The 10 worst rom-com movies ever according to critics

Valentine's Day is almost here, which means that folks are in the mood for a good romantic comedy. With scores of them reaching back to the 1940s, there's no shortage of classic movies to enjoy or some underrated favorites that can appeal to those wanting some romance. But when Hollywood churns out so many in a year, it's inevitable some movies end up being pretty bad and rom-coms are no exception.

Some fail for casting the wrong leads who aren't believable as a couple. Others have horrible stories, while some are classic cases of promising movies let down by bad writing and directing. Per Rotten Tomatoes, here are the ten worst rom-coms of all time and ones to avoid for a romantic day. 

10. All About Steve

Critics score: 6%

Sandra Bullock has the dubious honor of being the only person to win a Best Actress Oscar and a Worst Actress Razzie in the same weekend. Yes, a day before she won the Oscar for The Blind Side, Bullock showed up at the Razzies to accept her award for this terrible 2009 comedy. She plays a woman obsessed with a news cameraman (Bradley Cooper).

The film plays her stalker behavior for comedy, with Bullock doing too many pratfalls and a terrible romance (which also won a Razzie). Thankfully, Bullock had a good sense of humor to accept the award in person, and her speech brought more genuine laughs in two minutes than this comedy did in 90. 

9. Gigli

Critics score: 6%

Ah, Gigli. Nothing sums up the first run of "Bennifer" like this infamous box office bomb that became a punchline for years. Ben Affleck plays a mob hitman partnering with Jennifer Lopez's character to take a young man on a unique journey. That was already a weak plot, but then there's the horrific writing and the stunning lack of on-screen chemistry from the real-life couple.

Even Affleck and Lopez have regularly mocked this film, which destroyed the career of director Martin Brest. Really, if not for the two stars, it likely would have been more forgettable. It's safe to say the now-married couple probably don't screen this for their family. 

8. 'Til There Was You

Critics score: 5%

Imagine a movie with rom-com queens Jennifer Aniston and Sarah Jessica Parker…and they're both relegated to background roles. Instead, this 1997 film centers on Jeanne Tripplehorn as a reporter doing a story on former child star Parker and moving into her apartment. She meets Dylan McDermott's architect and supposed sparks fly. 

The fact Aniston and Parker shine so much better than the two leads is only one of many mistakes made with this film. The writing is subpar, the situations cliche, and it just doesn't click. It's a forgettable entry in Aniston's long list of fun comedy movies, and it's little wonder it ranks so low. 

7. Good Luck Chuck

Critics score: 5%

Amazingly, Hollywood actually thought brash comic Dane Cook could become a leading man. This 2007 film was a mild box office success, but the critical backlash ended Cook's dreams of stardom. The shame is that the setup isn't too bad. Cook plays the title character, who seems blessed as women keep wanting to date him. But that's because he's cursed, so right after breaking up with him, a woman meets her true love. 

When he meets Cam, the feisty woman Jessica Alba plays, Chuck tries to break the curse to finally get the woman he wants. That could have been fun but was ruined by gross-out humor and lacks the heart to stand out. Cook needed a lot more good luck to make his movie star career take off after this mess. 

6. Playing For Keeps

Critics score: 5%

Few things are as frustrating as seeing a great cast wasted on a bad movie. In this case, you've got Gerard Butler, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Uma Thurman, Dennis Quaid, and Judy Greer, all good actors. It's too bad they're in a dumb story consisting of Butler's former soccer star trying to reconcile with his ex-wife, played by Jessica Biel, by coaching their son's soccer team.

Cue the various housewives putting the moves on Butler, Quaid playing a cheating horndog, and some frankly sexist and outdated takes making this look like it was made earlier than 2012. No wonder Butler prefers sticking to wild action movies than rom-coms these days. 

5. Material Girls

Critics score: 4%

Basing a movie on a classic like Sense & Sensibility is good, but Jane Austen it is not. Hilary and Haylie Duff play sisters whose lives as spoiled heiresses come to an end when a scandal leaves them penniless. Moving in with their maid, they have to learn to live like normal people and get jobs to save their company. The Duffs do have their charms, yet the weak script and hackneyed situations barely raise this above the level of a Disney Channel movie. The romantic material is way too thin to make this film any fun.

4. A Little Bit of Heaven

Critics score: 4%

Trying to make a comedy about someone dying is tricky, yet even rom-com queen Kate Hudson can't pull it off. She's a free-spirited woman who shuns commitment only to discover she has terminal cancer. Now, in between living her last months, she finds a connection with her doctor played by Gael García Bernal.

The supporting cast is good with Kathy Bates, Peter Dinklage, and Whoopi Goldberg, but they can't salvage a schmaltzy script that doesn't balance the comedy and drama enough. It's likely the worst of Hudson's many rom-coms and shows getting laughs out of death doesn't always work out. 

3. Because I Said So

Critics score: 4%

Diane Keaton is an icon from Oscar winner to scores of great romantic comedies. So it hurts to see her in what may be her worst movie. Casting Keaton as an overbearing mother to three daughters (Mandy Moore, Lauren Graham, and Piper Perabo) has potential, yet it's wasted by the script, giving Keaton every interfering mom cliche in the book.

From putting out ads for one daughter to directing the lives of the others, Keaton tries her best, but it's not enough to make this close to entertaining. The fellow actresses appear just as lost, so it's easy to say this movie just flat-out sucks. 

2. Serving Sara

Critics score: 4%

The late Matthew Perry could never quite find movie success as well as he did on TV. As proof, see this 2002 film. Perry is a process server handing divorce papers to Elizabeth Hurley, who's upset to realize she won't get anything if she's served in Texas. She thus talks Perry into serving her husband with papers in New York so she can get half his money. 

Cue an awkward road trip with strange stops in a cowboy bar and other antics with Perry's pratfalls hiding the lack of chemistry between him and Hurley. It's a bit sad to have to talk about Perry's rom-com dud today, but this is part of why Perry struggled to reach movie star status.

1. Down to You

Critics score: 3%

And now we come to it: the worst rom-com ever, according to Rotten Tomatoes. It's a cliche setup as Freddie Prinze Jr. and Julia Stiles' characters meet up at college and soon bond. Then there are weird bits like Selma Blair's adult film star trying to tempt Prinze and a cliche script wasting Henry Winkler and Rosario Dawson among others.

The movie is the boring kind of bad, not even the train wreck appeal watching. It rarely does anything with the thinly written characters, and you can see every storytelling turn coming a mile away. It's just utterly forgettable if not for its spot topping the list of the worst rom-coms ever.