Random Romantic Comedies In Which Leads Are Gaslighting Their Love Interests (15 items)

• 

  (#2) Never Been Kissed

  • Jessica Alba, Drew Barrymore, James Franco, Leelee Sobieski, John C. Reilly, David Arquette, Molly Shannon, Octavia Spencer, Marley Shelton, Garry Marshall, Jordan Ladd, Michael Vartan, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Chali 2na, Cut Chemist, Allen Covert, Jeremy Jordan, Cress Williams, Andrew Wilson, Sean Whalen, Cory Hardrict, David Doty, Sara Downing, Alex Solowitz, Giuseppe Andrews, Gregory Sporleder, Tracy Reiner, Jenny Bicks, Philip Hawn, Kathleen Marshall, Branden Williams, Marcello Robinson, Andrew Aguilar, Carmen Llywelyn, Chad Todhunter, Daniel Louis Rivas, Martha Hackett, Denny Kirkwood, Hunter G. Williams, Kevin Scott Greer, Priscilla Cory, A. David Burleigh, Don Snell, Joe Ochman, Russell Bobbitt, Raul Pacheco, Maya McLaughlin, Sarah DeVincentis, Tinsley Grimes, Jason Weissbrod, Marq Edwards, David Douglas, Asdru Sierra, Mike Moyer, William Marrufo, Niesha Trout, Derek Morgan, Katie Lansdale, Rock Reiser, Jose Espinosa, Fabio May, Billy McLellan, Danny Zavatsky, Wil-Dog Abers, Justin Porée, Chad Haywood, Ulises Bella, Jiro Yamaguchi, Amanda Wilmshurst, Steven Wilde, Tara Skye, Jennifer Parsons, Joshua Fitzgerald, Conor O'Neil, Mark Allen

  Does Never Been Kissed leave anyone else feeling like they've just been dragged through the mud by a wild horse? The trope of an adult going back to high school in order to get the scoop on a track meet or school lunches is problematic, but it never entered full creep territory until Drew Barrymore went back to South Glen South High School to the sounds of Jimmy Eat World and wooed her English teacher under the guise of being an 18-year old (let's at least just pretend she's 18 in order to keep the retching to a minimum). And her scheme works! She gets her article about school pizza or whatever, the English teacher falls in love with "her," and they likely spend the rest of their relationship in a mutual state of distrust. A happy ending for all! 
• 

  (#10) 10 Things I Hate About You

  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gabrielle Union, Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Allison Janney, Bianca Kajlich, Larry Miller, Andrew Keegan, David Krumholtz, Larisa Oleynik, Kyle Cease, David Leisure, Susan May Pratt, Monique Powell

  Watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt conspire with Heath Ledger (and to a lesser degree David Krumholtz) in an attempt to get Julia Stiles to sleep with the Australian heart throb so Levitt can take her sister to prom is off putting enough, but when you discover that it works, no paintball scene soundtracked by Semisonic can ever make you feel better. At the beginning of the film Stiles is an intelligent woman who knows what she wants to do, but by the time the credits roll and Letters to Cleo are playing on top of a school, she's been badgered, mentally beaten down, and even tricked into exposing herself to an older man. And for what? Prom? No thanks Shakespeare.
• 

  (#9) Wedding Crashers

  • Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Christopher Walken, Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, Bradley Cooper, Jane Seymour

  You know what all women love? When they meet someone at a wedding who specifically attends a ceremony they weren't invited to with a carefully constructed false identity in order to sleep with random people who might be more emotionally open to the idea of hooking up with someone either because they feel lonely, or the idea of finding "the one" seems all the more possible after witnessing your friends get married in front of their loved ones. Who doesn't like to be manipulated into sex by two schmucks who probably have matching Fight Club posters in their bedrooms? What makes Wedding Crashers worse than your average movie about guys trying to get their f*ck on is that the characters played by Vinch Vaughn and Owen Wilson legitimately believe that if they can lie hard enough and manipulate enough people, then no one will care that all of their relationships are based on horrific intentions. 
• 

  (#4) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

  • Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Bebe Neuwirth, Marvin Hamlisch, Kathryn Hahn, Shalom Harlow, Michael Michele, Thomas Lennon, Robert Klein, Adam Goldberg, Annie Parisse, Marv Albert, Celia Weston, Natalie Madison-Brown, Tony Longo, Georgia Craig, William Duell, Ingrid Hart, Liliane Montevecchi, James Murtaugh, Warner Wolf, Justin Peroff, John DiResta, William Hill, Radio Man, Andrew Moodie, David Macniven, David C. Roehm Sr., Diego Fuentes, Julie McLeod, James Mainprize, Al Bernstein, Doug Murray, Gina Sorell, Samantha Quan, Jeff Gruich, Scott Benes, Zachary Benes, Rebecca Harris, Ross Gallo, Collin Barrett, Jody Raymond, Gery Soles, Bob Reeves, Rod MacDonald, Frank Penny, Bruce Farquhar, Jim Paris, Ames Adamson, Archie MacGregor, Randy Kerdoon

  Out of all the characters on this list who manipulate, lie, and harass their way through a relationship, Kate Hudson's Andie Anderson (seriously) is the only one who goes out of her way to completely destroy her love interest. While trying to write an article about driving men to the breaking point, she does everything from breaking into Matthew McConaughey's home, to badgering his friends and convincing McConaughey to change himself completely for her. When the target of her scheme discovers what's been done to him, he doesn't seek out therapy or rethink his entire life, he chases Anderson down to tell her he loves her - proof that her programming worked. 
• 

  (#12) Failure to Launch

  • Zooey Deschanel, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew McConaughey, Bradley Cooper, Terry Bradshaw, Kathy Bates, Patton Oswalt, Katheryn Winnick, Justin Bartha, Rob Corddry, Stephen Tobolowsky, Mageina Tovah, Aubrey Dollar, Peter Jacobson, Elton LeBlanc, Cynthia LeBlanc, /m/026q0k_, Tyrel Jackson Williams, Geoffrey Gould, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Adam Alexi-Malle, Johnny Rock, Michael Ahl, Codie Scott, Kristi Chalaire, Stephen Rue, Larry Gamell Jr., Anne Ewen, Melissa Caudle, Stewart Skelton, Greg Cool, Jon Purvis, Michele Harrington, Sarah Lilly, Kristin Michelle Duncil, Jessica Stone, Debby Gaudet, Lawrence Broughton, Tyler Gatton, Don Lincoln, Jerrod Paige, Raymond Parker, Gretchen Cleevely, Carter Mitchell, Brian Jesiolowski, Summer Lee, Phoebe Dey, Pepper Morgan, Miladin Mutavdzic, Tim Stoltenberg, E.L. James, Tremelda D. Cobb, Jody Nolan, Charles Dey

  At the beginning of this film, the viewer is introduced to a veritable gallery of terrible people, and no one in Failure to Launch makes it out of the film without committing heinous sins against their friends, lovers, and parents. Sitting on top of the pile of rubble that is this film is Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays Paula, a woman who is paid to construct elaborate backstories for herself in order to convince men to fall in love with her so they'll move out of their parents' houses. She then leaves them high, dry, and alone in a one-bedroom apartment. 
• 

  (#15) Annie Hall

  • Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Walken, Paul Simon, Jeff Goldblum, Truman Capote, Beverly DAngelo, Carol Kane, Shelley Duvall, Shelley Hack, Dick Cavett, Marshall McLuhan, John Glover, Colleen Dewhurst, Tracey Walter, Tony Roberts, Mark Lenard, Janet Margolin, Walter Bernstein, John Dennis Johnston, Lucy Lee Flippin, William Callaway, Charles Levin, Shaun Casey, Roger Newman, Johnny Haymer, Alan Landers, Hy Anzell, Bob Maroff, Jim McKrell, Paula Trueman, Albert M. Ottenheimer, Chris Gampel, Christine Jones, Laurie Bird, Gary Mule Deer, Loretta Clemens Tupper, John Doumanian, Rick Petrucelli, Helen Ludlam, James Burge, Vince O'Brien, Bernie Styles, Rashel Novikoff, Michael J. Aronin, Joan Newman, Wayne Carson, Michael Karm, Gary Allen, Ved Bandhu, Martin Rosenblatt, Wendy Girard, Mary Boylan, Humphrey Davis, Scott Crawford, Russell Horton, Sybil Bowan, Jean Sarah Frost, Petronia Johnson, Jonathan Munk, Margaretta Warwick, Dan Ruskin, Amy Levitan, Keith Dentice, Gregory Doucette, Susan Mellinger, Lou Picetti, James Balter, Veronica Radburn, Lee Callahan, David Wier, Frank Vohs, Eric Gould, Robin Mary Paris, Hamit Perezic, Ruth Volner, Riccardo Bertoni

  So this probably isn't a big shock to you if you've seen more than one Woody Allen film, but his greatest bit of gaslighting comes from the romantic comedy classic Annie Hall. Allen displays a full range of controlling behavior with the women he dates in the film, but two instances stick out as being considerably terrible. When he and Annie begin to get serious, she suggests that they move in together, and Allen, being a mentally balanced adult, begins to perform verbal gymnastics in order to convince her that if they move in together he should be able to keep his apartment in case he needs his space. While that might seem to be the last gasp of a man seeing himself slip into monogamy, the way he treats his next paramour is straight up creepy. 

  After breaking things off with Annie, Allen goes through a string of women and tries to replay the best moments of his most meaningful relationship with these new women. In one instance, he tries to relive a mirthful dinner of lobster with a young woman, and the entire thing seems like an awkward and desperate bit of theater. 

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking