Sick of the Valentine's Day schmaltz? Here are ten top films for anti-rom-com viewing
The romance didn't always go well in such films as Marriage Story, Casablanca, Get Out, and Fatal Attraction.
We’ll get the weepy one out of the way first. If you’re avoiding the cheesy romance, About Time serves a touching look at parental love between a son and his father who can both travel through time. Sure, much of the movie follows Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) as he tries to find a girlfriend, but his relationship with his dad, James (Bill Nighy), will make your heart swell. Plus you’ll never cry so much as you will during the scene on the beach.
An ode to a marriage falling apart? Sounds like the perfect antidote to the sickening sweetness of Valentine’s Day. Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver star as married couple Charlie and Nicole going through a coast-to-coast divorce. The film is a deep-dive into the neglect of a relationship and how, despite what the romcoms tell us, two people might be better off divorced. It’s also worth watching to see Driver sing Being Alive from Company as his character struggles to describe the frustrations of divorce proceedings.
If you’ve ever been cheated on, this is the film for you. Fatal Attraction centres on a married man, Dan (Michael Douglas), who has a weekend affair with a woman who refuses to allow it to end and becomes obsessed with him. Glenn Close is phenomenal as Alex, the original ‘bunny boiler’. Her obsession with Dan and stalking of him and his family quickly made this film iconic and it inspired several similar psychological thrillers throughout the 80s and 90s, but nothing compares to the original.
Sure, Casablanca is considered one of the great 'romance' films, but when the movie ends and we see Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) part ways, it’s almost revolutionary. There is no happily ever after here for the pair, instead it's a movie of sacrifice. They sacrifice what they could have with each other and we see them decide to live separate lives and make the best of their situations: Ilsa jets off to Lisbon with her husband and Rick considering joining the Free French in Brazzaville.
This coming-of-age film directed by Olivia Wilde follows two by-the-book high school girls who decide to finally break the rules and party on their last day of classes before graduating. Amy and Molly (Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein) stumble between disasters: they struggle to find the correct address for a party they want to attend, watch porn together in the back of a taxi and accidentally consume powerful hallucinogenic drugs. Despite their mishaps and arguments, the young women put each other first and support each other. Who needs a guy or a girl when you have a friend like that?
Three fabulous divorcées seek revenge on their ex-husbands for having left them for younger women, and the film, starring Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler, quickly became a cult classic among middle-aged women following its release in 1996. “You don’t own me…” has become an anthem of sorts for all women who choose independence over a toxic relationship.
Here’s another classic from the teen rom-com archive, but this film champions female friendship over a fling with the school basketball star who has been dating multiple young women. When three girls, played by Arielle Kebbel, Ashanti, and Sophia Bush, realise John Tucker has been secretly dating all of them at once, they decide revenge is the best option. They enlist Kate (Brittany Snow) to pretend to date Tucker, make him fall in love with her and then break his heart. The four very different girls, once united, become a friend group to be reckoned with.
It might actually be illegal to not include this stalwart of the genre in any round-up of non-romcoms. Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon star as Thelma and Louise, two friends who embark on a road trip like no other to escape their boring, domestic lives. Their weekend vacation soon transforms into a frantic run from the law after shooting dead a would-be rapist. It’s the ultimate escape movie, with both women vowing to leave behind everything and “keep going” together, despite the odds.
Meeting the parents has never been as nerve-wracking thanks to 2017 horror film Get Out. Daniel Kaluuya stars as Chris, a young African-American photographer who joins his white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) at her parents’ rural home where he is to meet her family for the first time. Rather than the usual awkwardness of table etiquette or questions about his intentions, Daniel soon learns an unsettling family secret and the film explores major social issues such as class and race. In addition, it becomes genuinely unsettling and scary making it possibly the most anti-Valentine’s Day film on this list.
Yes, Elle (Reese Witherspoon) follows her ex across the country in a desperate bid to get him back, but she soon gets the ultimate revenge. She applies to Harvard Law School to get his attention and once she buckles down she discovers a flair for law. She forgets all about her dream of being with Warner and excels in her classes, gets a coveted internship, takes on a murder case and brings pink and blonde into the world of law. Who needs a guy when you can be the hero in your own story?
