‘80s cinema was marked by flash and sentimentality, so naturally, love stories were popular throughout this decade of moviemaking. The decade brought both romantic comedies that told tales about couples falling in love with humor, and romantic dramas with a much more grave and serious tone.
Some of these films turned out to be dreadful, with a handful verging on being genuinely unwatchable, while others turned out to be masterfully done, with well-matched actors making the audience fall in love at the same rate that their characters did. Here are the five best and five worst romance movies from the 1980s.
Best: The Princess Bride (1987)
Adapted by William Goldman from his own novel and directed by Rob Reiner, The Princess Bride is a wonderfully satirical take on traditional fairy tales. The movie sheds a light on the lovable supporting characters who usually get sidelined in fairy stories, with terrific performances from actors like Mandy Patinkin, André the Giant, and Wallace Shawn.
The heart of the story is the romance between star-crossed lovers Robin Wright and Cary Elwes, who nail their roles, while Peter Falk and Fred Savage give the film a hilarious meta-ness in the framing narrative.
Worst: The Blue Lagoon (1980)
Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins star in The Blue Lagoon as cousins who survive a shipwreck and end up stranded on a tropical island. There, they come of age in isolation, figuring out puberty without any outside help, and eventually fall in love.
As a soft-core movie revolving around teenage lovers who are also cousins, The Blue Lagoon is incredibly creepy
Best: Dirty Dancing (1987)
Moviegoers in 1987 had the time of their lives, and they owe it all to Dirty Dancing. From the universal joys of forbidden love to the perfectly matched pairing of Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, Dirty Dancing is a near-perfect movie romance.
Worst: Mannequin (1987)
In a modern take on the Pygmalion myth, Mannequin stars Andrew McCarthy as a window dresser at a department store who falls in love with a mannequin, played by Kim Cattrall, who comes to life just for him.
This is one of those super weird ‘80s movie premises that could be retooled as a horror movie today. It was a big hit at the time, but in the years since it was released, audiences have realized it’s pretty trashy.
Best: Roxanne (1987)
Steve Martin’s work as an actor and comedian is widely praised, but he’s also a great screenwriter. He adapted the classic play Cyrano de Bergerac into the romantic comedy Roxanne, in which he stars as a fire chief with a huge nose who desperately wants to woo the title character, played by Daryl Hannah.
Whereas Mannequin is an example of a classical love story getting butchered in a modern retelling, Roxanne is an example of the same thing done right.
Worst: Bolero (1984)
Widely considered to be one of the worst movies ever made, Bolero was one of many critically panned collaborations between Bo Derek and her husband, writer-director John Derek.
In Bolero, the former plays a 23-year-old college graduate who travels the world in search of the perfect man to take her virginity. It swept the Razzies and, unsurprisingly, has a rare 0% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Best: Say Anything (1989)
Ranked by Entertainment Weekly as the greatest cinematic love story of the modern era, Say Anything tells the story of a regular guy and the class valedictorian falling in love right after graduating from high school.
The plot avoids clichés (except for the ones that it created), while the romance is universal. John Cusack and Ione Skye are great in the lead roles, while Cameron Crowe got his career as a writer-director off to a stellar start.
Worst: Endless Love (1981)
In the ‘80s, Brooke Shields starred in some really crummy movies. After the blatant creepiness of The Blue Lagoon, she starred in Endless Love as a teenage girl who becomes the object of a young man’s infatuation.
When her parents won’t let her see him, he burns down their house and gets himself thrown in a mental institution. Shields gives a fine performance, but her co-star Martin Hewitt is woefully miscast and the screenplay adaptation butchers the plot of its source material.
Best: When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Not just the best romance movie of the ‘80s, but possibly the greatest romcom ever made, When Harry Met Sally does everything right. From the minds of director Rob Reiner and screenwriter Nora Ephron, the storytelling is fresh but relatable.
Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan make the movie a masterpiece. They’re both individually hysterical in the titular roles and also share such impeccable on-screen chemistry that they genuinely appear to fall in love.
Worst: Cocktail (1988)
Although it was a massive hit at the box office, Cocktail is a truly abysmal movie. Tom Cruise stars as a business student who takes a job as a bartender to make some quick cash. The movie glamorizes the world of bartending to an absurd level.
Every beat in the lead character’s rise to prominence on the bartending scene and his romance with Elisabeth Shue can be seen coming from a mile away.