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

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  (#13) High Fidelity

  • Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bruce Springsteen, Jack Black, John Cusack, Tim Robbins, Lisa Bonet, Joan Cusack, Harold Ramis, Penny Marshall, Sara Gilbert, Drake Bell, Lili Taylor, Joelle Carter, Chris Bauer, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Dick Cusack, Iben Hjejle, Todd Louiso, Alex Désert, Margaret Travolta, Aaron Himelstein, David Darlow, Scott A. Martin, Reese Foster, K. K. Dodds, Ian Williams, Marilyn Dodds Frank, James Azrael, Laura Whyte, Jennifré DuMont, Philip Rayburn Smith, Polly Noonan, Ben Carr, Lisa Harrison, Susan Hegarty, Tristan Layne Tapscott, Susie Cusack, Damian Rogers, Timothy W. Tiedje, Susan Yoo, Rich Talarico, Brian Powell, Liam Hayes, Ian Michaels, Jill Peterson, Matthew O'Neill, Mark Finney, Ian Belknap, Duke Doyle, Robert A. Villanueva, Shannon Stillo, Al Johnson, Julie DiJohn, Leah Gale, Michele Graff, Joe Spaulding, Heather Norris, Erik Gundersen, Chris Rehmann, Daniel Lee Smith, Jonathan Herrington, Andrew Micheli

  John Cusack's sad-sack lead character spends much of High Fidelity moping around and trying to keep his life from falling apart by compiling things into pointless lists. But in the middle of the film, the audience learns that he unabashedly cheated on the love of his life, Laura, before forcing her to get an abortion. Woah. Not only that, but he openly admits to inventing "the sketch of a decent guy” so he can sleep with Lisa Bonet. Was this actually supposed to be a sequel to American Psycho? 
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  (#6) Drive Me Crazy

  • Ali Larter, Melissa Joan Hart, Adrian Grenier, Stephen Collins, Keri Lynn Pratt, Mark Webber, Susan May Pratt, Lourdes Benedicto, Keram Malicki-Sánchez, Mark Metcalf, Jordan Bridges, William Converse-Roberts, Faye Grant, Kristy Wu, Andrew Roach, Elizabeth Hart, Derrick Shore, Gabriel Carpenter, Terry Walters, Ivey Lloyd, Natasha Pearce, Kris Park, Jacque Gray, Joey Lopez, Lauren Reneé Boyer, Jessica Frandsen, Lee Holmes

  When a movie is literally called Drive Me Crazy, you have to be aware that you probably won't be watching morally upstanding characters handling their problems with the ease and grace of conflict mediators. Both Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier play characters who are so filled with hate for their respective exes that they begin a campaign of subterfuge in order to make the objects of their desire mad with envy. In a classic bit of not being able to see the forest for the trees, neither Hart nor Grenier realizes that they've found their romantic and psychologically damaged match in each other until it's too late. Sad.
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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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  (#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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  (#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. 
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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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