# Movies That Would Have Been Better With No Love Interests **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628 "2019-11-18T21:27:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/81 "2019-11-21T06:38:55Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I think the _Sherlock Holmes_ movies (the ones with Robert Downey Jr. ) would have been better without a love interest for Holmes. Everybody always tries to turn Irene Adler into a love interest, and it didn’t help that Downey and Rachel McAdams had zero chemistry IMO. Yep. I concur. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/82 "2019-11-21T06:48:48Z")
the godfather movie and book didnt need mike getting in married in sciliy ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/83 "2019-11-21T06:54:49Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > the godfather movie and book didnt need mike getting in married in sciliy Hmmm… IDK. I think it added something to Mike’s story, helped him on his was to ruthless killer. Also said something about his capacity for duplicity, going from that to his old gf back in New York like nothing. So maybe not so much important to the plot, but important to the character. Which is actually important to the plot in its own way, in a character-driven film. As the first two godfather films certainly were. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/84 "2019-11-21T07:41:10Z")
> [@Rough\_Draft](#): > > Any John Ford western. This also applies to “the best John Ford western not made by John Ford”, Howard Hawks’ _Red River_. You had to have love in **The Searchers** for it to work. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/85 "2019-11-21T08:49:31Z")
The obligatory scene in any WW2 movie where the GI’s go chase tail in some European village for 20 minutes. It’s almost always the worst part of the movie. I understand it happened in real life and you need a slow romantic/comedy bit in your movie as part of the checklist but I always hate it. I think “Battle of the Bulge” is the only time it’s actually worked in a movie and there it’s solely because it’s actually two lovers just saying their quiet goodbyes before they flee the town from the Nazi’s, you basically gain everything with what’s unsaid than what’s directly said. ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/86 "2019-11-21T20:37:15Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > For me, too. Also, I was somewhat aghast at the interaction between Martin Freeman and Zooey Deschanel (as well as between Deschanel and Sam Rockwell) in 2005’s _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_. Agreed. That just smacked of Hollywood fuckery. Trillion’s nonchalant rejection of Arthur Dent was part of the fun in the book/radio/tv series. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/87 "2019-11-21T21:24:43Z")
Arguably John Woo’s _The Killer_ and less arguably so, _Hard Boiled_. Sally Yeh Chien Wen was so put off my her experience filming _The Killer_, she retired from acting shortly after (fortunately she’s continued her music career). Woo has acknowledged that he didn’t flesh Jenny’s character and relationship with Ah Jong (Chow Yun Fat) correctly, leaving a disjointed plotline. In _Hard Boiled_, I found the “romance” between Teresa (Teresa Mo Shun Kwan) and Tequila (Chow Yun Fat) unnecessary. The secret messages could just as well be relayed to a male officer in a different way just as effectively, making an all male cast. Mo’s saving grace moment in the film is when she shoots the bad guy after he slaps her! ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/88 "2019-11-22T01:07:40Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > I thought the Iceman-Maverick sexual tension was adorable but you do you. It was heavily implied that all the airmen were fucking each other. Why else have all the emotional naked shower/spots scenes. This is cannon, and it was what made the Maverick/Charlie romance so significant. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/89 "2019-11-22T21:22:05Z")
Not _no_ love interests, obviously, but I think _Love Actually_ would’ve been much better without the subplot with the two soft-porn stand-ins. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/90 "2019-11-22T21:43:56Z")
**As Good As It Gets** Helen Hunt as a single mom / waitress. Jack Nicholson as the curmudgeonly patron of her restaurant. He’s an ass - but has a reputation for writing fiction that just utterly SPEAKS to his female readership. Greg Kinnear as a gay man, which is relevant because a) he’s not a love interest for Hunt, and b) he’s a target for Nicholson’s homophobic character. I don’t recall too many of the story details, but somehow Kinnear, Hunt and Nicholson have to go on a road trip. I think Nicholson learns to tolerate Kinnear - and somehow winds up involved with Hunt. The part of the relationship where he learns to be a better person / friend and learns to try to help others was believable - but having him wind up with Hunt romatically just rang incredibly false in my mind. It was like the producers said “Whoops - appealing to a female audience, someone gotta be in love with someone else, let’s shove these two together, the end”. Hunt and Nicholson both won Oscars for it. Yes, their performances were very good - but ending up “together” just felt wrong. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/91 "2019-11-22T22:09:30Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > \*Major League. \* > > It’s a fun movie about baseball. The fact that there’s any scenes with Roger Dorn’s wife drives me up the wall. As soon as I saw the thread title I jumped in to post this. Major League is one of the best sports movies ever, and best comedies ever, if you fast forward through all scenes with Renee Russo (nothing against her personally) and/or Dorn’s wife. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/92 "2019-11-22T22:33:07Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > **As Good As It Gets** > Helen Hunt as a single mom / waitress. > Jack Nicholson as the curmudgeonly patron of her restaurant. He’s an ass - but has a reputation for writing fiction that just utterly SPEAKS to his female readership. > Greg Kinnear as a gay man, which is relevant because a) he’s not a love interest for Hunt, and b) he’s a target for Nicholson’s homophobic character. > > I don’t recall too many of the story details, but somehow Kinnear, Hunt and Nicholson have to go on a road trip. I think Nicholson learns to tolerate Kinnear - and somehow winds up involved with Hunt. The part of the relationship where he learns to be a better person / friend and learns to try to help others was believable - but having him wind up with Hunt romatically just rang incredibly false in my mind. It was like the producers said “Whoops - appealing to a female audience, someone gotta be in love with someone else, let’s shove these two together, the end”. > > Hunt and Nicholson both won Oscars for it. Yes, their performances were very good - but ending up “together” just felt wrong. Kinnears character needed moneyand was going to borrow some from his mom since his art showing didnt make much money and he had to pay for the medical bills after getting almost murdered by a break in was the reason for the trip Hunts character was the reason jacks character finally wanted to change and get the meds he refused ti take … ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628/93 "2019-11-22T23:19:47Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Ben Affleck’s ‘Pearl Harbor’ came immediately to mind. “But… but… but… Kate Beckinsale…” [/fanboy] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-would-have-been-better-with-no-love-interests/843628.md?page=4)