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The 30 Worst Romantic Comedies of All Time

Welcome to our guide to the worst romantic comedies ever: Movies suspiciously light on love and laughs that scored less than 10% on the Tomatometer – after 20 reviews from critics. This bubbly mix of misfires and killjoys includes infamous bombs (Gigli), questionable nuptials (The Big Wedding, License to Wed), vanity projects (Good Luck Chuck, The Hottie and the Nottie), and holiday hokum (New Year’s Eve, Mother’s Day). Expect some big names to show up as well: Forest Whitaker (First Daughter director), David O. Russell (director of Accidental Love…until the money ran out and the movie was then thrown together without him), Tom Cruise (Cocktail), and Sandra Bullock, whose grating All About Steve had the distinct fortune of being Bullock’s first movie to release after her comeback The Proposal.

Now, it’s meet-cutes of the damned in our guide to the worst rom-coms ever made!

#30

Everybody Wants to Be Italian (2007)
9%

#30

Adjusted Score: 7.944%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Synopsis: A lovelorn urbanite who has spent nearly a decade trying to win back his ex-girlfriend gets involved in a romantic... [More]

Starring: Jay Jablonski, Cerina Vincent, John Enos III, John Kapelos

Directed By: Jason Todd Ipson

#29

Accidental Love (2015)
9%

#29

Adjusted Score: 9.476%

Critics Consensus: Cobbling together an unfinished satire on the healthcare system and contorting it into a dopey romance, Accidental Love is a cynical repurposing of unrealized potential.

Synopsis: Alice's perfect life is turned upside down when a freak accident leaves a nail lodged in her head, causing erratic... [More]

Starring: Jessica Biel, Jake Gyllenhaal, Catherine Keener, James Marsden

Directed By: David O. Russell

#28

Marci X (2003)
8%

#28

Adjusted Score: 9.021%

Critics Consensus: The material is too thin for feature-length and the jokes are socially outdated and clueless.

Synopsis: Paul Rudnick provides the script for the Scott Rudin-produced comedy Marci X, directed by Richard Benjamin. The new song "Shoot... [More]

Starring: Lisa Kudrow, Damon Wayans, Richard Benjamin, Christine Baranski

Directed By: Richard Benjamin

#27

Gray Matters (2007)
8%

#27

Adjusted Score: 9.533%

Critics Consensus: Gray Matters tries emulating Hollywood screwball classics, but the rapid fire dialogue and witticisms comes off only as a contrived gimmick.

Synopsis: They finish each other's sentences, dance like Fred and Ginger, and share the same downtown loft--the perfect couple? Not exactly.... [More]

Starring: Heather Graham, Tom Cavanagh, Bridget Moynahan, Molly Shannon

Directed By: Sue Kramer

#26

My Boss's Daughter (2003)
8%

#26

Adjusted Score: 9.493%

Critics Consensus: Offensive, incoherent, and ineptly acted and directed.

Synopsis: Anarchic comedy veteran David Zucker directs hot young thing of 2003 Ashton Kutcher in the fast-paced romantic comedy My Boss's... [More]

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Tara Reid, Terence Stamp, Jeffrey Tambor

Directed By: David Zucker

#25

First Daughter (2004)
8%

#25

Adjusted Score: 9.847%

Critics Consensus: First Daughter is a bland and charmless fairy tale that fails to rise above the formula.

Synopsis: A very special student deals with exams, first love, and national security issues in this teen-oriented romantic comedy-drama. Samantha MacKenzie... [More]

Starring: Katie Holmes, Marc Blucas, Michael Keaton, Margaret Colin

Directed By: Forest Whitaker

#24

Summer Catch (2001)
8%

#24

Adjusted Score: 10.509%

Critics Consensus: A cliched and predictable sports comedy that's mostly devoid of excitement or laughs, Summer Catch is strictly bush-league.

Synopsis: This blend of sports and youthful romantic comedy is from director Michael Tollin, who previously produced the sports drama Varsity... [More]

Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr., Freddie Prinze, Jessica Biel, Fred Ward

Directed By: Mike Tollin, Michael Tollin

#23

Post Grad (2009)
8%

#23

Adjusted Score: 10.686%

Critics Consensus: A lightweight, unambitious comedy, Post Grad features fine actors that can do little with its middling, uninspiring script.

Synopsis: Recent college graduate Ryden Malby (Gilmore Girls star Alexis Bledel) has just survived four years of higher education, but when... [More]

Starring: Alexis Bledel, Zach Gilford, Rodrigo Santoro, Jane Lynch

Directed By: Vicky Jenson

#22

Mother's Day (2016)
8%

#22

Adjusted Score: 13.786%

Critics Consensus: Arguably well-intended yet thoroughly misguided, Mother's Day is the cinematic equivalent of a last-minute gift that only underscores its embarrassing lack of effort.

Synopsis: "Mother's Day" is the latest star studded ensemble comedy from director Garry Marshall ("Pretty Woman," "Valentine's Day"). Bringing together Jennifer... [More]

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts, Jason Sudeikis

Directed By: Garry Marshall

#21

Mr. Wrong (1996)
7%

#21

Adjusted Score: 7.947%

Critics Consensus: A mean-spirited joke without a punchline, Mr. Wrong is so painfully unfunny that Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Pullman's lack of chemistry feels like a total drag despite being the point.

Synopsis: In this black romantic comedy, television producer Martha Alston finally gives in to parental badgering and begins looking for a... [More]

Starring: Ellen DeGeneres, Bill Pullman, Joan Cusack, Dean Stockwell

Directed By: Nick Castle Jr.

#20

Man Trouble (1992)
7%

#20

Adjusted Score: 8.59%

Critics Consensus: Man Trouble has brilliant stars and the germ of an interesting idea in its favor, which makes the scattered, unfunny results even more of a disappointment.

Synopsis: In a rare comedy role, Jack Nicholson plays the owner of an attack-dog service who is hired by an opera... [More]

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Ellen Barkin, Harry Dean Stanton, Beverly D'Angelo

Directed By: Bob Rafelson

#19

Cocktail (1988)
7%

#19

Adjusted Score: 9.836%

Critics Consensus: There are no surprises in Cocktail, a shallow, dramatically inert romance that squanders Tom Cruise's talents in what amounts to a naive barkeep's banal fantasy.

Synopsis: After being discharged from the Army, Brian Flanagan (Tom Cruise) moves back to Queens and takes a job in a... [More]

Starring: Tom Cruise, Bryan Brown, Elisabeth Shue, Lisa Banes

Directed By: Roger Donaldson

#18

The Big Wedding (2013)
7%

#18

Adjusted Score: 10.835%

Critics Consensus: The Big Wedding's all-star cast is stranded in a contrived, strained plot that features broad stabs at humor but few laughs.

Synopsis: With an all-star cast led by Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, with Susan Sarandon... [More]

Starring: Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon

Directed By: Justin Zackham

#17

Surviving Christmas (2004)
7%

#17

Adjusted Score: 9.807%

Critics Consensus: Surviving Christmas is unpleasant characters attacking each other for 90 minutes before delivering a typical, hollow anti-consumerist message

Synopsis: Facing another Christmas alone, Drew Latham decides to go back to his idyllic childhood home to spend the holidays with... [More]

Starring: Ben Affleck, James Gandolfini, Christina Applegate, Catherine O'Hara

Directed By: Mike Mitchell

#16

License to Wed (2007)
7%

#16

Adjusted Score: 10.797%

Critics Consensus: Featuring one of Robin Williams' most shtick-heavy performances, the broad and formulaic License to Wed wrings little out of its slightly creepy, unappealing premise.

Synopsis: Newly engaged Ben Murphy's fiancée, Sadie Jones, has always dreamed of getting married in a traditional wedding at her family... [More]

Starring: Robin Williams, Mandy Moore, John Krasinski, Eric Christian Olsen

Directed By: Ken Kwapis

#15

New Year's Eve (2011)
7%

#15

Adjusted Score: 11.088%

Critics Consensus: Shallow, sappy, and dull, New Year's Eve assembles a star-studded cast for no discernible purpose.

Synopsis: New Year's Eve celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, in the intertwining stories told amidst the pulse... [More]

Starring: Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Abigail Breslin, Robert De Niro

Directed By: Garry Marshall

#14

Some Kind of Beautiful (2015)
6%

#14

Adjusted Score: 6.434%

Critics Consensus: Stranding Pierce Brosnan as a charmless cad, this tone-deaf romantic comedy is Some Kind Of something, but it definitely isn't beautiful.

Synopsis: By day, Richard Haig is a successful and well-respected English professor at renowned Trinity College in Cambridge. By night, Richard... [More]

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek, Jessica Alba, Malcolm McDowell

Directed By: Tom Vaughan

#13

A Smile Like Yours (1997)
6%

#13

Adjusted Score: 7.502%

Critics Consensus: Flat and unfocused, A Smile Like Yours aims for romantic comedy but settles for tired sitcom formula.

Synopsis: This romantic comedy from the John Hughes school of domestic farce stars Greg Kinnear and Lauren Holly as Danny Robertson,... [More]

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Lauren Holly, Joan Cusack, Jay Thomas

Directed By: Keith Samples, John Samples

#12

The Hottie and the Nottie (2008)
6%

#12

Adjusted Score: 7.862%

Critics Consensus: The Hottie and the Nottie is a crass, predictable, and ineptly staged gross-out comedy that serves little purpose beyond existing as another monument to Paris Hilton's vanity.

Synopsis: An attractive bachelorette (Paris Hilton) finds that her chances of landing a man hinge far too much on her unattractive... [More]

Starring: Paris Hilton, Joel David Moore, Christine Lakin, Adam Kulbersh

Directed By: Tom Putnam

#11

The Perfect Man (2005)
6%

#11

Adjusted Score: 9.98%

Critics Consensus: Preposterous and predictable, The Perfect Man manages few laughs with its poorly paced sitcom script, cookie-cutter characters and contrived plotting.

Synopsis: Teenager Holly Hamilton (Hilary Duff) is tired of moving every time her single mom Jean (Heather Locklear) has another personal... [More]

Starring: Hilary Duff, Heather Locklear, Aria Wallace, Mike O'Malley

Directed By: Mark Rosman

#10

All About Steve (2009)
6%

#10

Adjusted Score: 10.16%

Critics Consensus: All About Steve is an oddly creepy, sour film, featuring a heroine so desperate and peculiar that audiences may be more likely to pity than root for her.

Synopsis: A brilliant crossword-puzzle designer travels across the country in hopes of convincing a CCN cameraman that the pair is meant... [More]

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, Thomas Haden Church, Ken Jeong

Directed By: Phil Traill

#9

Gigli (2003)
6%

#9

Adjusted Score: 11.299%

Critics Consensus: Bizarre and clumsily plotted, Gigli is a mess. As for its stars, Affleck and Lopez lack chemistry.

Synopsis: Larry Gigli, a lowly hit man in Los Angeles, who is looking to finally score big, lands the perfect "job"--or... [More]

Starring: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Lenny Venito

Directed By: Martin Brest

#8

'Til There Was You (1997)
5%

#8

Adjusted Score: 6.787%

Critics Consensus: Utterly bereft of romance or humor, 'Til There Was You is a singularly misguided attempt at romantic comedy.

Synopsis: This romantic comedy is the first film from two television veterans, writer Winnie Holzman and director Scott Winant. Gwen Moss... [More]

Starring: Jeanne Tripplehorn, Dylan McDermott, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Aniston

Directed By: Scott Winant

#7

Good Luck Chuck (2007)
5%

#7

Adjusted Score: 8.49%

Critics Consensus: A shortage of laughs and an undercurrent of mean-spiritedness undermine Good Luck Chuck, squandering a decent premise on gross-out humor and shopworn slapstick.

Synopsis: A serial dater afflicted with a lifelong curse of loneliness attempts to win the love of a clumsy but beautiful... [More]

Starring: Dane Cook, Jessica Alba, Dan Fogler, Ellia English

Directed By: Mark Helfrich

#6

Material Girls (2006)
4%

#6

Adjusted Score: 5.109%

Critics Consensus: Plagued by paper-thin characterizations and a hackneyed script, Material Girls fails to live up to even the minimum standards of its genre.

Synopsis: Stripped of their wealth and forced to fend for themselves when the multi-million-dollar cosmetics company inherited from their father suffers... [More]

Starring: Hilary Duff, Haylie Duff, Anjelica Huston, Lukas Haas

Directed By: Martha Coolidge

#5

A Little Bit Of Heaven (2012)
4%

#5

Adjusted Score: 5.302%

Critics Consensus: A Little Bit of Heaven subjects viewers to a whole bunch of schmaltz - and strands Kate Hudson and Gael García Bernal in a fatally misguided film.

Synopsis: A Little Bit of Heaven is a love story set in New Orleans about an irreverent young woman who unexpectedly... [More]

Starring: Kate Hudson, Lucy Punch, Kathy Bates, Peter Dinklage

Directed By: Nicole Kassell

#4

Playing for Keeps (2012)
4%

#4

Adjusted Score: 6.809%

Critics Consensus: Witless, unfocused, and arguably misogynistic, Playing for Keeps is a dispiriting, lowest-common-denominator Hollywood rom-com.

Synopsis: Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Dennis Quaid star in Playing for Keeps, a romantic comedy about... [More]

Starring: Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones

Directed By: Gabriele Muccino

#3

Serving Sara (2002)
4%

#3

Adjusted Score: 6.782%

Critics Consensus: A romantic comedy that's neither funny nor particularly romantic, Serving Sara is a forgettable time waster.

Synopsis: A process server makes an unusual alliance with a beautiful but devious woman in this comedy. Joe Tyler (Matthew Perry)... [More]

Starring: Elizabeth Hurley, Matthew Perry, Cedric the Entertainer, Bruce Campbell

Directed By: Reginald Hudlin

#2

Because I Said So (2007)
4%

#2

Adjusted Score: 9.102%

Critics Consensus: Overly reliant on caricatures and lacking any human insight, Because I Said So is an unfunny, cliche-ridden mess.

Synopsis: Diane Keaton stars as a unconditionally loving, but meddling, mother whose vain attempt to prevent her insecure youngest daughter from... [More]

Starring: Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore, Gabriel Macht, Tom Everett Scott

Directed By: Michael Lehmann

#1

Down to You (2000)
3%

#1

Adjusted Score: 4.494%

Critics Consensus: Down to You is ruined by a bland, by-the-numbers plot and an awful script.

Synopsis: This Big Apple-based romantic comedy charts the tumultuous relationship between liberal arts student and budding chef Al (Freddie Prinze Jr.)... [More]

Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr., Julia Stiles, Selma Blair, Shawn Hatosy

Directed By: Kris Isacsson