Top 10 Rom-Com Boyfriends Who Are the WORST

Based on the self-help book of the same name, the 2009 movie “He's Just Not That into You” featured multiple intertwining storylines. One of the more memorable ones featured Bradley Cooper playing the despicable Ben, a married man who blatantly lies to his wife and forms an inappropriate relationship with Scarlett Johansson’s character, Anna. While he claims he just wants to be friends with her, of course he eventually crosses the line. Luckily, his wife catches him in his lies and he ends up without either of the women, which is absolutely the conclusion he deserves. This wasn’t the first time Cooper played an awful partner: he’s equally hateable in 2005’s "Wedding Crashers".

Sometimes in rom coms, a woman has to choose between two equally worthy men. This is NOT one of those times. In “The Wedding Singer”, Julia is engaged to Glenn Guglia (which would make her name Julia Guglia, yikes). But he won’t set a date for their nuptials, and seems to keep delaying them actually getting hitched. It is also revealed that he regularly engaged in adultery, and doesn’t plan to change his behavior even after they’ve become husband and wife.. Luckily, Adam Sandler’s character ends up being her knight in shining armor, and convinces her that she’s with the wrong guy.

“When Harry Met Sally...” is undeniably one of the most important films in the genre, and is often held up as one of the greatest movie love stories. But the problem is, the male lead has a lot of issues. The plot revolves around the two titular characters missing opportunities to be together over and over again despite their chemistry, but Harry ends up making it a lot harder than it needs to be. He talks about how he sexualizes every woman in his life. He sleeps with Sally for the first time when she’s emotionally vulnerable and then treats her poorly afterwards. He essentially wants all of the benefits of being with her without the actual commitment, until he finally comes to his senses at the end of the movie.

“There's Something About Mary” definitely skews more comedy than romance, but it features a villain about as dastardly as they come. Hapless protagonist Ted decides to track down his prom date using a private detective (which we admit, is a bit questionable), but then the detective in question, Pat, decides to steal Mary for himself. He’s the type of character who you can tell right away is a bad seed, and his manipulative and selfish actions show that he doesn’t actually even care about Mary, but wants to win her as some sort of prize.

While this film isn’t a straight-up rom-com, the plot of this comedy is kicked off with and driven by what happens to the protagonist and her relationship with the governor’s son. Warner doesn’t only break up with Elle at the beginning of the movie when she thinks he’s going to propose, but he also underestimates her because he thinks she isn’t serious enough. As such, Elle spends the first half of "Legally Blonde" trying to win him back by proving him wrong and enrolling in Harvard Law School. But she soon realizes that she has much higher dreams than being his wife, especially after she gets some perspective on the type of man he really is.

We know, we know, this movie is beloved and iconic but with some time and distance for perspective, it’s clear that Danny is not a deserving heartthrob. First off, he totally lied to his friends about how far he and Sandy went when they spent the summer at the beach, and then he acts all cool like he doesn’t care about her when they first meet again. He embarasses her at the dance by dancing with someone else, then he gropes her at the drive-in when she’s clearly not into it. Of course, they still end up together, but a modern romantic heroine would not have put up with this crap.

We knew this guy was going to suck because, well, that’s basically the premise that the movie is based on. This high school hunk thinks he can get away with dating multiple girls at once, and treating them all awfully. But, his exes band together and decide to plan an epic takedown to give him what he deserves. He thinks his plan is foolproof because he dates girls from different social circles and forces them all to keep their relationship with him a secret with some lie about how his dad won’t allow him to date. Luckily, this guy gets what he deserves by the end.

After being released in 2003, “Love Actually” became a perennial holiday classic. But in the years since its release, there has been something of a backlash about the way the characters act in the movie. First, there’s Karl, who ends up being totally undeserving of Sarah with the way he acts concerning her brother. Then of course there’s Harry, who cheats on his wife with a younger woman and destroys the love and trust in their marriage. One of the most emotionally devastating scenes of all time takes place after Karen realizes that the necklace her husband bought wasn’t for her.

Another Christmas favorite, “The Holiday”, also features a totally loathsome guy. Iris, played by Kate Winslet, still holds a flame for Jasper, a man she works with who basically keeps her on the hook indefinitely. At the beginning of the movie, she finds out he’s engaged to be married and is devastated because she realizes that their flirting didn’t mean as much to him. He ends up flying to LA to see her, but is then ambiguous about what he actually wants and whether he’s going to leave his fiancee. Fortunately, Iris has a moment of strength and tells him what’s what.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Jake Adler
“It's Complicated” (2009)

Brandon Choi
"Always Be My Maybe" (2019)

Aldous Snow
"Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (2008)

Jake Perry
“Sweet Home Alabama” (2002)

Tom Hansen
“500 Days of Summer” (2009)

It’s always bad news when you start a clandestine affair with your boss, but it doesn’t help when it turns out that he’s also a total jerk. Bridget’s crush on him turns into falling in love with him when she and Daniel start sleeping together - and for all intents and purposes, it does seem like their relationship is progressing into more serious territory. But she soon finds out that he’s seeing someone else, and that he also lied to her about the real reason that he and Mark Darcy aren’t friends anymore. Daniel is a classic slimeball, and yet he still manages to hold on to Bridget’s affection.