People have always enjoyed love stories. Long before the invention of cinema, audiences went to Shakespeare plays and read romance novels for the joys of two characters finding each other and falling in love. Movies have made these kinds of stories more engaging than ever. With the right well-matched actors, a romance movie can sweep you off your feet.
But with the wrong actors, or a weak script, or unfocused direction, romances can be some of the worst movies ever made. The 2010s brought plenty of great romance movies and plenty of awful ones. Here are the five best and five worst romance movies from the 2010s.
Best: Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Wes Anderson visualized Moonrise Kingdom, his Andersonian take on a 400 Blows-esque intimate coming-of-age movie, as the way that kids experiencing love for the first time imagine it to be, with bright colors and idealized emotions. Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman are revelatory as Suzy and Sam, who run away from home and Khaki Scout camp, respectively, to spend time together. The two share remarkable on-screen chemistry throughout the movie.
Anderson’s script, co-written with Roman Coppola, depicts Suzy and Sam’s love story from an us-versus-the-world angle as they defy their parents, the Khaki Scouts, and extreme weather conditions to be together.
Worst: New Year’s Eve (2011)
Throughout the 2010s, Garry Marshall directed an unofficial trilogy of holiday-based ensemble romances: Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve, and Mother’s Day. They’re all terrible, but the middle chapter is arguably the worst of the three.
The ensemble cast contains such A-listers as Robert De Niro, Halle Berry, John Lithgow, and Michelle Pfeiffer, but none of them could save the movie from its dreadfully generic script and razor-thin characterization.
Best: Her (2013)
Who would’ve thought that a movie about a man’s romance with the female voice in his smartphone would resonate emotionally? Spike Jonze’s futuristic take on a classic love story manages to tug on viewers’ heartstrings while also providing thought-provoking science fiction.
Hoyte van Hoytema imbued Her with some of the most beautiful cinematography in recent memory, while Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson’s performances in the lead roles (with the latter only using her voice) are impeccable.
Worst: Passengers (2016)
The premise of Passengers is way too creepy for the movie to succeed as a romance. Hurtling through space, Chris Pratt is awakened years before the ship reaches its destination. Doomed to die alone on the ship, he wakes up Jennifer Lawrence and dooms her, too, just so he can sleep with her.
As a great video by Nerdwriter1 pointed out, it would have been better off as a horror movie, starting with Lawrence waking up and finding Pratt already awake, being fed his lies, and then going along with her perspective until the rug is pulled out from under her and the viewer.
Best: The Shape Of Water (2017)
When Guillermo del Toro used to watch Creature from the Black Lagoon as a kid, he wanted to see Gill-man get together with Kay Lawrence. So, as an adult, he made a movie where that happened. Del Toro’s strength is pushing social commentary through genre stories, and The Shape of Water is his finest example since Pan’s Labyrinth.
It follows a mute janitor at a top-secret government facility during the Cold War falling in love with a humanoid fish creature being housed at the facility. The premise sounds absurd, but del Toro’s direction and Sally Hawkins’ powerful performance in the lead role make the characters’ romance feel real. The Shape of Water went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Worst: The Back-Up Plan (2010)
Alas, it’s not uncommon for Jennifer Lopez to star in an atrocious rom-com with a generic love interest (in this case, Alex O’Loughlin). In The Back-Up Plan, Lopez plays a single woman who gets pregnant through artificial insemination and then meets her dream guy on the same day.
Cue all the clichés of romance movies. Even a pre-Bridesmaids Melissa McCarthy isn’t given the freedom to steal scenes from her painfully unfunny co-stars.
Best: A Star Is Born (2018)
Since the classic original hit theaters in 1937, there have been three versions of A Star is Born. The most recent one, released in 2018, is proof that this story can still captivate audiences, and that remakes don’t have to be terrible.
Bradley Cooper got behind the camera for his directorial debut, keeping the focus squarely on character and story, away from the glitz and the flash, with an intimate perspective on superstardom that only a genuine superstar can have. He found the perfect scene partner in Lady Gaga who, in addition to her unparalleled musical abilities, proved herself to be a gifted actor.
Worst: The Kissing Booth (2018)
Netflix has made some terrible original movies, from Bright to Murder Mystery to The Kissing Booth. Ironically, these films often turn out to be the service’s most-watched fare.
Joey King stars as a high schooler who has a crush on her best friend’s older brother and faces that crush at a kissing booth. At best, the romance is banal, but at worst, like when the brother pretends to be the best friend by wearing his costume at a birthday party, it’s super weird.
Best: The Lobster (2015)
Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster is a pretty unique take on the romance story. It’s set in a curious dystopian future in which being single is illegal and people are sent to a resort where, if they’re unable to find love, they’ll be turned into animals.
Colin Farrell stars as a man with a pet dog (his brother), who is taken to the resort when his wife leaves him for another man. He’s the perfect character through which to explore this chilling world.
Worst: Fifty Shades Of Grey (2015)
E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey began its life as a Twilight fan fiction before being retooled into a “romance” in which a sadomasochistic businessman gets a woman to sign away her right to consent in a legally binding sexual contract. Then, via some unsettling form of Stockholm syndrome, she falls in love with the guy.
Sam Taylor-Johnson’s movie adaptation was a huge box office hit because the book was a bestseller and the movie opened right before Valentine’s Day, but it’s a bad movie: bad in the artistic sense, because Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan’s acting belongs in a soap opera, and bad in the disturbing sense, as it glamorizes sexual violence.
