10 Terrible Romantic Comedies
Romantic comedies are meant to be fun, carefree films about romance, but their over-adherence to traditional gender roles and narrative style can interfere with a given film’s overall enjoyability. The mundanity of a rom-com is a frequent feature of the genre’s discourse, and is an important component of how we evaluate the films. While some may only be mundane retreads created to churn out money, all of the films set to be covered in this Movie List essentially cater to the construction of white heteronormativity in American society.
Whether you’re tired of watching the same old boring stuff on streaming and want to watch something so bad it’s good, or you’re simply looking for advice on which rom-coms to avoid this Valentine’s Day, spice things up with The Film Magazine’s 10 Terrible Romantic Comedies…
Make sure to follow the author of this article, Jacob Davis, on Twitter @JacobFilmGuy.
10. An Hour Behind (2017)
Thanks to An Hour Behind, there’s now a rom-com about one of the worst quirks in human timekeeping.
When the protagonist’s phone dies, she becomes an hour late to a date her sister set up for her. When she does finally arrive, who else does she meet but the wrong guy! Thus begins the strangest love triangle to ever exist, all because she’s socially pressured to go out on these dates with men when she would clearly rather be at her cupcake business (where every bit of food looks amazing).
Why can’t successful business characters be allowed to enjoy their work in these films?
The sequel about two people meeting due to their accidental use of the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian is highly anticipated.
9. Prescription for Love (2019)
It’s tough to do the Cinderella story properly in the modern day. Prescription for Love contains all the elements of the classic fairy tale – there’s a female protagonist oppressed by her fellow nurses, a handsome male doctor who makes her life better, and the characters in the sick ward are the mice and fairy godmother who help the protagonist to get the guy.
The rom-com structure necessitates certain scenes like the meet-cute, dates, and strife between Cinderella and the Prince that aren’t in the classic story. Their union stretches the bounds of appropriate relationships, with the prince-doctor trying to track down a stranger he met in a dark elevator while also seeing a woman he works with.
The modern Disney Cinderella movies are more worth spending time on.
