Romantic comedyis among the most inspirational genres, and has been entertaining audiences for decades with stories that make even the most cynical person believe in love. Admittedly, they are quite predictable: in the vast majority of them, two characters, who seem to be meant for one another, fall in love, are forced to part ways for whatever reason, and end up getting back together again, achieving their happy ending. Even so, audiences still watch every new rom-com despite knowing its formula by heart, because what’s most important about rom-coms is not how groundbreaking they are, but how they make us feel.
Over the years, there have been many films that turned into genre classics, such as10 Things I Hate About You,Pretty Woman,andHow to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, among many, many others. And while each hit is unique in its own way, they all share one trait that made audiences love them in the first place: their leads share anundeniable on-screen chemistry. This hugely important element that should be in each and every rom-com is not so easy to find or pull off, and so there have been some films released over time featuring incredibly beautiful leads with zero chemistry between them. Have a look at 15 of them below.
15Ashton Kutcher and Lea Michele — New Year’s Eve (2011)
New Year’s Eve
2011 marked the premiere of Garry Marshall’sNew Year’s Eve, a rom-com featuring some of the industry’s most renowned stars. It follows different characters whose stories intertwine during New Year’s Eve in New York, and despite poor critical reviews, it became a box-office hit. Among all the storylines this rom-com follows, the audience meets Randy and Elise, two neighbors who get trapped in an elevator hours before midnight (played by Asthon Kutcher and Lea Michele, respectively).
What Their Chemistry Lacked
It is clear from the start that the two are very different from each other, and although they initially despise one another, as the hours go by, they discover their true feelings. Still, the connection between the characters is not fully evident, and this is only worsened by the short amount of screen time they are given to fully develop their story.Rent on Apple TV
14Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hardy — This Means War (2012)
This Means War
This Means Warwas released in 2012, with McG serving as director and Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, and Tom Hardy leading the cast. This spy rom-com follows two friends and CIA agents (Pine and Hardy), whose bond goes sour upon discovering that they are dating the same woman (Witherspoon). Since neither is willing to step aside, the friends engage in a war, where anything goes, to win over their sweetheart.
Witherspoon, Pine, and Hardy are three undeniably beautiful movie stars, and perhaps that’s why the lack of chemistry in this rom-com was all the more disappointing. As much as the film tries to make one believe that the bonds between the male leads and Witherspoon’s character are strong enough to start a war, the truth is that they were never there in the first place. In an interview withUSA Today, Hardy stated that he felt miserable while shooting the film, which could have contributed greatly to the lack of chemistry between the stars.Rent on Apple TV
13Constance Wu and Henry Golding — Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Crazy Rich Asians
Crazy Rich Asianspremiered in 2018, adapting Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel to the silver screen. This film by Jon M. Chu, starring Constance Wu and Henry Golding, follows Rachel, a young woman who travels with her boyfriend to a wedding in Singapore, only to discover that he is part of an extremely wealthy family that is willing to do whatever it takes to push her away.
Chu’s film not only earned rave reviews, it also became one of thehighest-grossing rom-coms of all time. Still, many people in the audience struggled to spot the chemistry between Golding and Wu, whose characters seemed to have less development than even some of the minor ones. The overall lack of spark may also have been due to Golding’s nervousness over his first major film role, which sparked controversy from the start because many fans didn’t consider him “Asian enough” for the part.Stream on Hulu
12Chris O’Donnell and Renée Zellweger — The Bachelor (1999)
Chris O’Donnell and Renée Zellweger star inThe Bachelor, a rom-com directed by Gary Sinyor that served as a remake of 1925’sSeven Chances. In it, O’Donnell plays Jimmie, a young man who, having ruined his proposal to his girlfriend, discovers that he needs to wed in less than a day to inherit a huge family fortune. Frantic, he sets out to find a woman to marry, but this mission proves to be trickier than expected.
For starters,The Bachelor’s premise is very sketchy: even though Jimmie ends up learning an important moral lesson along the way, he spends most of the film searching for candidates just so he can collect his inheritance, not caring too much about his breakup with Anne or his feelings for her. His character comes across as too shallow, and Zellweger’s Anne seems a bit forgettable in a story that isn’t all that believable either.Rent on Apple TV
11Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae — The Lovebirds (2020)
The Lovebirds
The Lovebirdsis a film by Michael Showalter that hit Netflix in 2020. Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani star as Leilani and Jibran, a couple going through a rough patch who, after being wrongfully accused of a murder they only witnessed, sets out to solve the crime to set things right.
The film delivers a hilarious story that entertains the audience from start to finish, featuring two actors who are both charming and amusing. The main problem with thisNetflix romantic comedyis that it is way too funny and not romantic enough, and the leads come across as best friends rather than lovers.Stream on Netflix
Related:20 Rom-Com Couples Who Had Amazing Chemistry
10Molly Ringwald and Andrew McCarthy — Pretty In Pink (1986)
Pretty in Pink
In the cult classic by Howard Deutch,Pretty in Pink, Molly Ringwald plays Andie, a young working-class girl, who strikes up an affair with Blane (Andrew McCarthy), one of the most popular and wealthy boys in school, but the fact that they come from different social backgrounds makes matters really complicated.
Pretty in Pinkis a teen classic that made Ringwald even more famous back in the 1980s. But while it is a really entertaining rom-com, the chemistry between the leads is not quite evident throughout the film. This may have to do with the tension between Ringwald and McCarthy during production, as it was reported that they didn’t get along well due to personal differences.Stream on Paramount+
9Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes — Maid In Manhattan (2002)
Maid in Manhattanis a 2002 film, directed by Wayne Wang and starring Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes. This rom-com became a hit despite its mixed reviews, and follows a single mother working as a maid at a high-profile hotel, who falls in love with a politician who mistakes her to be a guest of the place.
Like many other rom-coms,Maid in Manhattanhas such a predictable script that it is easy to anticipate the outcome after only watching the first few minutes. Still, the film’s biggest problem (and what probably contributed to its poor reviews) is the lack of chemistry between Lopez and Fiennes. In an interview for Details many years later, the actor blamed himself for the absence of sparks in the production, claiming that he was out of his element and that Lopez was “terribly good in it” anyway (viaHollywood).Rent on AppleTV
8Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore — Music And Lyrics (2007)
Music and Lyrics
2007 marked the premiere ofMusic and Lyrics, a film by Marc Lawrence starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. In it, he plays Alex, a former pop idol who gets a shot at rekindling his career by writing a song for a current pop star. Since songwriting doesn’t come as naturally to him as it has in the past, he enlists the help of the young woman who waters his plants, who appears to be more talented than he is, unaware that this collaboration would spark a relationship like no other.
By the timeMusic and Lyricspremiered, Barrymore and Grant were already two renowned stars of the industry, each with several rom-coms under their belts. Still, the romantic sparks between them simply didn’t fly, and their on-screen relationship came across as rather basic and unconvincing. Years later, Grant revealed (perIndependent) that, at the time, he had a really bad attitude that caused Hollywood to give up on him, which may explain the glaring lack of chemistry in this rom-com.Rent on Apple TV
Related:10 Movies Where the Lead Actors Have Great Chemistry
7Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel — (500) Days Of Summer (2009)
(500) Days of Summer
Joseph Gordon-Levitt andZooey Deschanel starin(500) Days Of Summer, a film by Marc Webb that hit the silver screen in 2009. This rom-com explores the memories of hopeless romantic Tom, regarding his flawed romance with a young girl named Summer, as he tries to understand where things took a turn for the worse.
(500) Days of Summeris a rather unique rom-com, because unlike most, its leads don’t end up together. Their story is quite closer to real-life love, with characters displaying their not-so-perfect sides. Even though this production became a huge hit, it’s safe to say that Tom and Summer’s relationship doesn’t seem particularly sizzling, and this could stem from both actors being close friends long before they landed their roles in the film.Stream on Max
6Nina Dobrev and Jimmy O. Yang — Love Hard (2021)
Love Hardis a Christmas rom-com by Hernan Jimenez, starring Nina Dobrev and Jimmy O. Yang. This Netflix original film, released in 2021, follows Natalie, an LA columnist with very bad luck in love who, having hit it off with a beautiful guy on a dating app, travels to his hometown only to discover she’s been catfished.
Here, the leads got off on the wrong foot, with the male lead claiming to be someone else for the sole purpose of impressing Natalie. Meanwhile, she pretends to be someone she is not to impress another man. While the two eventually discover their feelings for one another, their connection seems too forced and inorganic, not to mention that the path that brought them together is full of lies.Rent on Apple TV
