Top 10 Movies With Unnecessary Love Stories

Top 10 Movies With Unnecessary Love Stories

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Sometimes love isn’t all you need. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 movies that did not need a love story. For this list, we’re taking a look at movies with romantic subplots that added little to the narrative and really could’ve been edited out altogether. 

To some extent, “Interstellar” didn’t give us the conventional love story we expected. The audience keeps waiting for an attraction to blossom between Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper and Anne Hathaway’s Amelia, but the two keep things strictly professional. Yet, we still get a tacked on romance between Jessica Chastain’s Murph and Topher Grace’s Getty. No offense to Grace, but it feels like his character was thrown in just so his girlfriend could have somebody to kiss in the final hour. Since their romance is already underdeveloped, why not just remove it entirely? “Interstellar” is more about the bonds that unite family and all of time and space anyway – we think that’s enough.  

This flick has plenty of high-speed thrills, but it occasionally hit the brakes to make room for a token love story. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Wilee and Dania Ramirez’s Vanessa play fellow bike messengers and a sub-par couple. If you think about it, there was no reason to make these two a couple, especially since they never display much chemistry. They could have just been friends or colleagues and it wouldn’t have altered the plot at all, proving again that just because a movie can have a romance doesn’t mean it needs to. 

After being cryogenically frozen, Sergeant John Spartan awakens to a future where physical intimacy is considered taboo. Although people can still get freaky through virtual reality, this doesn’t satisfy Spartan. He tries to lay one on Lieutenant Lenina Huxley, who views his sexual urges as savage behavior. The satirical approach to Spartan and Huxley’s relationship makes them a somewhat unique duo. If anything, they feel more like partners than lovers. The film doesn’t even really play up the romantic angle too much. In the end, however, “Demolition Man” succumbs to the trope that a man needs to save the day and get the girl. 

#7: “Godzilla” (2014)

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This recent reboot was advertised as a showdown between Godzilla and Heisenberg himself Bryan Cranston, but the main dynamic ends up being between Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Ford and his wife, Elizabeth Olsen’s Elle. While the film still delivers in the action department, matters drag a little whenever the plot cuts back to our separated lovers. Ultimately the soldier and loving wife storyline feels contrived here and more like a throw-in, especially considering we really just want to see the King of the Monsters fight other Kaiju and destroy a few cities. The human characters are mostly inconsequential, as is the romance factor. 

#6: “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984)

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Nobody likely would’ve complained if Willie Scott had been cut from “Temple of Doom.” While Kate Capshaw does what she can in the role, she’s simply given an obnoxious character to work with. Considering Willie’s whiny nature, we can’t fathom why Indy is attracted to this damsel in distress or why he constantly saves her. By the time the credits roll, you’d think that Indy would want to distance himself from her as much as possible. Instead, he inexplicably pulls her in for a kiss. Interestingly, the real love story here took place off-screen. During the film’s production, Capshaw met her future husband: Steven Spielberg. 

#5: “Star Trek” (2009)

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Although Captain Kirk and Uhura shared an iconic kiss in the original “Star Trek” series, Uhura was initially supposed to lock lips with everyone’s favorite Vulcan. Perhaps this is why Mr. Spock and Uhura were paired together in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 reboot of the franchise. This decision ultimately ended up being pointless, however, since the filmmakers did so little with their relationship. Spock and Uhura’s romance is given minimal development and we never come to understand why they’re together. The 2013 follow-up didn’t add much to the romance either. Whether you’re a Trekker or a casual “Star Trek” fan, it’s safe to say they’re nobody’s favorite pairing.

In the second entry of this Jason Statham action franchise, our hero is forced to babysit and later rescue a young boy from some seriously kitted out kidnappers. This precious child has an attractive mother named Audrey Billings, who is of course going through marital troubles with her workaholic husband. Since Frank Martin has been more of a father figure to Jack, Audrey throws herself at him. The Transporter decides not to mix business with pleasure, though. Since their romance goes nowhere fast, there was no reason to turn Audrey into a potential love interest. Besides, Frank will never be able to love a woman more than he loves his cars. 

#3: “Jurassic World” (2015)

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Much like “Godzilla,” people line up for a “Jurassic Park” movie just so they can see big, bloodthirsty dinosaurs do their thing. Whether you like the human characters in “Jurassic World” or not, we can all agree that Owen and Claire’s romance was the least interesting aspect of the film. We don’t learn much about their relationship, other than that they previously had one bad date. Then out of the blue, these two polar opposites just start making out in the middle of a pterodactyl attack. And honestly, who cares about love when the Indominus Rex and T. Rex are fighting each other? 

#2: “Avengers: Age of Ultron” (2015)

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Since there are numerous entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the filmmakers have plenty of time to flesh out all the characters. So why does the love story between Natasha Romanoff and Bruce Banner come out of absolutely nowhere? These two barely interacted in the past and now they’re getting all mushy? We’re going to be honest: Black Widow arguably had more chemistry with Captain America in “The Winter Solider” while the Hulk had more chemistry with Iron Man in the initial “Avengers” movie. It’s possible future films in the franchise will better develop this relationship. Here, however, their romance was about as necessary as Thor’s cave story subplot.  Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honorable, or in this case dishonorable, mentions: - “Gangs of New York” (2002) - “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” (2009) - “Point Break” (1991)  

#1: “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” (2013)

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Even though J. R. R. Tolkien’s original children’s book was only about 300 pages long, Peter Jackson felt it necessary to stretch the material out to three movies. Because of this, “The Hobbit” trilogy introduced several new subplots and characters, including a badass elf named Tauriel, who gets her very own underdeveloped romance with the dwarf Kíli. The beginning of their “relationship” was all the red flag we needed: Kíli just makes a tasteless joke about searching his trousers and suddenly Tauriel’s smitten with him. The relationship lacks depth and meaning and adds nothing to the main plot, which makes it hard for the audience to get invested when the love story ends in tragedy.  Do you agree with our list? What movie do you think had the most unnecessary love story? For more entertaining Top 10s published everyday, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.