Entertainment
The Best Movies About Bad Relationships
List Rules
Movies about dysfunctional or just plain bad relationships. No horror movies.
What is it about watching a movie about a truly toxic relationship that appeals to us so much? Maybe it’s because it makes us feel better about our own relationships in life, or maybe we’re just curious about how other people live their lives. No matter what your reason for taking an interest in dysfunctional relationships is, if you’re craving a good movie about a bad relationship, one on this list will do the trick.
The best movies in the bad relationship category range from completely serious dramas, psychological thrillers, and romantic comedies. So no matter what your interest in watching one of these flicks is, there is sure to be one featured on this list to meet your movie cravings.
This list has the best movies about bad relationships, including: Revolutionary Road, Enough, The Break Up, Blue Valentine, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Why Did I Get Married? Vote up your favorite movie about a dysfunctional relationship below or add one you love that isn't already on the list.
list ordered by
- A fatherly chemistry professor (Geoffrey Rush) indulges two young lovers (Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish) in their ever-increasing heroin habits. Eventually the pair, an artist named Candy and an ...more
- 2When 16-year-old Nicole Walker (Reese Witherspoon) meets 23-year-old David McCall (Mark Wahlberg) at a Seattle nightclub, she falls in love. David is exciting and charming, and despite the wide age ...more
- In Carthage, Mo., former New York-based writer Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) and his glamorous wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) present a portrait of a blissful marriage to the public. However, when Amy goes ...more
- After a painful breakup, Clementine (Kate Winslet) undergoes a procedure to erase memories of her former boyfriend Joel (Jim Carrey) from her mind. When Joel discovers that Clementine is going to ...more
- Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet) always see themselves as far-removed from the conventionality of suburbia. Yet that is exactly what creeps up on them when they buy a house ...more
- Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) live a quiet life in a modest neighborhood. To the casual observer, everything appears normal, if a bit subdued. But a closer examination reveals a ...more
- Alice (Natalie Portman), an American stripper who has moved to London, meets Dan (Jude Law) on the street. While looking at him, a taxi hits her. After taking her to the hospital, Dan begins dating ...more
- Based on the play by Tennessee Williams, this renowned drama follows troubled former schoolteacher Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) as she leaves small-town Mississippi and moves in with her sister, ...more
- Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), greeting-card writer and hopeless romantic, is caught completely off-guard when his girlfriend, Summer (Zooey Deschanel), suddenly dumps him. He reflects on their 500 days ...more
- Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a gainfully employed suburban husband and father. Fed up with his boring, stagnant existence, he quits his job and decides to reinvent himself as a pot-smoking, ...more
- After faking her death in order to flee from her violent husband, Martin (Patrick Bergin), Laura Burney (Julia Roberts) leaves Cape Cod and moves to Iowa, where she adopts a new identity and starts ...more
- For Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas), life is good. He is on the rise at his New York law firm, is happily married to his wife, Beth (Anne Archer), and has a loving daughter. But, after a casual fling ...more
- Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson) is an obsessive-compulsive writer of romantic fiction who's rude to everyone he meets, including his gay neighbor Simon (Greg Kinnear), but when he has to look after ...more
- 14Working-class waitress Slim (Jennifer Lopez) finds her life transformed when she marries wealthy contractor Mitch (Billy Campbell). She settles into an idyllic suburban life and seems to have ...more
- Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) has just finished college and, back at his parents' house, he's trying to avoid the one question everyone keeps asking: What does he want to do with his life? An ...more
- After 17 years of marriage, Barbara (Kathleen Turner) and Oliver Rose (Michael Douglas) want out. The trouble is, neither one wants to part with their opulent home. So begins a long war between ...more
- After Brick Pollitt (Paul Newman) injures himself while drunkenly revisiting his high school sports-star days, he and his tempestuous wife, Maggie (Elizabeth Taylor), visit his family's Mississippi ...more
- After staging his own suicide, a crazed scientist uses his power to become invisible to stalk and terrorize his ex-girlfriend. When the police refuse to believe her story, she decides to take matters ...more
- Kramer vs. Kramer is a 1979 American drama film adapted by Robert Benton from the novel by Avery Corman, and directed by Benton. The film tells the story of a married couple's divorce and its impact ...more
- Sid and Nancy is a 1986 British biopic directed by Alex Cox. The film portrays the life of Sid Vicious, and his relationship with girlfriend Nancy Spungen. Despite failing to recoup its production ...more
- In 1963, rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and ranch hand Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) are hired by rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) as sheep herders in Wyoming. One night on Brokeback ...more
- Opposites attract when, during their college days, Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand), a politically active Jew, meets Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford), a feckless WASP. Years later, in the wake of ...more
- History professor George (Richard Burton) and his boozy wife, Martha (Elizabeth Taylor), return late one Saturday night from a cocktail party at the home of the college president, Martha's father. ...more
- Lifelong friends Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) take their relationship to the next level by having sex. Afraid of ruining their friendship, the new lovers make a pact to keep ...more
- Judy and Punch is a 2020 Australian black comedy-drama film directed by Mirrah Foulkes. Judy and Punch are puppeteers in the town of Seaside, England who, alongside their baby daughter, are ...more
