Romancefilms are a balancing act. They can’t be too brash or too boring, too sexy or too prudish. They must be fresh, but without forgetting the tried and true tropes of the past. From the outside looking in, romance in film is a seamless, meaningful, and equal share of affection.
One thing that many a romance movie fails to deliver on, however, is a healthy dose of reality. Characters in romance are notorious for making questionable decisions about relationships. From marrying someone they just met to stealing a soon-to-be spouse to quitting their jobs and flying cross-country on a whim, these tropes are far from healthy and just go to prove their love is blind to the realities of modern life and relationships.
Some movies are problematic right from the start. The male lead fromWarm Bodies,for example, meets his love interest while eating her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, thereby gaining the memories of their former relationship and blurring the lines between the two men. The dialogue for Gerard Butler’s character inThe Ugly Truth, meanwhile, reads like a dodgy online political forum. And then, of course, there’s the ever-popular I poison you because I love you and need to take care of you trope fromPhantom Thread.
What’s perhaps worse, though, are films where the ending is the most problematic of all. In a genre where the one rule is there must be a happy ending, making that ending a problematic one just doesn’t sit well with audiences. Here are some popular romance films whose endings left audiences with an especially sour taste. Still, we love them.
Update August 01, 2025: This article has been updated by Amanda Minchin with even more problematic endings in romances and where each title is streaming.
10You’ve Got Mail (1998)
You’ve Got Mail
You’ve Got Mailis one of thefirst digital love stories, one that’s based on a screwball comedy from the 1940s,The Shop Around the Corner. This Nora Ephron update pits two rivaling business owners against each other. One owns a cute little bookshop (Meg Ryan), while the other works for a book multi-conglomerate (Tom Hanks) that is looking to take over the neighborhood. Outside their jobs, however, they’ve accidentally connected as anonymous pen pals online. Unfortunately, Hank’s Joe Fox does manage to shut down Ryan’s Kathleen’s long-running, family-owned business… and, yeah, her livelihood.
What Makes It So Problematic
This movie does a terrific job of highlighting conflict using the method of “Who knows what when”. Each element, from the reveal of the two in real life to the reveal of usernames to each other, is unraveled at different moments throughout the film. That being said, Kathleen starts out in a relationship, talking to a random stranger she met online. Between this and the increasing lies, as the two begin to realize who, in fact, the other is, there is little to no concrete basis for their relationship. Then there’s the issue of codependency, now that one of the pair is out of a job because of the other.Stream on AMC+
9Ghost (1990)
Ghostinvolvesthe spirit of murdered bankerSam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) and his attempt to protect his girlfriend Molly Jensen (Demi Moore) from his killer. Sam seeks psychic Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) to share the killer’s identity with Molly, but Molly learns from the police that the killer isn’t on their record, and Oda has multiple accounts of fraud. Sam then performs supernatural acts he learned from a violent ghost, killing his killer and giving Molly a goodbye kiss to make up for the trouble.
Sam has his heart (and soul) in the right place as he watches over a loved one. From the start, the options for continuing the relationship are limited. He’s there alright, but they can’t touch him unless he’s in another person’s body. Molly can either join him in death or walk around with a literal silent partner. By the end of the film, Molly’s life is halted between waiting to join Sam in the afterlife or moving on with her own.
Then there’s the fact that he put not only Molly’s life at risk but the lives of Oda Mae Brown and her posse after forcing them to help him out with his plans…not a good look. Everyone involved is left with a healthy dose of PTSD from the traumatic experience, one that no one in their right mind would believe was true.Stream on Max
Related:The Most Complicated Relationships in Movies, Ranked
8Grease (1978)
Greaseis aclassic musical turned moviefeaturing Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta as Sandy and Danny. The year is 1958, and after a summer of passion, these two star-crossed lovers have separated for good just in time for the new school year… or so it seems. When Sandy accidentally transfers to Danny’s high school, she finds he’s elbow-deep in a subculture of cars and hair products that’s not like anything she’s used to. She’ll go to great lengths to prove their love is indeed compatible.
Greasemay be the word and the moral of this story is simply swimming in the stuff. In order to keep the man she loves, she’s forced to change her personality and looks to fit in with the Pink Ladies and the Greasers. Staying true to oneself is often seen as the bedrock of any solid relationship. Straying so far from this to fit in with the crowd is not a message that should be celebrated, in or out of a relationship.Stream on Max
7The Little Mermaid (1989)
The Little Mermaidis an iconic Disney princess classic in which a young mermaid named Ariel (Jodi Benson) gives up her voice for a chance to become a human… and hopefully meet the cute sailor she saved from a storm. The sea witch, Ursula, is all too happy to help, launching her back to land without so much as an anchor. Ariel must rely on her wits, charm, and faulty knowledge of shipwrecked human implements to win over her true love in order to remain a human forever. The film is loosely based on the 1837 Danish fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen but with a much happier ending (and songs), of course.
What Makes It So Problematic
Like most classic folklore turnedproblematic Disney IP, this film is problematic for a variety of reasons, the main one being the relationship between Ariel and her purported true love, Prince Eric. Everyone knows that abandoning your family forever over someone you just met is a recipe for disaster. Ridiculous age gap aside, Ariel is beyond naive about the human world, having spent her whole life undersea in the kingdom of Atlantica dreaming about it. Fork-comb notwithstanding, her knowledge of this world and its customs, marital or otherwise, is drastically lacking. A committed relationship is clearly not something she’s ready for, nor is it something that should be achieved in just three days' time while also getting used to having legs. Oh, and did we mention that her turning into a human is conditional upon getting this guy she just met to kiss her in hopes he’s her true love? Now that’s just borderline creepy.Stream on Disney+
6Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Pt. 2 (2012)
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Pt. 2brought an end to the epic worldwide phenomenon. The film focuses on the battle between the Cullen family of vampires and the Volturi following the birth of Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) immortal child, Resemee. The film gives fans the big sweeping conclusion to the love story between Edward and Bella but also wraps up the love triangle with Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner)…by pairing him with their daughter.
Okay, so outside of the obvious having your friend fall in love with your newly born daughter (the film tries to present a lot of mythological explanations to justify it by having Resemee age rapidly, but mentally, she is only a child), the idea of an older man dating his former crush and also rivals daughter is deeply uncomfortable. There is also the aspect left over from the previous film of Bella Swan being 18 years old and making drastic life changes like getting married and having kids, which will alter her life in such drastic ways that she might not be entirely ready for. The film ends with a happily ever after treatment, but one can’t help but feel like there are still some questions left to answer.Stream on Starz.
5Pretty Woman (1990)
Pretty Woman
Pretty Womanis a romcomthat starts with a one-night stand between an escort named Vivian (Julia Roberts) and her john, Edward Lewis (Richard Gere). They soon agree upon a merger of businesses in which she is at his beck and call for events but gets to live in the lap of luxury while she’s at it. In using her to attend social functions and humanize his otherwise cutthroat business approaches, he soon falls in love.
There’s an imbalance of power here between employee and boss that’s a bit hard to swallow, no matter how endearing Gere and Roberts are in their respective roles. The problem is their relationship revolves around superficial wants and unrealistic expectations. She wants a knight in shining armor, and he wants a romantic, long-term partner he doesn’t have to pay to love him. Both parties come from selfish worlds where money is power, but not freedom. What starts out as keeping up appearances, however, soon steers into the territory of buying one’s love. Luckily, their relationship evolves into something more than skin deep, in spite of the odds.Stream on AppleTV+
4His Girl Friday (1940)
His Girl Fridayisa classic screwball comedy, full of sharp jabs at domesticity and dialogue that’s so fast-paced it’s near impossible to keep up. Carey Grant plays Walter Burns, a cut-throat magazine editor who’s just found out his star reporter and ex-wife Hildegard “Hildy” Johnson (Rosalind Russell) is leaving him and his business for a quiet life with a new husband. Wanting what he can’t have, he plots to reel his ex-wife back into the journalism game she loves by dangling one last tempting scoop and a byline to match. Hildy eventually succumbs to the thrills of journalism (and her former husband) over the scoop of the impending hanging of a death row inmate. To be fair, the one thing this film has going for it is its portrayal of a take-charge woman in the workplace, one who’s just one of the gang. She’s not shielded from harsh news; in fact, she’s right at the center of it.
What Makes It Great
Let’s call Walter’s plan what it is - gaslighting. He deftly manipulates those around him, telling little white lies to control the situation at hand and everyone in it. While Burns is the host of politeness on the outside, it’s clear, even to Hildy, that he’s up to something. She left their relationship because it became all about work, jotting off to some middle of nowhere place at the drop of a hat. They’d even skipped their first honeymoon for a scoop. In the end, she’s right back in the same relationship, flaws and all, skipping on the things she wants to do for the sake of the story.Stream on Prime
3True Lies (1994)
True Liesfollows the double life of secret agent Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who tries to keep his work as a spy hidden from his family. His wife, Helen, (Jamie Lee Curtis) is left behind, suspicious of her husband and seeking her own adventure. What ensues is a comedy of errors in which she’s kidnapped and set up on a fake undercover op by her husband that goes horribly awry. Soon he’s forced to spill the beans about his identity.
Based on the French comedyLa Totale!, there’s an overarching theme of not telling that truth that leads to some pretty drastic, borderline terroristic circumstances. It takes literal truth serum for Harry to finally confess his double life to his wife, and that’s only after he’s kidnapped and forced her to work a sham operation. There’s a thin line betweenan action-packed series of feloniesand spicing things up, one which is blasted well into oblivion by the third act.Stream on AppleTV+
2Overboard (1987)
Overboardfollows a bratty socialite, Joanna (Goldie Hawn),who gets amnesiaafter falling off her multi-million dollar yacht. Karma soon comes in the form of a carpenter named Dean (Kurt Russell), whom she mistreated right before the accident. Seizing the opportunity, the carpenter pretends to be her husband in order to get paid for his work (and get some extra help around the house with his four widowed children). She acclimates to her new life as a mother and soon has feelings for him. He falls in love with her too, but won’t share her real identity with her out of fear that she will leave him. At some point, she snaps out of it, realizing she’s been manipulated. However, she’s since seen the error of her ways and is perfectly content to hoof it as a carpenter’s wife.
The very foundation of their relationship begins and ends with lies, the grossest of which lies somewhere between outright fraud and unpaid labor. Being taken advantage of while undergoing a mental health crisis is nothing to sneeze at. Oh, and did we mention that she’s married and that her real husband left her alone at the hospital, hoping to get away with her money? This is no way to treat the person you love, no matter how indulgent and grating she was at the beginning!Rent on AppleTV+
Related:11 Films About Toxic Relationships That Are So Relatable
1Love Actually (2003)
Love Actually
Love Actuallyis an iconic holiday classic. It’s a multipart love story told in vignettes that seem to crisscross over and under each other. Written and directed by Richard Curtis, the ensemble includes Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightly, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Andrew Lincoln. Stories include an aging rock star and his new Christmas cover, a marriage in peril, a cross-countries romance, a traveler, a widower, a pair of adult film stand-ins, and, of course, a prime minister.
One of the more problematic vignettes follows the Best Man of a wedding (Lincoln), who just so happens to be the videographer for the event. For some unknown reason, he withholds sharing the recording with the bride (Knightly) after the event. When she finally confronts him, she discovers the tape has been edited to include just shots of her. It turns out he’s been in love with her from the start but did not want to ruin her happiness or his friendship.
This relationship reads like the beginning of a Dateline episode. As if the creepy voyeurism wasn’t enough, he shows up on her doorstep afterward on Christmas Eve, playing carols on a boombox and confessing his love for her silently via cue cards while her husband watches TV in the next room. She leaves him with a kiss before shutting the door gently, saying it was carolers. Anyone in their right mind would have slammed the door in his face right from the start. And now, after careful review,even Director Curtis agrees.Stream on AMC+
