It’s Valentine’s Day, which for many means breaking out the romantic comedies.

I personally already dislike rom-coms as it is. They’re boring and repetitive to me and if I can, I try not to watch them. But since I enjoy making myself do things that I hate, I decided to watch five bad rom-coms so that others like myself didn’t have to.

In order to qualify for this experiment, the movies need to meet certain criteria. First, it needs to have a 20% or lower score on Rotten Tomatoes. Second, it needs to star at least one of the classic rom-com stars like Katherine Heigl, Colin Firth, Julia Roberts, etc. And lastly, Wikipedia needs to list it as a rom-com.

With the criteria in mind, I went to find the five worst rom-coms that one could watch. After an hour of searching, I found my five movies: “Little Italy,” “The Ugly Truth,” “The Accidental Husband,” “The Perfect Man” and “Down to You.” 

“Little Italy” (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 16%

Starring Hayden Christensen and Emma Roberts, this movie follows the lives of two rival pizzeria owning families in Toronto’s Little Italy. Filled with a poor script and weird Italian-Bronx accents, I could barely stay awake for the mediocre movie.

I think the weirdest part of the movie was the fact that the grandparents from the respective families had a secret romance going on and got married all while Christensen and Robert’s characters were falling in love. I sat in awe of the fact that they are now technically related and the movie decided to gloss over that. 

Besides that, the plot was boring and I am still confused as to why it was set in Canada. Does Canada have some sort of famous Little Italy that I don’t know about?

“The Ugly Truth” (2009)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 14%

If you love a great stereotypical rom-com, then this is the movie for you! Following an uptight television producer and her newest host on the show, Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler respectively star in this movie.

The movie was riddled with sexist stereotypes which made me almost turn it off completely, and I almost felt bad that Butler had to play such a misogynistic character. If you can do anything to avoid watching this movie, I’d seriously recommend it. 

“The Accidental Husband” (2009)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 6%

I need to start this out by saying this is actually not a bad movie. Starring Uma Thurman, Colin Firth and Jeffery Dean Morgan, this movie proves that sometimes what you know about love isn’t all that true. 

Morgan’s character gets revenge on Thurman’s radio talk-show host by hacking the New York clerk office and forging a marriage license to say that they are married. This puts a knot in Thurman and Firth’s upcoming wedding and Thurman must find the man who did this to set the record straight. 

The script wasn’t too bad and there were cute moments throughout. The movie made me actually care about the lives of the characters, which the others on the list failed to do. Morgan’s character was charming and sweet, and actually had a purpose for what he did. Even though it was a stupid reason and maybe went too far, it had a motive. Surprisingly, I’d probably watch it again.

“The Perfect Man” (2005)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 6%

What would you do if your mom wanted to move every time she got dumped? If this question has been plaguing your mind, let Hilary Duff show you her answer in this very mediocre movie. 

Duff’s character decides enough is enough and creates a fake man in order to get her mom to stop moving. This movie left me thinking only about how much money this single income family has, since they moved into a nice apartment in Brooklyn.

I did also get distracted by the fact Mike O’Malley was in the movie and since I couldn’t stop thinking about his character from “Glee,” that might be an indication of how uneventful the movie is. 

“Down to You” (2000)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 3%

This was a very forgettable movie. Julia Stiles and Freddie Prinze Jr. star in this plot line lacking movie which follows their college sweetheart characters’ relationship. I could literally tell you nothing else about the plot because that is how little of it there was. 

The pair tried their best to uphold the lackluster script but alas they failed. This script combined with the stale acting led to me wanting to scream into a pillow. 

There were also weird monologue bits where Stiles and Prinze Jr. talked to the camera, which made me as a viewer feel weird. If someone suggests you watch this movie, run away as fast as you can. 

Features reporter Olivia Marshall can be reached at 270-745-6291 and [email protected]. Follow Olivia on social media at @marshallolivia_.