Love among individuals in film is always present. There’s typically no plot without the connection being made. From Peter Parker and Mary Jane inSpider-Manto Noah and Allie inThe Notebook, the definition of love grows from time spent to making an entire family and life together. Sometimes one line can land a love interest and sometimes, it can drive them away. The act of keeping a relationship blooming typically sets the sails in a film, making the plot enliven with more than residuals.
Often there’s a temptress involved, throwing off the relationship made. Or worse, a longtime friend of one of the lovers becomes entangled, causing tensions to rise and ties to break. There’s the affair of Ben and Anna inHe’s Just Not That Into Youwhere Ben cheated on his wife Janine, leaving everyone single by the end of the affair. There’s alsoThe Other Womanwhere Mark sparks multiple flames with countless women, resultingin his love interestsconjuring up enough confidence to come together and do him dirty the way he did them.
Though a relationship may grow, sometimes viewers are left thinking that the connection just doesn’t make sense — and that’s okay. Factors like cheating, clear incompatibility, and awkwardness affect the presence of love, making for either cringey or bypassed feelings. Let’s take a look at some of the most unrealisticromancesin film, as there are a few notable movies to discuss.
10How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days
When Andie was faced with a news article pitch that she had to go through with, she knew what to do. InHow to Lose a Guy in Ten Days,Andie has ten days to land a relationship and essentially leave him hanging by the end of the deadline — she’d date him, then write the article, and be done. But when Ben was tasked with a bet that he couldn’t make a woman his in one night and make it last for ten days, he as well had to go through with it. One night, both Andie and Ben are at the same function and are influenced to pick each other in pursuance of their private intentions. Neither knows of the other’s end game, but they have each met their match.
Andie goes into the 10 days planning to disgust Ben with random nuances that would typically repel an attraction. However, Ben still has a bet going with his friends, so he tries his best to stay patient. The two grow apart, just to then grow together. The impracticality here resides in the fact that Andie and Ben double-cross each other, as it’s usually one party who does the betting.
Ultimately the pair find outabout their initial intentions, but sometimes love doesn’t wait, and it wasn’t about to do so with Andie and Ben. Though feelings are hurt, Ben calls Andie’s bluff as she is about to leave town, knowing she and him belong together. Ben may have won his side of the bet, but he also won Andie — making this far-fetched film a roller coaster of emotions.
9My Best Friend’s Wedding
Like all friendships between a man and a woman, there are likely to be feelings that arise. InMy Best Friend’s Wedding, Julianne and Micheal have been friends since they were kids and made a pact to marry each other if both of them are single by the age of 28. Just days before Julianne turns 28, Micheal announces his engagement to a much younger, 20-year-old whom he hadn’t known for too long. Julianna fears the day she’ll have let Micheal go, resulting in her attempting to break up the engagement. She tells Micheal of her true feelings, but it’s just too late.
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The two may have spent time bonding before the wedding, as she was asked to be Micheal’s fiancée’s maid of honor, but her efforts fall short. What’s unrealistic here is the sheer fact that although the two have a history together, Michael doesn’t even give Julianne a chance. She desperatelytries to win him over, but he’s too dismissive of the truth. Micheal eventually marries his fiancée, Kim, and although love is lost, the friendship between him and Julianne continues.
8Something’s Gotta Give
What’s more awkward than dating your daughter’s ex-boyfriend? Not much — but inSomething’s Gotta Give, the odds of love were in Erica’s favor.This love triangleincluded the mom Erica, the daughter Marin, and the love interest Harry. Marin was less than half of Harry’s age, causing for a fun beginning, but incompatible run. So when Harry had a heart attack while attempting to make love with the young and energetic Marin, she finally realized the two wouldn’t last. But what about Erica?
Harry ends up being nursed back to health by Erica in her summer home. Although Erica begins to see a younger man as well, not batting an eye at Harry, he somehow swoons her into a relationship that both never started nor ended — it more or less fell into place. Though the ending of the film would be practical with Harry and Marin falling deeper, the thought of a love triangle with your own kin just doesn’t sit right.
7Never Been Kissed
When Josie was posed with the opportunityto go back to high school, per her work’s request, she was apprehensive, as her previous time in school did not serve her well. Josie was somewhat of an outcast growing up and never had the chance to garner a relationship past friendship. Lacking intimacy, she proceeded with the job in order to write the news article her boss intended her to write. Needing to explore teenage culture, Josie and her wits take the classroom head-on, despite her fear of failing to fit in, again.
However, there was one person that encouraged Josie to continue with her necessary exploration. As Josie expressed her intelligence, her teacher Sam became attracted to her. Still unaware that Josie is a 25-year-old, he tried to deny the growing feelings. But when push comes to shove inNever Been Kissed, Josie admits to Sam and her new friends what her real identity is.
Sam is ultimately let down, as his feelings were true, as were Josie’s. So when Josie sets up a meeting for them in the middle of a baseball field, she’s unsure if he’ll show. Though Sam ultimately gives Josie her “first kiss,” the likelihood that a grown woman goes undercover in high school just to fall in love with her teacher is slightly out there, making this romance a bit impractical.
6The Tourist
The Touristfeatures a woman who is being sought out by police for being the love interest of Alexander Pearce, a man who owes nearly a billion dollars in back taxes and is wanted in 14 countries. Pearce is thought to have altered his face with reconstructive surgery to get away with his criminal activity. So, when Elise, his lover, travels abroad, she is inclined to not only hide but find Pearce despite not knowing what he looks like.
Elise comes across a peculiar man on the train to her destination and sticks by him, as he gives her comfort in her time under watchful eyes. When she arrives in Venice, Italy, so does her new friend Frank. The two run into each other countless times, and Elise expresses not only her interest in him but that she loves him. Eventually, Frank comes clean and tells Elise that he in fact is a disguised version of Pearce. Then, instead of hiding from his owed finances, he chooses to pay it all back in order to remain with Elise.
The couple ends up together, but what’s impractical is the fact that Pearce had facial surgery to elude himself from his criminal convictions, yet takes every opportunity to be with Elise while she’s being followed by the same police that are after him. Now if that doesn’t scream true love, what does?
5The Change-Up
InTheChange-Up, Dave and Mitch have been longtime friends. Mitch being the single bachelor who lands countless beautiful women, results in growing jealousy from Dave, as he is a family man with a newborn baby. Though the friends vicariously live through the other in order to maintain balance in their own lives, things become a bit more serious. On one magical night, Dave and Mitch both pee in a fountain while simultaneously wishing they had the other’s life instead of theirs. Things get dark as the mystical experienceof Mitch and Dave swapping soulsoccurs, but they’ve trusted each other long enough to see the change through.
Dave may be happily married, but the thought of being able to sleep with multiple women and living single in his own apartment elates his mind. Mitch also ends up enjoying his life with Dave’s wife Jamie, and learns how to become more self-sufficient with the switch. As the plot unwinds, Mitch and Dave know they have to make a wish in the same fountain to get their original lives back. The pair finally convince Jamie that they’ve switched lives and decide to retract their wishes. The unrealistic nature is that two people switch lives entirely. Though it’s doubtful this would happen in real life, the acting here was spot on, making for some very convincing scenes that highlight the two in their different bodies.
4The Time Traveler’s Wife
Though a mystical tale,The Time Traveler’s Wifeis somewhat unrealistic. The story is based on the idea that a husbandwent back in timeon multiple instances to meet his future wife. However, when the two meet in the present day while they both are in the same time zone, he doesn’t remember having visited her all those years ago. Eric, the time traveler, and Claire, his wife, spend most days and nights together, but in an instant, he vanishes without notice. And though Eric feels sorrow for leaving Claire, she tries to instill into him that she wouldn’t change a moment of what they have together. Unlikely, yes, but romantic nonetheless.
Related:25 Tragic Movie Romances That Left Us in Pieces
3Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
And so the fairytale goes, a bestowed princess must be claimed and saved in order for her life to prosper. Though this fable has been prevalent in film since the beginning of time, the idea that a woman slips into an unconscious sleep for days just doesn’t seem too practical. Then to only be able to wake with a kiss, pushes this practicality even further past the limits of what love is like. The idea may be popular and span across a multitude of productions, but sometimes, there are factors to a story that are a far stretch to how love is truly created andSnow White and the Seven Dwarfsis one of them.
Ted 2may be a film full of delinquent behaviors between John and Ted, who have been best friends for as long as they can remember, but the spark of love between roles inevitably arises. Ted, being a stuffed animal bear that John was gifted as a child, becomes lifelike and lives as any human would. He has a job, drinks beer, does drugs, and builds real friendships. Being as cool as he was, he, of course, needed a beautiful woman by his side. So when he met Tami-Lyn at the grocery store where they both worked, he knew he had to win her over.
With raunchy jokesand extreme confidence, Ted ends up not only making her his girlfriend but his wife as well. The two adopt a son and name him Apollo Creed and take on the last name of “Clubber Lang.” And though their fairytale comes with a happy ending, the idea that a stuffed animal becomes lifelike, gets married to a human, and is allowed to adopt a real baby may not be the most sensible.
Perhaps one of the most unrealistic loves in film is that of a human and a cell phone — yes, a cell phone. When Theodorefinds himself lonesome after a breakupand bored in a monotonous job, he comes across a software on his cell phone, much like the modern-day Siri or Alexa, and falls in love with the voice behind the device.
InHer, Theodore spends months making jokes and becoming excited about life with Samantha, the “complex” operating system. He spends every waking moment with Samantha as she encourages his happiness while he becomes self-aware again. She sends him reminders just as a calendar application would, uplifts his spirits, and claims herself as more than a gadget, making Theodore fall even deeper. Eventually the woo of Samantha wears off as things get too serious to handle. Theodore may be left heartbroken, but he inevitably is led back to a life of normalcy.
Though romantic interests in film vary from inanimate objects to your daughter’s ex, the extent to which characters go to be with the one they love exceeds any unrealistic ideology. You could undergo an entire surgical makeover and land Angelina Jolie like “Frank” did inThe Tourist.All that matters is that you do not hold back feelings, because if it’s not you with who you love, it’ll be someone else with them, so you might as well express yourself despite all regards.
