12 Rom-Coms With Surprisingly Big Plot Twists

Summary

• Rom-coms with plot twists challenge the typical story structure and should be taken seriously as a genre.
• Rom-coms provide insight into the cultural mindset regarding love and relationships.
• Plot twists in rom-coms can add complexity to relationships and character dynamics, making the film more impactful.

This article contains descriptions of homophobia, death, and suicide.

Every good movie should have a plot twist and, although romantic comedies aren’t considered complex, these films deliver unexpected deviations from the typical story structure. Rom-coms typically follow a standard format that ends with the lead couple together, with a few minor hiccups along the way. Films that have many of the aspects that make rom-coms great, while also including complex story elements and character dynamics, prove that the rom-com is a genre that should be taken seriously.

Certain movie genres don’t receive as warm critical reception or prestige as others, and rom-coms have long been a part of that category. Despite their popularity, because they are less dramatic than other movies, they’re not considered as significant as their heavier counterparts. However, this isn’t the case, as rom-coms give insight into the cultural mindset regarding love and relationships. Utilizing a plot twist to shake up the formula signals to the audience that this rom-com takes more chances than the others and shouldn’t be overlooked.

12 (500) Days Of Summer (2009)

Summer marries someone else.

From the start of the film, (500) Days of Summer informs the audience that it isn’t a love story, but “a story about love”. This couldn’t be more true in the case of the relationship between Summer (Zooey Deschanel) and Tom (Joseph-Gordon Levitt). The film is an exploration of how the idea of someone and the idea of what love is supposed to be like can only lead to disappointment. Tom is convinced that he and Summer are meant to be together. For a little while, the audience believes him, but this could never have been the case.

Not long after Tom has deluded himself into thinking that Summer wants him back, he finds out she’s engaged, and later in the film, she marries that person, telling Tom that he was never the one. It was a harsh sentiment but one that Tom desperately needed to hear. Once he realizes that he loves who Summer could be and not who she is, he moves on and finds out who he wants to be.

Once he realizes that he loves who Summer could be and not who she is, he moves on and finds out who he wants to be.

11 About Time (2013)

The real love story is between Tim and his Dad.

The premise of About Time already incorporates a supernatural twist, but the emotional plot developments give the audience the most to think about. Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) and his Dad (Bill Nighy) both have the power to go back in time to change past events, and the film follows Tim’s journey of using this power to find true love. As the story progresses, Time gets married and builds his family without much fuss. However, one of the biggest moments of his life comes when his Dad dies, and he can no longer go back in time to see him again.

10 Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

Cal is Hannah’s Dad.

Crazy, Stupid, Love follows a few different romantic entanglements and one major platonic male friendship that comes to define the film. It’s one of the best Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone movies and showcases the comedic chops of both actors and veteran comic Steve Carell. Jacob (Gosling) and Cal (Carell) form an unlikely partnership when the womanizing Jacob teaches Cal how to date again after his divorce. The pair grow close throughout the movie, coming to trust and rely on one another.

While Cal navigates dating and tries to get over his wife, Jacob realizes he’s tired of playing the field when he falls in love with Hannah (Stone). However, all of this comes to a head when Hannah takes Jacob home to meet her parents, and it turns out that Cal is her dad. Suddenly, all the interconnecting pieces of the character’s relationships fall into place, and Cal is furious at the thought that Jacob is playing his daughter.

9 Remember Me (2010)

Tyler dies in the 9/11 attacks.

The plot twist in Remember Me isn’t only out of nowhere for a rom-com but for any film in general. Even without the unexpected final moments of the film, Remember Me takes on serious subject matter for a rom-com, including the death of Ally’s (Emilie de Ravin) mother and the suicide of Tyler’s (Robert Pattinson) brother. However, these losses bring the protagonists closer together and, by the end of the film, it’s gratifying to see them in love and on positive life tracks.

This all comes to an abrupt end when Tyler dies in the 9/11 attacks in the last moments of the film, in a story choice that didn’t sit well with many critics and audience members. On one hand, this brings the movie’s discussions that life goes on after the death of a loved one full circle. However, it comes out of nowhere, which can be distressing narratively, but is how loss works in real life.

8 Last Christmas (2019)

Tom was a ghost the whole time.

Starring Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding as charismatic leads, without much in common, Last Christmas is as much a holiday rom-com as it is a morality tale. Katarina (Clarke) learns a lot from Tom (Golding), but most of all she learns to give back to her community and pay it forward. These are great lessons, but leave the audience wondering what the next step will be for the couple. The expected rom-com ending would be for them to find a way to be together.

However, there’s no way for them to be together, as Tom is a ghost who comes back to help Katarina through a difficult time in her life. While this was a strange turn for the romantic tone of the film, it is also a refreshing take where the female lead chooses herself in the end. It also demonstrates that a relationship doesn’t have to last forever to be impactful. Though Tom and Katarina don’t end up together, their time together isn’t any less important.

7 Palm Springs (2020)

Nyles used the time loop to sleep with Sarah in the past.

When Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) are thrown together in this film inspired by the time loop premise of Groundhog Day, there isn’t anyone else for them to end up with but each other. They’re stuck together in a seemingly never-ending repetition of the same day and grow to love each other. Everything seems to be on track until Sarah finds out that Nyles, who was in the loop before her, had used the situation to have sex with her before and didn’t tell her.

This revelation throws a wrench into their relationship and adds a layer of complexity because Sarah spends a lot of time away from Nyles deciding whether she can forgive him. Due to this, when Nyles expresses his forgiveness, and Sarah decides to take him back, it feels earned and subverts the idea that they’re only choosing to be together because of their circumstances. Additionally, the film is smart to include a twist that revolves around the relationship, and not just rely on the supernatural premise.

6 Harold And Maude (1971)

Maude is a Holocaust survivor.

A deeply subversive and influential rom-com, Harold and Maude takes the concept of an age-gap relationship to the extreme while creating a heartfelt portrayal of the joy of life. Harold (Bud Cort) is a disaffected young man who can’t comprehend enjoying life until he meets Maude (Ruth Gordon), a 79-year-old woman who lives her life to the fullest. One of the more poignant moments of the film comes during the revelation that Maude was in the Holocaust. It gives new meaning to her relationship toward life and humanity and gives Harold perspective about his maudlin attitude.

5 Definitely, Maybe (2008)

Will isn’t in love with Maya’s Mom.

Ryan Reynolds is a charismatic lead in any role, but as a loving father to Maya (Abigail Breslin) in Definitely, Maybe, he shines. Throughout the film, Will (Reynolds) tells Maya stories about the great loves of his life, including her mother. Who the mother is isn’t shown until the end. However, Maya realizes that her mother isn’t the one Will has always loved, and it’s for the best that they’re getting divorced. Will recognizes that April (Isla Fisher), one of the other women, has always been there for him and allows them to have a second chance to be together.

4 Love, Simon (2018)

Bram is Blue and is in love with Simon.

Love, Simon is notable not only because it’s a queer romance movie where the couple ends up together but also for how long it keeps the audience guessing who Simon’s (Nick Robinson) secret admirer is. Not every LGBTQ+ rom-com has a happy ending, and Simon hides who he truly is because he fears not being accepted. Simon first believes Bram (Keiynan Lonsdale) is his anonymous pen pal, Blue. However, when he sees him kissing a girl, he abandons this theory. That scene ends up being a red herring, making Bram’s confession that he’s Blue and loves Simon even more gratifying.

3 The Family Stone (2005)

Everett falls for his girlfriend’s sister.

The Family Stone doesn’t introduce Everett’s (Dermot Mulroney) real love interest until about a third of the way through the film and has Everett string along Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) until he realizes it’s her sister he’s interested in. Julie (Claire Danes) arrives to help Meredith deal with Everett’s family, who don’t accept her, but from the moment Julie and Everett meet, it’s clear they’re the ones with chemistry. It’s obvious from the start that Everett and Meredith are a bad match. However, choosing her sister is a cruel choice from a protagonist, even if Meredith isn’t particularly likable.

2 Cruel Intentions (1999)

Sebastian dies in a car crash.

There are many shocking scenes in Cruel Intentions, a film based on the scandalous French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The main characters, Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) and Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) do terrible things to themselves and others, but the worst comes at the expense of Annette (Reese Witherspoon), whom Sebastian ends up falling in love with. However, their love is short-lived because just as Sebastian is beginning to redeem himself, he dies in a fatal car accident.

This flies in the face of the typical film logic that the people who do wrong get what they deserve, and people who do right are rewarded. When Sebastian finally changes his ways, he faces serious consequences. As brutal as the twist is, it’s on par with the film’s tone. It gives Annette the perfect opportunity to preserve his memory. In a way, his death was inevitable. The film’s true protagonist was Annette, who needed Sebastian to grow and live her life more fully because of him.

This flies in the face of the typical film logic that the people who do wrong get what they deserve, and people who do right are rewarded.

1 My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)

Julianne doesn’t convince Michael to stop his wedding.

Julia Roberts’ character Julianne isn’t easy to like or root for in My Best Friend’s Wedding when she realizes she’s in love with Micheal (Dermot Mulroney) and does everything she can to ruin his wedding to Kimberly (Cameron Diaz). Based on all the known tropes of rom-coms, Julianne would typically be rewarded for this behavior, but the film changes this by having Michael choose Kimberly and forces Julianne to accept this. She gracefully concedes and even attends their wedding, wishing them nothing but the best.

Her journey throughout the film and ability to realize she missed her chance with Michael is far more compelling than Michael running away with her. If the movie had followed through with a typical fairy tale ending, it would have made both their characters the villains rather than the sympathetic, well-rounded people the audience comes to know in the end. Even though the film doesn’t provide the traditional beats of a rom-com, it remains a classic for lovers of the genre.