the City of Lights with the inglorious, noisy, yet distinctive charm of the urban end of Queens.

It Could Happen To You, TriStar Pictures, 1994
In this blue collar fairy tale, a street cop played by Nicolas Cage falls in love with a waitress (Bridget Fonda) at a Queens diner — even though he's already married to his spunky yet abusive wife (played with Bronx-infused verbosity by Rosie Perez). When Cage's character hits the lottery, he faces a dilemma: share the winnings with his new lady love or go along with his wife, who wants to take it all for herself.

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The Odd Couple, Paramount Pictures, 1968
Before there were Bosom Buddies or Perfect Strangers, cinephiles' first peek at the platonic "bro-mance" came courtesy of Jack Lemmon's Felix Unger and Walter Matthau's Oscar Madison. Though The Odd Couple took place mostly in a Manhattan apartment, many scenes of obsessively-neat Felix with the consummate slob Oscar were shot at Shea Stadium and a string of long vanished Queens-based Bohack supermarkets.

Queens Logic, Seven Arts Pictures, 1991
Though this Kevin Bacon vehicle had a short-run in theaters, Queens Logic is unique in its portrayal of borough natives returning home from college to find the truth about relationships, true love and the meaning of family.


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