"What Do They See In Each Other?!" Worst Movie Love Interests

[Spartan Girl]

With Valentines Day coming up, I came up with a great idea for a topic. We've all seen movies where the main character's love interest was portage as the end-all-be-all of wonderful, only for us the audience to view see them as a complete asshole/bitch.

For example, I spent YEARS wondering why Tobey Maguire's Spiderman was so crazy about Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane when she was such a selfish whiny bitch unless he was constantly showering her with praise. Bleh.

Other picks:

Michael from My Best Friend's Wedding: He treated Kimmy like crap and even though he wound up with her at the end, he still acted like he was still somewhat into Julia Roberts.

Daisy from The Great Gatsby: Also known as the ultimate "Dude, she ain't worth it!" Movie.

Pam from Meet the Parents: You know, I could almost understand not telling her dad she and Greg were living together since it is kind of embarassing, but she lets her dad and her in-laws pick on him ALL WEEKEND. Not to mention keeping Greg in the dark that she used to be engaged to another guy. She didn't even stand up to her dad until it was almost too late, and even then, Greg should have just kept on walking.

Everett from The Family Stone: Does the same thing as Pam, and to make things worse, this so-called prize of a man dumps his girlfriend for her younger sister, who he's known for less than a day.

There are plenty more, but that's just to warm things up. Who are your least favorite movie love interests?

[braziliangirl]

 Nate from The Devil wears Prada: He was so condescending to Andy.

[spaceytraci1208]

The "love" triangle in Pearl Harbor is gross. Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale) and Rafe (Ben Affleck) get together. Rafe gets an assignment in Europe. Rafe's plane gets shot down, and he's presumed dead. He ain't. He returns home to find Evelyn now hooked up with his best friend, Danny (Josh Hartnet), and she's pregnant. Soon thereafter, both Rafe and Danny are deployed. Danny dies tragically. Evelyn and Rafe get back together and raise the baby and live happily ever after. Now, I get moving on, but back and forth between best friends?

[Spartan Girl]

The "love" triangle in Pearl Harbor is gross. Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale) and Rafe (Ben Affleck) get together. Rafe gets an assignment in Europe. Rafe's plane gets shot down, and he's presumed dead. He ain't. He returns home to find Evelyn now hooked up with his best friend, Danny (Josh Hartnet), and she's pregnant. Soon thereafter, both Rafe and Danny are deployed. Danny dies tragically. Evelyn and Rafe get back together and raise the baby and live happily ever after. Now, I get moving on, but back and forth between best friends?

Agreed. Evelyn was the worst. Hooking up with your boyfriend's best friend even when he's declared dead is still low.

And that's why Susanna in Legends of the Fall is also the worst. Hooks up with all three brothers, stringing two of them along. Good thing Tristan got free of her when he did, though it's a pity Alfred couldn't come to his senses.

*Edited to correct the title

Edited January 18, 2016 by Spartan Girl

[Princess Sparkle]

I realize this is random, but I have to nominate John Cusack in Serendipity. This asshole meets Kate Beckinsale, while he's dating someone else, and goes out on a date with her. Then, when Kate Beckinsale says they need to leave their future up to fate, he spends the next FIVE YEARS looking for her, all while getting engaged to Bridget Moynihan, and goes as far as to keep looking for Kate B the night before his wedding. In fact, him looking for her was obvious enough that his fiancée noticed he kept looking for the same book (Kate B wrote her number in a book and sold it), so she bought it for him, and that's the book that has Kate's number in it. He was the absolute WORST and I have no idea why Bridget Moynihan or Kate Beckinsale are into him. And douchebag, if you are interested in someone else, you break up with your current partner, you don't propose while looking around for that person you think is better.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[Cobalt Stargazer]

There are plenty more, but that's just to warm things up. Who are your least favorite movie love interests?

 

Cal from Crazy, Stupid Love.

 

Hear me out.

 

While Emily may well deserve all the flak she gets for cheating, Cal's decision to go out and become a manwhore is just ridiculous, not to mention kind of pathetic. He's upset because his wife fooled around, so he asks Jacob to become his Yoda so he can be just like that when he grows up? Then he drags Kate into his personal crisis, and he's lucky she didn't go all Alex Forrest on him once she found out he didn't want a relationship. And this is probably the only time I'll ever say so, but Steve Carell is way too goofy-looking to believably be a ladies man.

[Spartan Girl]

Well I think Emily was awful too, so if it were a better movie Cal would have just moved on and and found someone else like any other sane human being.

Plus, Cal at least did own up to his actions at the end, which is more than I can say about that smug bitch Emily.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Spartan Girl

[feverfew]

Agreed. Evelyn was the worst. Hooking up with your boyfriend's best friend even when he's declared dead is still low.

And that's why Susanna in Last of the Mohicans is also the worst. Hooks up with all three brothers, stringing two of them along. Good thing Tristan got free of her when he did, though it's a pity Alfred couldn't come to his senses.

 

No! No, no, no, no. You musn't despoil my favorite movie in the world like that! Susannah was from that horrible movie Legends of the Fall with Brad Pitt and the bear, not the wonderful Last of the Mohicans! But you're right; she was the worst! Also not helping? That she immediately after played Guinevere in First Knight. A love triangle that cemented my hatred of love triangles in general...

[methodwriter85]

Adaline and Ellis in the Age of Adaline had zero chemistry, to the point where it was just distracting because I found it really unbelievable that this woman would be conflicted about her immortality because of Ellis. Honestly, she had much better chemistry with BOTH Young Will and Old Will. Michael Huisman is more than capable of generating chemistry, but just not with Blake Lively.

[kathyk24]

Richard Gere and Winona Rider in Autumn in New York. She's his love interest but they have no chemistry since he's old enough to be her father. I hated that movie.

[Spartan Girl]

No! No, no, no, no. You musn't despoil my favorite movie in the world like that! Susannah was from that horrible movie Legends of the Fall with Brad Pitt and the bear, not the wonderful Last of the Mohicans! But you're right; she was the worst! Also not helping? That she immediately after played Guinevere in First Knight. A love triangle that cemented my hatred of love triangles in general...

Omg I can't believe I mixed up the titles!! Sorry!!

[Danny Franks]

Anakin and Padme in the Star Wars prequels. Their 'connection' amounted to nothing more than both being pretty to look at. Anakin was a clearly unstable, narcissistic creep with sociopathic tendencies and Padme was... well she had nice outfits. Granted, neither actor could do much with the appalling dialogue and narrative, but their chemistry was utterly non-existent.

[Ms Blue Jay]

 Nate from The Devil wears Prada: He was so condescending to Andy.

 

There's a lot I love about this movie -- I worship Meryl, for example -- and the first two times I saw this movie I think I saw it in blissful ignorance.

 

Then I think the third time I saw the movie I was like... wow.  Every single person in Andy's life - from her boyfriend, to her female friend, to her parents - is a complete asshole to Andy about daring to be ambitious and have a career!  When you see it from that lens... it's a very strange message indeed.

 

Anywhoozlebees, I hope this fits okay within the topic, because it's kind of a backwards way of looking at it, but I hate the common trope I see in 'male' movies where the female love interest is always seriously involved with or engaged to a guy who is a complete asshole.  And the female in that relationship has absolutely no agency to do anything about her situation.  Everyone knows that the guy's an asshole, but the woman won't leave him.  Oh no, she needs a second guy to 'rescue' her from this horrible situation that there's no way she could simply leave, because she's a girl.  See movies like "Harold and Kumar" and "Wedding Crashers" and even "Coming to America", which I watched over the holiday break.  There is ALWAYS a scene where the male in the 'bad' relationship announces his engagement in front of the woman's entire family and the guy that's secretly interested in her, where the woman has no idea it's coming (marking his territory and making a lifelong decision for the woman).

 

Actually, they kind of did a gender reverse of this in one of my favourite movies, "Bridget Jones' Diary".  Although Mark Darcy was never interested in (that other woman, forget her name) and he actively went up to Bridget and told her he had feelings for her.  Because he's a man I guess.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[blugirlami21]

I agree with Spartan Girl about Crazy Stupid Love. That and how Cal treated Jacob at the end were the only things I hated about the movie.

Emily cheated on Cal and gave up on their marriage. She also blindsided him with it and basically put him out of the house. And then she got to date other people but somehow when Cal did the same he was some kind of monster. She never apologizes either. I too wish that Cal had found someone a lot more worthy of his love.

Edited January 19, 2016 by blugirlami21

[Danny Franks]

I agree with Spartan Girl about Crazy Stupid Love. That and how Cal treated Jacob at the end were the only things I hated about the movie.

 

 

I also hated the whole subplot with the son and the babysitter. The way he pursued her despite her clear lack of interest was creepy. Yes, he's a kid and he had a crush, but declaring his love in front of everyone at school? Gross. And then the implication that she gave him her naked photos to jerk off to? That was just... what was that?

 

But when I first watched the movie, I assumed the payoff would be Cal meeting someone new, probably Marisa Tomei, and being happy. Not going back to the woman who cheated on him for no discernible reason other than boredom.

[raezen]

If I were to watch Crazy Stupid Love again, I would pretty much stop right before the school assembly. Not that everything was perfect, those were some zany characters but it's still more than watchable to me up until then.

Edited January 19, 2016 by raezen

[galax-arena]

Clare and Henry in The Time Traveler's Wife. Creeeeeeeeepy. IIRC, in both the book and the movie, they do pay a bit of lip service to how disturbing it all is by addressing that Clare didn't have any real choice over what happened, but the overall conceit of the book/movie is to accept their story as this epic, sweeping, beautiful romance. 

[Spartan Girl]

I can't believe I didn't think of this one sooner, but Dex from the horrible Something Borrowed.  A guy so spineless that he apparently only went for her best friend because he thought that she--the girl he claims was interested all along--wasn't into him.  Any woman that is willing to risk a longterm friendship for such an asshole needs to have their head examined.

[Ms Blue Jay]

Aw, that movie gets a lot of flak.  But I love Emily Giffin and her books, and that movie was a pretty damn faithful adaptation.  So I actually like that movie.  But yeah.... Dex is no great love interest.  I'll give you that.  Nobody in that movie or book comes off looking good.

 

The opposite of that for me is Time Traveler's Wife.  One of my favourite books of all time but that movie was total crap (IMO).

Edited January 28, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[Spartan Girl]

Rachel Dawes from the Batman movies was another horrible love interest. Bland, whiny, and boring. And I maintain that she kind of led Bruce on when she said they could be together when Gotham no longer needed Batman...and then she hooks up with Harvey Dent. Don't make promises you can't fucking keep, bitch!

The fact that Bruce became a recluse over her death his pathetic. So was Harvey Dent going crazy and killed a bunch of people. She was NOT worth all that.

[Spartan Girl]

Did anyone ever see Reese Witherspon's first movie Man in the Moon where she and her older sister fall for the same guy? Well, I think the guy, Court, was a terrible love interest. I could understand if he didn't feel the same way about Reese, but to know that and hook up with her sister anyway and even worse he starts acting cold to Reese just to make himself feel like less of a schmuck for what he's doing. Jerk.

[Babalu]

The Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas characters (Count Laszlo de Almásy and Katharine Clifton) in The English Patient. A movie centered around great love, but I saw no passion at all between them. I think it was a casting error because, while I don't dislike KST in the right role, she's always seemed a bit of an ice queen to me.

[Spartan Girl]

After rewatching Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I remembered how much how hated Sarah.  No matter how sympathetic the movie tries to make her, she was a terrible love interest.  I'd understand just breaking up with Peter because she was unhappy, but she was fucking Aldus Snow behind his back for a whole year.  And I thought it was very unfair for her to lay the blame at Peter's feet for that, whining about how hard she supposedly tried to save the relationship -- it didn't change the fact that she had been cheating on him FOR A YEAR.  If you're unhappy in a relationship, then end it, but don't string him along for a whole year while you're fucking someone else.

 

Not to mention the fact that she only starts regretting the breakup when she sees Peter being happy with someone else.  And it was pretty low of her to try to come on to Peter just when he was finally starting to move on.  Yes, it takes two to tango and Peter let it go further than it should have, but keep in mind that he initially told her to stop touching his face and trying to kiss him, and she kept going anyway.  That was pretty manipulative on her part.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Maxim and Mrs. de Winter #2 (for the record, we never learn her first name) in Rebecca. I watched this film for the first time in a decade or more, and, ye gods, I'd forgotten what a patronizing, passive aggressive, emotionally stunted asshat Maxim was! Would it have killed him to reassure his poor, nervous wreck of a new wife that she was doing fine as mistress of the manor? Or take a breath and not assume she was being deliberately cruel by dressing in the same costume Rebecca wore the previous year's costume ball (as if sweet and innocent Mrs. de Winter #2 had it in her to even play the most harmless April Fool's gag, let alone be deliberately cruel) and not humiliate her in front of the guests, further frazzling her weathered nerves? Or fire Mrs. Danvers already, since she's obviously evil? Or, y'know, come clean and tell his new wife the truth sooner about Rebecca?! Seriously, I don't care if he is played by Laurence Olivier in his hunky prime, Mrs. de Winter #2 should have fled for the hills. 

 

And, ladies, here's a tip: if your man ever tells you he hopes you never become "a woman of 36 in pearls", drop him. Now. Don't wait. Trust me, you are losing nothing.

Edited March 7, 2016 by Wiendish Fitch

[BatmanBeatles]

That was through my mind when I read and watched Rebecca. I wondered why he never gave her some pointers as to run the household. Especially since he knew she was not familiar with his lifestyle. He basically threw her into the water and expected her to swim.

[Neko]

No mention of Bella and Edward from Twilight?  Wow.  I thought they would own this thread.

[Spartan Girl]

I'm ashamed I never thought of them before! A girl with the personality of a wet mop and a creepy stalker. Worst Couple Ever!

[methodwriter85]

I'm ashamed I never thought of them before! A girl with the personality of a wet mop and a creepy stalker. Worst Couple Ever!

Are you sure about that?

 

 

At least Bella and Edward look like they could stand to be in the same room.

Edited March 10, 2016 by methodwriter85

[jah1986]

Did anyone ever see Reese Witherspon's first movie Man in the Moon where she and her older sister fall for the same guy? Well, I think the guy, Court, was a terrible love interest. I could understand if he didn't feel the same way about Reese, but to know that and hook up with her sister anyway and even worse he starts acting cold to Reese just to make himself feel like less of a schmuck for what he's doing. Jerk.

I have a real soft spot for this movie, but yeah Court treated Danni horribly after he started hooking up with her sister.  But that scene where she's running back to her dad after the tractor accident guts me every time.

[methodwriter85]

I'm not sure I share her opinion, but my manager thought Tiffany and Pat in Silver Linings Playbook were pretty horrible love interests. She said something to the effect, "They're just going to wind up killing each other with each other's craziness." When I explained that Pat is actually crazier in the book, her look was pretty funny.

[Spartan Girl]

I'm not sure I share her opinion, but my manager thought Tiffany and Pat in Silver Linings Playbook were pretty horrible love interests. She said something to the effect, "They're just going to wind up killing each other with each other's craziness." When I explained that Pat is actually crazier in the book, her look was pretty funny.

The craziest thing about Pat is that he seriously wanted to get back together with the ex-wife who cheated on him in their own house while listening to their WEDDING SONG.

Tiffany and Pat were nuts, but Nikki? WORST LOVE INTEREST EVER!

Edited March 12, 2016 by Spartan Girl

[raezen]

At least in the book Pat didn't know what his wife did, when my sister saw the movie and reported that he knew I thought "Oh, so they made him a genuine stalker? Yeah, no."

[methodwriter85]

Daisy from The Great Gatsby: Also known as the ultimate "Dude, she ain't worth it!" Movie.

 

I don't know, Lisa from The Room might give Daisy a run for her money. At least she didn't sleep with his best friend and then hit on said best friend while they consoled each other over his dead body. Or tell everybody that Gatsby hit her, or pretend that she was pregnant just to make things interesting.

[Spartan Girl]

What about the asshole doctor Matthew McConaughey played in The Wedding Planner?  When you are engaged, you do not, I repeat, DO NOT GO ON DATES WITH OTHER WOMEN!  Even if nothing technically happened, it's still freaking cheating!  And the fact that the douche waits until the day of his wedding to break things off with his fiancee is just disgusting.  If you want to call off the wedding, do it before the actual day!

[ribboninthesky1]

I never understood why I was meant to care about Will and Jocelyn in A Knight's Tale.  For one, Will was a petulant fool who liked to throw temper tantrums, and was a complete ass to the one person on his "team" who was the most skilled (Kate).  I think I was supposed to see him as brave, but eh. I liked Jocelyn until the "if you love me, you'll lose the tournament...but wait, now you must win to prove it" part.  By the end, I was hoping Kate got to kick all of them to the curb and go about her business making kickass armor for other nobility. Plus, I thought Rufus Sewell and James Purefoy, despite limited screen time, had much more presence.  But their characters' conflict would have made for a completely different (and dark) film, so I get why it wasn't the focal point. 

[Ohwell]

Did anyone ever see Reese Witherspon's first movie Man in the Moon where she and her older sister fall for the same guy? Well, I think the guy, Court, was a terrible love interest. I could understand if he didn't feel the same way about Reese, but to know that and hook up with her sister anyway and even worse he starts acting cold to Reese just to make himself feel like less of a schmuck for what he's doing. Jerk.

I wasn't too hard on him because he was a teenager, just a few years older than Reese, and he was bound to screw things up.  I wouldn't expect him to be able to navigate relationships with two girls--hell, grown men can't even do it.  Plus, it was sad when he got killed at the end.

[Bruinsfan]

The fact that Bruce became a recluse over her death his pathetic. So was Harvey Dent going crazy and killed a bunch of people. She was NOT worth all that.

I think being burned up into a half charcoal briquette may have had more to do with the latter than grief over Rachael being killed. I mean, based on the way they made those injuries look Dent should have been deader than Freddy Krueger, not just crazy.

 

At least Bella and Edward look like they could stand to be in the same room.

Probably due to Stewart and Pattinson not despising one another in real life. From what I've heard Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan got along like Travolta and Tomlin did on the set of Moment by Moment.

[Spartan Girl]

 

I think being burned up into a half charcoal briquette may have had more to do with the latter than grief over Rachael being killed. I mean, based on the way they made those injuries look Dent should have been deader than Freddy Krueger, not just crazy.

 

True, but Bruce didn't have that excuse.  Granted, he would have still felt horrible about Rachel's death even if Alfred hadn't burned the stupid letter, but there might have been some of that "Woe is me, I lost the only woman I'll ever love and now I'm going to lock myself in my mansion" crap.

[annzeepark914]

 

I feel sorry for any actress who had to play a character in a love relationship with Jesse Eisenberg.  How did that guy ever get in so many movies to begin with?

Edited March 22, 2016 by annzeepark914

[Spartan Girl]

I didn't really like Ethne in The Four Feathers. Yes she was rightfully remorseful for abandoning her fiancé when he needed her the most, but she didn't spend a lot of time and effort trying to get in contact with him...instead she rebounds with his best friend. Always a tacky move.

[methodwriter85]

I feel sorry for any actress who had to play a character in a love relationship with Jesse Eisenberg.  How did that guy ever get in so many movies to begin with?

Blame Pepsi.

Edited March 23, 2016 by methodwriter85

[Crs97]

Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt had negative chemistry in Twister, probably because Helen Hunt rarely makes a character she portrays likeable.

[meep.meep]

That was through my mind when I read and watched Rebecca. I wondered why he never gave her some pointers as to run the household. Especially since he knew she was not familiar with his lifestyle. He basically threw her into the water and expected her to swim.

 

The next year Joan Fontaine starred in a film with Cary Grant where he treated her even worse, Suspicion.  She even won an Oscar for it.  She plays an heiress who marries Grant's character and becomes convinced that he's trying to kill her (because he is).  Then they patch on some stupidly hokey "explanation" at the end and suddenly they are great lovers.  Terrible.  Even Hitchcock can go wrong.  I don't know anyone who has seen this that doesn't think the ending is ridiculous.

[Babalu]

That ending *was* ridiculous. In the book, he does kill her, and Hitchcock wanted to end the film that way, but the studio wouldn't let him.

FAQs regarding http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034248/faq

More details about the ending: http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~muffin/suspicion_c..html

See also: Rebecca, and how the studio fucked with the first Mrs. De Winter's death.

[GreekGeek]

I thought of Dexter and Emma in One Day. They bicker constantly and don't seem to like, let alone love, each other, but we're supposed to believe they're each other's One True Love. 

[Athena]

I thought of Dexter and Emma in One Day. They bicker constantly and don't seem to like, let alone love, each other, but we're supposed to believe they're each other's One True Love. 

 

This was not a great movie adaptation of the novel. In the book, you bought the friendship, but the actors did not have enough chemistry to carry it. Anne Hathaway really wanted the role, but she was miscast. Her accent was inconsistent throughout the whole film.

[dusang]

Can I just nominate absolutely any movie where Zach Braff is the lead?  There should be a woodcut of Braff next to the word douche in every dictionary.  I particularly despised The Last Kiss, which at the time I had like a twenty minute rant about the rampant misogyny and general shittiness of all the characters but I've now forgotten the details of my hatred and just hate.

[methodwriter85]

This was not a great movie adaptation of the novel. In the book, you bought the friendship, but the actors did not have enough chemistry to carry it. Anne Hathaway really wanted the role, but she was miscast. Her accent was inconsistent throughout the whole film.

She was cited in article about the adaption of Me Before You, about the pitfalls of casting an American actress as an English heroine.

[Spartan Girl]

Georgia Rule was a terrible movie, and among the reasons why was Lindsay Lohan's horrible love interest, Harlan. Was I supposed to like this guy? He cheats on his girlfriend with her, then dumps the girlfriend after she justifiably doesn't want him to hang out with the girl he cheat on him with. Not to mention that Linsay's character was obviously in no state to even commit to a relationship, seeing as how she was still dealing with the fact her stepfather raped her.

[Spartan Girl]

I also think the doctor from Waitress was a sleazy jerk. He was MARRIED to a perfectly nice woman, and yet he was messing around with Jenna, his patient. His PREGNANT patient.

I hate how the movie tried to make him seem adorable when he was really the world's biggest douchebag. Thank God Jenna came to her senses and dumped both him AND her jerk husband.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Spartan Girl