17 Rom-Com Men People Realized Weren't Romantic At All And Actually Total Trash
We were supposed to be rooting for these guys?!
We asked the BuzzFeed Community to share which rom-com leading men they realized were actually trash, and they made some pretty fair points. See for yourself:
Warning: Some submissions include discussions of sexual assault.
1. Sam Coulson in Never Been Kissed, when he hit on Josie even though he thought she was A MINOR.
2. Blane McDonough in Pretty in Pink, when he didn't want his friends to know he was dating Andie because her family was poor.
"Andie, you could've done way better."
3. Everett Stone in The Family Stone, when he let Meredith get bullied by his family.
"I know that Meredith was supposed to be cold and unlikable, but imagine how you'd feel as an outsider having Christmas with your boyfriend’s family, and there were so many of them too! They weren’t welcoming toward her, and he did nothing to try to make her feel more comfortable."
4. Eric Messer in Life as We Know It, when he was a jerk to Holly for no reason.
"I get that he was supposed to be a little awful so we could understand why Holly didn't pursue a relationship with him, but his actions throughout most of the movie were pretty terrible, right up until he conveniently became better for the sake of plot, with no real reason why."
5. Joe Fox in You've Got Mail, when he knew Kathleen was Shopgirl but continued to treat her badly.
"Like, he figures it out pretty early on in the film that his online pen pal is the woman he's putting out of business. But not only does he not tell her he knows, he continues to be a jerk to her when they run into each other. His feelings for her didn't even stop him from putting her out of business and making her close her bookstore."
6. Tom in 500 Days of Summer, when he wouldn't accept that Summer didn't want a relationship.
"He tried to victimize himself every chance he got, built her up in his head, and then made her the villain of his story for not living up to his fantasy. Honestly, Summer deserved better!"
7. Danny Zuko in Grease, when he tried to force himself on Sandy.
"There's specifically a scene where she doesn't want to have sex and he tries to talk her into it anyway."
8. Chris Brander in Just Friends, when he tried to pull the "friend zone" card over and over again.
"THE WORST."
9. Dex in Something Borrowed, when he constantly cheated on Darcy with Rachel, aka her best friend.
"The movie really tried to make Darcy shallow and unlikable...and although she may have been, that wasn't able to justify Dex and Rachel cheating on her with each other."
10. Noah Calhoun in The Notebook, when he manipulated Allie into going out with him, among many, MANY other things.
"Such an asshole. Shall I count the ways? Manipulation, threatening suicide, not taking no for an answer, playing mind games, boinking an engaged woman, verbal abuse, gaslighting..."
11. Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians, when he lied by omission to Rachel about his wealth and status right up until she was about to meet his parents.
"That's a red flag, but an even bigger one is that he never really stood up for her to his family. He saw what they were doing and saying, and never did anything."
—CB3o
12. Michael O'Neal in My Best Friend's Wedding, when he convinced Kimmy to drop out of college so she could follow him around for his job.
"I think she even mentioned wanting to finish school to him and he just dismissed it."
13. Steve Edison in The Wedding Planner, when he pursued Mary even though he's already engaged, and she's the one planning his wedding.
14. Jake Perry in Sweet Home Alabama, when he refused to divorce Melanie out of pride.
"I was mad that she chose him over her fiancé, who was really sweet."
15. Agent Eric Matthews in Miss Congeniality, when he chose to show interest in Gracie by being a total dick to her.
16. Aaron Samuels in Mean Girls, when he flip-flopped between Cady and Regina.
"He also admitted to Cady that Regina was awful but justified why it was OK for him to date her, yet judged Cady for being friends with her."
17. And finally, Zack Siler in She's All That, when he didn't tell Laney about the gross bet he made with his friends until he was exposed.
"The moment he had the feels for Laney, Zack should have revealed his true intentions. And on top of it, Zack allowed his ex-girlfriend to bully Laney pretty much the entire length of the movie."
Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.