photo by Hot Rod HomepageIn honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re rerunning a series of top ten lists dedicated to the film-genre equivalent of those little heart candies: the romantic comedy. Our first was classic rom coms; second was alternative love stories; next we listed the best overlooked ones, then old school films made before we were born. Today, we continue with the most overrated rom coms, all of which break the cardinal rule of rom coms: to make the protagonists actually likable. We’re sure you’ll disagree with some of them. (Even Em disagrees with most of them, though she admits her standards are pretty low when it comes to rom coms.)
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding – How the eff is this the biggest grossing romantic comedy of all time? Why the hell was it nominated for a Best Screenwriting Oscar? It was freaking unwatchable! Neither of us can even remember the plot because it was so traumatically bad we’ve blocked it out. All we can remember is the absolute emptiness we felt when it was finally over (or was that when we finally walked out of the theater?).
- Love Actually – Misogyny coated in a layer of sickly sweet sappiness. Every single female character in this movie is a loser who needs a man like a fish needs a set of gills. Proof that there is still a need for feminism in the Western world.
- Jerry Maguire – It was okay, but worth five Academy Award nominations, including best actor and best film? What’s the BFD? So it had some cute catchphrases: “help me help you”, “show me the money”, “you complete me”. But catchphrases are for commercials. We’ll take “Where’s the beef?” over “You had me at hello” any day.
- Four Weddings and a Funeral – If Hugh Grant got together with Kristin Scott Thomas at the end of this movie, then it might have ended up on our Top 10 Classic Rom Coms lists. But the fact that he ends up with the totally unlikeable ass played poorly by Andie MacDowell makes it a loser.
- Sideways – We’re supposed to feel sympathy for a pretentious lush and a shameless, selfish cheater? Pass us a bottle of Merlot, stat!
- My Best Friend’s Wedding – If this is how Julia Roberts’s character treats her best friend and her best friend’s fiance, we’d hate to see how she treats her enemies. She deserves to grow old and die alone.
- As Good As It Gets – A bad accent and a pair of THOs do not an Oscar-worthy performance make. But apparently they do.
- There’s Something About Mary – The original title of this movie was “There’s Something About Mary That’s Totally Annoying.”
- You’ve Got Mail – You know the only thing less interesting than watching two people type IM messages to each other while giggling inanely? No, we can’t think of anything either.
- Juno – As two people dedicated to helping inform young people about the harsh realities of sex, we take issue with the fact that there was absolutely no discussion of contraception. Hey kids, not being safe, getting pregnant and giving up your baby for adoption is the best way to finally get the boy you have a crush on to go out with you! Plus, no kid talks that way — only pretentious writers trying too hard and too long to sound clever talk that way.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
just reading the movie titles makes me want to ralph
February 12th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Juno’s not an F-ing love story! Comedy, yes…..love, absolutely not. I still love that movie, though
February 14th, 2009 at 1:19 am
I think there are actually far more sad pathetic men in Love Actually than women, so I definitely don’t agree with you guys on that one. You’re spot on about My Best Friend’s Wedding though – I watched it expecting something nice, and was like “what? oh my god, that was terrible!”.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Love Actually is well rated?
February 18th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I loved My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I thought it explored the clash between the significant other and the family – especially when they’re coming from different cultures – in a funny and (I thought) reasonably realistic way. “Unwatchable”? C’mon, even if you don’t like the writer’s brand of humor, it had its moments.
April 24th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
i never knew any of these were considered “romantic” comedies.
i thought a couple of them were funny.. but none of them were romantic.
April 27th, 2009 at 10:43 am
So glad someone else hated jerry. Mcguire. I wanted to throw up. No chemistry and unlikeable characters.
February 4th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Ok… I like ‘Love Actually’. I really enjoy it for the interplay of stories. I will agree that some of the women are losers. But Emma Thompsons character is a smart funny woman; and you see her deal with the pain of an affair. Also, the storyline with the little boy is hilarious……
February 4th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
It should also be noted that I dont think of ‘Love Actually’ as a Rom Com. I think of it as a sappy silly holiday movie……
February 5th, 2010 at 2:31 am
I love My Big Fat Greek Wedding! Maybe it’s because I can relate every character to each member of my Armenian family… The movie is a cute play on mixing cultures and being accepted, that other times would be considered a tough subject.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Actually i kinda liked my big fat greek wedding. Though to me it wasnt a rom com it was just a movie that i happened to be at home watching. All the others i totally agree with except Juno… I wouldnt say it was great but it wasnt half bad either…
March 6th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
I don’t consider Juno a romantic comedy, but rather as just a comedy. Also, who says some kids don’t talk that way?