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

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  (#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. 
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  (#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.
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  (#11) The One I Love

  • Elisabeth Moss, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Marlee Matlin, Mark Duplass, Sean O'Malley, Mel Eslyn, Liz Lash, Jeremy Mackie, Jennifer Spriggs, Charlie McDowell, Drew Langer, Brett Bietz, Ryan Pederson, Kaitlyn Dodson, Tim Peddicord, Lori Farrar, Kiana Cason

  It's almost impossible to explain the gaslighting that occurs in this smart little film without giving away the conceit, but much of the plot concerns both Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss trying to make each other - and their respective doppelgangers - lose their minds while at a mysterious cabin in the woods. Even watching this movie with your significant other is the basis for getting into an argument, so tread lightly before ordering this up on demand. 
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  (#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. 
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  (#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! 
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  (#14) Sweet Home Alabama

  • Reese Witherspoon, Matthew McConaughey, Dakota Fanning, Patrick Dempsey, Candice Bergen, Rhona Mitra, Josh Lucas, Jean Smart, Mary Kay Place, Melanie Lynskey, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Colin Ford, Fred Ward, Ethan Embry, Afemo Omilami, Michelle Krusiec, Jason Guy, Katharine Towne, Kevin Sussman, Courtney Gains, Andrew Prine, Mark Oliver, Bob Penny, Ted Manson, Edward Donno, Sean Bridgers, Deborah Duke, Thomas Curtis, Jody Thompson, Leslie Hendrix, Keni Thomas, Chris Burns, Nathan Lee Graham, Rodney L. James, Joel Sturdivant, Rich Bryant, Mark Matkevich, Traci Ann Wolfe, Ambre Lake, Charles McClelland, Gary Beck, Robert Black, Don Young, Brandon Carroll, Matthew D. Miller, Kevin Hagan, Mary Jean McAdams, Tony Rizzoli, Sarah Baker, Deionne Gibson, Haley Buchanan, Jim O'Connor, Sharon Blackwood, Randy Bratton, Jen Apgar, Arvell Poe, Bob Seel, Laurie Gardner, Suzi Bass, Doshia Darmane, Lee Roy Giles, Matt Mangum, Jacob Moyer Moats, Kelli Franklin, Kimberly Adler, Kelsey Lowenthal, Jana Lynn Schoep, LaChanda Alexander, Doug Killen, Michael Snow, Jeanne Arnold, Phil Cater, Osjha Anderson, Emily Furman, Aimee Davis, Mark Skinner, Charlotte Pierrepont, Kena Allen, Lori Williams, Dennis Ryan, Fleet Cooper, Pete Talton, Ernest Peterson

  In a slight variation on the topic at hand, Reese Witherspoon's Melanie Carmichael has spent countless pre-movie hours building a character that she plays for her fiancé, the son of the Mayor of New York City, that's the complete opposite who she actually is. That's bad enough, but then she takes things 10 steps further when she travels back to Alabama in pursuit of divorce papers from her estranged husband. As her lie begins to unfurl she enlists her hometown "friends" to be pawns in her game. Somehow her fiancé finds this all endearing, and her estranged husband-cum-new love interest doesn't seem to mind that Melanie spent a decade living under an assumed identity to trick her lover and the entire fashion world. 

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