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After a day full of chocolate, roses, stuffed bears and a romantic dinner, many couples may be looking for a relaxing way to close out this Valentine’s Day. A classic way to end a long day with your significant other is to sit back on the couch and watch a good movie.

Whether it’s a fun romantic comedy for the two of you to laugh along with or an intense action movie you can anxiously hold hands through, there are plenty of great date night movies to choose from. However, there are a few movies people should avoid watching with that special someone on a day meant to celebrate love.

If you want to keep your relationship going well past Tuesday, try to avoid these five movies tomorrow.

Gone Girl (2014)
What makes David Fincher’s thriller “Gone Girl” a horrible date night movie? It puts the worst part of any relationship on full display. Both members of the featured couple, Amy (Rosamund Pike) and her husband, Nick (Ben Affleck), are deeply flawed people and demonstrate how dysfunctional a relationship can get.

Nick constantly cheats on his wife, and never seems to feel any remorse for his actions, until it is too late and Amy leads him on a deadly mystery. The only thing that is holding Nick and Amy together is the fact that they are both actively manipulating each other. If there are similarities between the two main characters in “Gone Girl” and the relationship in question, prepare for a bloody Valentine’s Day.

Revolutionary Road (2008)
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet first fell in love when they played Jack and Rose in the 1997 blockbuster “Titanic.” In “Revolutionary Road,” director Sam Mendes tried to recreate that love from “Titanic,” however, the film instead shows that love is entirely overrated and will never be as fulfilling as people expect it to be.

DiCaprio and Winslet play Frank and April, a young couple in the 1950s who meet, fall in love, get married, have kids and seemingly achieve the perfect life. However, it turns out that a peaceful suburban life is not satisfying for Frank and April at all. As their lives begin to unravel, so do their relationship and love for each other.

If this movie proves anything, it’s that even the happiest of relationships can fall apart, and two people who might be perfect for each other can eventually become separated. Valentine’s Day is meant to celebrate the everlasting love two people have for each other, so try to stay away from a movie that chronicles a marriage falling apart.

It Follows (2014)
So, two people meet and get a good vibe from each other. They went out on a date and Netflix and chilled together, everything seemed so perfect. Well, it turns out that one of them passed along a curse and now there is an unkillable demon hunting the other. That’s the plot of the 2014 horror film “It Follows.”

A teenage girl named Jay (Maika Monroe) has a one-night stand with Hugh (Jake Weary). Everything seems normal until Jay is drugged and wakes up strapped to a wheelchair. It turns out that Hugh has only used her to pass on the curse. Jay then spends the rest of the film trying to fight off the demon. She ends up having to pass the curse on to her lifelong best friend, a decision that is not easy.

Not only does this movie present the idea of falling in love with someone as a curse, but it also puts the characters in a real battle of trust between each other, which could affect a relationship. Although a relationship may seem happy and healthy, “It Follows” will remind viewers about that awkward one-night stand that you want to forget, and that a partner should never find out about.

The Break-Up (2006)
If the title is not enough to steer you away, then the plot most definitely should. In “The Break-Up” Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn play Brooke and Gary, a couple who spontaneously meet and end up moving in together after a short time.

Their relationship seems to be going well until it is derailed by a series of arguments. Brooke begins to feel unappreciated, and the two decide to call it quits. Director Peyton Reed shows how far two people can become emotionally separated.

Aniston and Vaughn do a great job of creating some serious tension between them as a couple. This is especially apparent when the characters begin to attack the other’s families.

To be fair, it’s unlikely that two ex-lovers will continue to be roommates if they ever do break up as Brooke and Gary do. But if couples are looking to get a good laugh in with each other on Valentine’s Day, “The Break-Up” is probably not the movie that they should put on.

Fatal Attraction (1987)
If there was any genre that would be the worst to explore on Valentine’s Day, it would probably be the erotic thriller.

In “Fatal Attraction,” Michael Douglas plays a married man named Dan Gallagher, who has an unfortunate one-night stand with Glenn Close’s Alex Forrest. After the affair, Alex becomes enamored with Dan and starts to stalk him and his family. Alex even goes so far as to kill the Gallagher family rabbit and leaves it for Dan’s wife to find.

Some of the interactions between Alex and Dan are very chilling and uncomfortable to watch, with or without a significant other next to you. Similarly to “Gone Girl,” this movie shows all of the bad parts of a relationship and the consequences of becoming too attached to someone. Couples looking to end Valentine’s Day on a high note are recommended to find something else to watch.

Marriage Story (2019)
One of the best movies of 2019 is also one of the saddest examples of a failing relationship ever put to screen. Inspired by his own divorce from the actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, director Noah Baumbach gives the audience a bittersweet story about the bicoastal divorce between Charlie (Adam Driver) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson).

Audiences see how truly sad it can be to realize that a relationship just isn’t meant to last, even if the two people involved were really happy in the beginning. There are several powerful scenes between Charlie and Nicole where they can be seen crumbling emotionally, slowly losing all hope that their marital troubles can be resolved amicably.

Although “Marriage Story” is one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the past five years, it is best experienced alone, not between two people madly in love. As Valentine’s Day 2023 comes to a close with that special someone, it would be best not to sit down and spend over two hours watching a relationship fall apart.

Published on February 13, 2023 at 9:50 pm