With Valentine’s Day on its way, one of the most classic ways to waste away the day of love for couples–and even all the lonely, single people out there–is to enjoy a lovable romance movie. After a long day, lying back on the sofa with a popcorn bucket in your lap whilst turning on that one cheesy 90s movie sounds like a dream, enhancing that already giggly and jolly mood from the love surrounding you. But throughout all those selections of movies, are there romance movies that actually aren’t that good?

“What makes a good romance movie is the relatability, the meet-cutes, and the vibes of the movie overall. Through the costumes, the dramatic scenes in the rain, and the adorable little dates that people go on, it really creates that romantic feeling in the viewer,” Vanessa Lee (10) said.

Thus, this list contains the top movies that you should absolutely avoid if you plan to have a pleasant Valentine’s Day with an actual good movie playing in the background. Here are the top three “non-romance” romance movies that users online love to romanticize.

“The Notebook”

If one were to display the most toxic, manipulative, and unhealthy relationship in the entirety of the romance movie arena, it would be Noah and Allie in this terrible movie. Seemingly enough, the movie may seem like the classic “second-chance, right person wrong time” trope, but it has never been delivered so wrong, so immorally, and so inaccurately to how the actual trope goes. 

“As much as I love ‘The Notebook,’ I think it’s overhyped. Everyone was urging me to watch it, and I had my expectations way too high, when to me, it was just a generic romance movie,” Lee said.

If anything, the movie serves another idea to be rooted in couples’ brains: the best way to ruin a relationship “for the sake of true love.” If true love is defined as emotional cheating and manipulation to get the girl, then I suppose Noah is the classic Romeo Montague of romantasy (romance fantasy). It’s baffling how many young people online are influenced by this movie to “build a better relationship,” when it focuses on two immature lovers who literally cannot communicate with each other or their actual partners (instead, of course and obviously, cheating seems to be the better option).

For its time, it may have been a great movie, but when discussed in today’s standards, this shouldn’t even come close to topping the leaderboard. Instead, if you want that heart-wrenching movie that’ll break your heart, I recommend watching “Me Before You” (trust me, you will not be disappointed). 

“500 Days of Summer”

You may wonder, “Why is this even on the list? We already know that they don’t work out!” And yes, you’d be right. The movie was curated to definitely warn people of how staying in toxic relationships doesn’t work out, but it seems as though many fans online totally misinterpreted the meaning and made it one of the “best romance movies yet.”

“I like ‘500 Days of Summer,’ but I definitely think that a lot of people tend to not fully understand the movie and just hop onto the trends,” Harin Ryow (10) said.

I am no stranger to the movie, as a fan myself, and I find it easy to understand that you should not be following the example from the movie. Yet, fans online often express that they “want to be more like Tom” or “be as unbothered as Summer” in relationships, when both inevitably contributed to their horrible ending! Once again, the recurring theme of miscommunication and manipulation makes its presence again, and it somehow manipulates Tom and the audience, thinking that this is the way to be loved.

“It’s an atypical romance, and it shows that everything does not need to work out in the end,” Chi Vu (10) said. “It’s different, but it’s a refresher. It may be a little toxic at times, but it’s still something that is very realistic.”

The movie that I think delivers the message that relationships will not always work out the best is definitely “La La Land.” It’s both easier on the heart and definitely has a fanbase that’s actually tolerable.

“10 Things I Hate About You”

“10 Things I Hate About You” is definitely one of the most nostalgic and better movies when discussing teen romance; in fact, the movie makes high school life look 10 times better than reality. The parties, the impeccable style in every character that makes them truly express their personality, the quick banter, I cannot argue against the fact that it is a fun movie to watch, and how it has stuck around for decades.

Instead, what bothers me the most is how much of a standard the lead couple, Kat and Patrick, is to many relationships. Even the side couple is a pill that’s easier to swallow, yet it still leaves that similar horrid aftertaste. Of course, no one can expect a high school relationship to be perfect, but I simply cannot believe that a fake dating, “bet” trope is considered to be a stable, healthy relationship. The fact that the movie had some of the characters go extremely out of character just to satisfy the ending of this trope singlehandedly ruined most of the character development in the movie, and I will stand by that until the end. The only “real” love in the movie that touched the heart was seeing the rekindled love between Kat and Bianca, but otherwise, both of their relationships are messy, cringey, and definitely unrealistic.

“Although the vibes of the movie are everlasting and nostalgic, the love story itself is pretty bland and pretty unrealistic. It’s weird how easily it was for Kat to love someone after getting her feelings twisted up, and then she just changed her mind so easily,” Ryow said. “It definitely wasn’t her character.”

If you want a heartwarming story that’s still centered around high school, or just young love in general, “Warm Bodies” hits the spot. It may be quite the switch-up from reality to horror romance, but I believe it satisfies a part of your heart.

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After reading through this list, my only hope is that this helps to guide you and your significant other (or just you!) to find the movie for that upcoming movie night. When picking a movie, make sure to find a movie that actually strengthens your relationship, not shows you a reason to destroy it.